The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has stated that its investment in Nigeria has reached over $1.7 billion in 14 years, noting that plans are ongoing to invest an additional $1 billion (N560 billion) to strengthen its plants across the country.
The Managing Director of NBC, Mathieu Seguin, said the proposed investment would be invested in all its plants to boost their capacities to meet the ever-changing demands of Nigerian consumers.
Seguin at a press briefing to flag off activities to mark its 70th anniversary celebration in Nigeria, said in the last five years, the Coca-Cola system has also supported the creation of 58,000 jobs along its value chain.
“As we continued to grow, we have been very deliberate about investing heavily to make a positive impact in the lives of people in communities where we work and operate. We believe that our business is only as sustainable as the communities in which we do business, and this is why we have mainstreamed sustainability into every aspect of our business,” he said.
“For perspective, in the last 10 years alone, the Coke System has invested more than 9 billion naira in lifting the living standards of communities where we do business in Nigeria, through locally relevant initiatives. Some of the areas we have had the most impact have been in education and youth development, women empowerment, water, environmental sustainability, sports and the promotion of commerce and entrepreneurship,” he added.
Seguin went on to share some of the impact and notable accomplishments of the Coca-Cola system over the years, maintaining that the System has trained over30,000 youths on entrepreneurship and employability skills across different cities in Nigeria in the last 5 years.
“With regards to women development, from 2015 to 2019 alone the Coca-Cola 5by20 programme impacted over 470,000 women, with 38,000 women supported to start up their own medium, small or micro businesses as Coca-Cola Distributors or Retailers. The Lady Mechanic Initiative empowered 100 vulnerable young women with vocational, entrepreneurial and life skills, and equipped them to become certified professional automobile mechanics. Furthermore, the Safe Birth Initiative, a wellbeing programme to support the efforts of the government towards reducing the alarming numbers of deaths by women and new-born babies from birth-related complication has impacted over 12,000 Mothers and Babies since inception.
Also speaking, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Nigeria, Alfred Olajide, explained that, anniversaries are important part of life, saying that they remind people of important events, both personal and cultural.
In his words: ‘This celebration not only gives us an opportunity to look back at the brand’s storied history in Nigeria but is also an opportunity to highlight our plans for the future. This milestone anniversary is a testament to the possibilities and shared opportunities we have created in this great country.”
“Beyond an anniversary, this is a story of a company building and establishing long-lasting relationships with diverse groups, individuals, and organisations in a bid to ensure a better-shared future; it is years of system investments that have ensured the oiling of this country’s economic gears; it is years of initiatives that have ensured and fostered community resilience in communities seeking our intervention; it is years of instilling hope, open happiness, positive feelings and the magic of community in audiences,” he added.
He pointed out that the 70th anniversary celebration will run all through the remaining part of 2021 with a line-up of activities designed to celebrate the milestone with the Coca-Cola System’s consumers, customers, employees, partners and the general public for their support towards the growth of the business which include the Anniversary Stakeholder Event, consumer seeding/giveback programmes among others.
