Africa Day coincides with a big milestone for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) this year, as the company celebrates its Fifth birthday as the biggest Coca-Cola bottler on the continent, with a growing contribution to economic growth and shared prosperity.
“We draw inspiration from our vision to refresh Africa every day and make the Continent a better place for all. To make this vision come alive at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa every day looks for opportunities to contribute to making this continent better through our people and our operations,” said Melkamu Abebe, General Manager of Century and Rwenzori Bottling Companies in Uganda.
“On Africa Day we pay tribute to the continent by focusing on it in Uganda through, for instance, our increased local sourcing of ingredients and where the local sourcing options are not available, regional sourcing options. We build suppliers, especially on this Continent, who are committed to putting in place the high standards that are expected of a supplier of ingredients that we use in the beverages we produce everywhere in the world,” he added.
Melkamu committed that on Africa Day CCBA was re-pledging to walk the talk by buying more and more of our home-grown ingredients and raw materials locally from Ugandans to support both the local business communities as well as Ugandan farmers. By doing so, he said, the company would be building Uganda, and Africa, by continuing to invest sustainably in the economy.
“We believe that contributing to the growth and significance of who we are and what we have to offer as Ugandans and therefore Africans deepens our footprint as cultural, creative, and innovative people and that is another mark of what it means to celebrate Africa Day in 2021,” Abebe said.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Group Chief Executive Officer, Jacques Vermeulen, said CCBA across Africa continues to leverage its infrastructure and processes to unlock operational efficiencies and synergies. He said the strategy focuses on greatly improved customer service, an expanded beverage portfolio, and accelerated development of communities and employees.
“As a stronger, more successful beverage bottling business, we are able to create greater shared opportunity for the business as well as the communities we serve across the value chain through job creation, skills development and support for small-to-medium sized enterprises,” Vermeulen said.
Uganda GM Abebe called on all Ugandans, starting with his colleagues in the company, to focus all their efforts on delivering on their daily promise at work in order to contribute to building the Continent.
“We should celebrate Africa every single day. This vibrant colourful and powerful continent represents the origin and future of the world. On Africa Day today, we should stop and reflect on what we can all do to make Africa stronger and prouder through the work that we do,” said Abebe.
