Consumers, communities laud Coke’s interventionist initiatives, as company celebrates 70

BESIDES the huge consumer base its brands  have continued to command, the ability of the Coca Cola System, comprising Coca Cola Nigeria and its bottling company, the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), to soldier on despite the nation’s topsy-turvy and increasingly competitive business terrain, especially in a market segment, with a net worth of 1.63 billion USD, as at 2015, no doubt,  gives custodians of the soft drinks brands some bragging rights, as the company prepares to celebrate 70 years of doing business in Nigeria .

Interestingly, not a few have attributed the company’s commitment to the nation’s business space,  despite the odds, to the inseparable bond it ha, over the decades, established with the nation’s consuming public;; a bond it developed by identifying the needs of its operating environments and meeting some of those needs, in sync with its corporate social responsibility (CSR) plans.

For instance,  Semiu Bakare, the Youth Leader of Asejire, a  community in Oyo State, where the soft drinks company has one of its plants, speaks of the development the company had brought to the community since opening its doors for business there, years ago.

According to him, despite being less than 30 km from Ibadan, the bustling capital city of Oyo State, Asejire for years, existed only nominally as part of the state, with the  only sign of any economic significance, being the Coca-Cola/Nigerian Bottling Company plant in the community.

And, prior to its several interventionist efforts in the community, the world of the residents was miles apart from that of the highly educated professionals and the advanced industrial processes going on inside it, despite being geographically close to the plant, Semiu stated..

That all changed when the company decided to engage with the local community through a social empowerment drive. For Semiu, this first came in the form of the holy grail of rural Nigerian youthful aspiration – a steady job with a decent, steady income.

“When I finished my secondary school education, working at the NBC plant allowed me to gain the measure of experience and education that I have now,” he stated.

The Coca Cola System, he added, also provided a 500 KVA transformer for the community, while it renovated the 6-classroom primary school block, in the community.

The transformer donation thus brought electricity to an entire community, and with it, the possibility of mobile telecom adoption, internet access and ultimately, a new world of opportunities,  completely closed to residents of Asejire, previously, he added.

To further identify  with the culture and practice of its operating environment,  Coca-Cola alongside its bottling partner, Nigerian Bottling Company, also built a palace for the traditional ruler of the community, the  Baale of Asejire,  Chief Lateef Bakare.

Interestingly, such gestures are not one-off! Ikechukwu Henry, who runs a small shoe-manufacturing facility in Aba, Abia State, also has his own tale, of how Coca Cola supported him, and others with work tools, to tell.

“I started to learn this work in 2010. After my training, it was difficult to set up on my own. But since  Coca-Cola’s intervention, in the area of  work tools, I have been making use of the machines given to me,” he added.

Reinforcing the above story, Ikechukwu Nwadavid, President of Samek Shoe Zone in Aba where Ikechukwu works explained, how Coca-Cola had been able to empower 80 of the youths in the community.

“On their own, they had no capacity to obtain the equipment needed to start the job by themselves. This equipment has been a way out for them,” he stated.

In Oginigba Community, Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Community Secretary, Temple Enyinda Ariolu is also the same. According to him, the Coca-Cola System was of real help to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown last year, through the distribution of sorely needed palliative materials.

As the company marks its 70th anniversary this year, the soft drinks company is determined to take its community empowerment efforts to a new level. In addition to community-specific interventions like those witnessed in Asejire, Aba and Oginigba, the company has spent the past year working on its Special Intervention Program, Catalyst for Change program and Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE).

Carried out in partnership with Whitefield Foundation, the Special Intervention Program is a virtual nationwide training program created to support economic recovery in Nigeria’s youth demographic,  badly hit by the COVID-19 downturn.

The Catalyst for Change program was specifically targeted at women living in 5 communities across Lagos and Ogun States. The first edition of the program in 2020 saw over 4,600 women in Iwaya, Oworonshoki, Sangotedo, Magboro and Ogijo communities, trained in wig making, fashion designing, makeup artistry, production of household essentials, shoemaking, social media management, and business development. 1,000 women also received startup kits upon successful completion of the programme.

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