CCBSA Drives Economic Growth and Youth Empowerment Across South Africa

At Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), we are committed to building economic inclusion and sustainability solutions that benefit our stakeholders, particularly the communities in which we are invested.

As part of the Coca-Cola system, CCBSA has a strong history of enhancing the livelihoods of the people in the communities we proudly serve. We continue to help enable the economic empowerment of a diverse network of customers, suppliers and communities across our value chain.

We have adopted the two pillars of employability and entrepreneurship as our economic inclusion strategy framework. Through programmes such as Bizniz in a Box and our Study Buddy Fund, we enable women and young people to access better future opportunities. Also, through our support for small suppliers to our business, we are providing meaningful economic opportunities and enhanced livelihoods.

We are committed to developing sustainable ways to produce, distribute and sell our products, and to create shared value for the business and the communities where we operate.

Investing in Education

Our Study Buddy Fund comprises four pillars:

Bursary Programme

The bursary programme offers financial support to academically strong students from disadvantaged backgrounds who meet university entry requirements.

University Partnership

Through partnerships with universities, funding is made available to enrolled students who face financial challenges and lack access to bursaries or support from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College Support

TVET supports young people who do not meet university entrance requirements by focusing on technical skills development tailored to the CCBSA value chain, including fields such as electrical and mechanical engineering.

Ligbron E-Learning Programme

We use e-learning to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science.

Supporting the SMME Sector

CCBSA launched the Bizniz in a Box (BiB) initiative in 2016 to support small businesses, particularly those run by youth and women.

Bizniz in a Box’s primary focus is to create an ecosystem of viable micro-businesses offering complementary products and services in a community, using a spaza shop as the anchor. Each business operates out of a custom-designed container.

Since its inception, CCBSA has supported hundreds of entrepreneurs in several provinces, including Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.

Empowerment Through Local Procurement and Enterprise Development

At CCBSA, we aim to strengthen local procurement, enhance local supplier development programmes and increase financial support. We do this in a number of ways, including by identifying and addressing some of the obstacles SMMEs face, such as access to funding and markets.

We have designed programmes such as our SMME fund, called Khulanathi, to accelerate the growth and development of small and medium sized enterprises. Khulanathi means “grow with us” in isiZulu.

We also run regional Supplier Skills Summits where entrepreneurs participate in a series of workshops focused on capacity building and skills development programmes, as well as business leadership content and insights. Each Supplier Skills Summit is followed by an Access to Markets Bootcamp. This exclusive networking event connects SMMEs with senior executives of South African businesses to help facilitate introductions and engagement around opportunities offered by large corporates.

A further programme we have invested in is our Enterprise Supplier Development Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice, which we run in conjunction with the Henley Business School. These form part of our transformation and sustainability journey as we look to empower SMME owners with the knowledge, insights and skills to allow them to grow their businesses.

By supporting and growing SMMEs, we can help unlock a better future for enterprising individuals, their families, employees, and the wider community. Economic growth is vital to the socio-economic wellbeing of communities.

Fostering Sustainable Growth and Social Inclusion

People matter. Our planet matters. We believe in doing business the right way by following our values and working toward solutions that benefit us all.

Source: The Citizen