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Africa: Coca-Cola to Create Jobs With Network Upgrade
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
7 May 2008
Posted to the web 7 May 2008
Jim Onyango
Soft drink maker Coca-Cola Africa, says it is enhancing its distribution network to create more employment on the continent.
Coca -Cola said the new distribution network would create between 1,300 to 2,000 additional independent distribution businesses, between 5,300 and 8,400 new jobs and generate revenue of between US$320 million and US$520 million.
The company's CEO, Mr Neville Isdell, said the firm will work with its bottlers to boost economic growth across the continent by investing in the expansion and upgrading of its distribution network of Manual Distribution Centres.
Coca-Cola's MDC business model, which has been operational over the past five years, is based on independent local entrepreneurs in some African countries..
It has created new small businesses, new jobs and increased skill levels, while rolling out across four East African countries.
Tanzania was specifically chosen for a pilot project that will investigate ways to further enhance the socio-economic impact of the distribution system.
"The Coca-Cola Company aims to support the development of sustainable communities, because without sustainable communities we do not have sustainable business," says Mr Nathan Kalumbu, Coca-Cola Africa Business Unit President for East and Central Africa.
"The Manual Distribution Centre model, which is currently being executed in a number of African countries including Tanzania, has created new small businesses, new jobs and increased skills levels and provides a powerful platform from which we offer entrepreneurial opportunities that open the door to job and wealth creation," he said.
The pilot project is being conducted in partnership with key bottling partner Coca-Cola Sabco, the Harvard CSR Initiative and the International Finance Corporation.
Manual Distribution Centres are managed by third party distribution centres.
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Instead of trying to service thousands of small retail outlets with small drop sizes, the bottler distributes to carefully selected Manual Distribution Centres who sell Coca-Cola products exclusively.
The Manual Distribution Centres owners are actively supported and managed by the bottler, who helps each owner establish their operations, including designing routes and methods of delivery and determining the frequency of delivery service required to maintain stock levels.
The key to the success of this approach is that Manual Distribution Centres are driven by entrepreneurs in touch with their markets while they receive ongoing support from the bottler and Coca-Cola, to ensure that optimal selling conditions are maintained at the retailer level.
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