Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Ethiopia, Management and Staff wish all Ethiopians a Happy New Year.
It is a time to reflect on last year’s experience and plan to DO and BE better for the coming year. We hope the Ethiopian New Year will bring all Ethiopians new beginnings, tremendous opportunities to help us all have outstanding achievements, and harmony.
We have come a long way, 2014 was both a spectacular and challenging year not only for our company but also for our beautiful country. Even if we faced a forex shortage, challenges in sourcing our ingredients locally, and social instability to run our business, CCBA has managed to achieve great milestones.
We have inaugurated our fifth state-of-the-art mega manufacturing plant in Sebeta Dima investing over 5.3 billion Birr and launched our new brand Minute Maid Refresh Juice. Doing this has helped us increase our production capacity, create more job opportunities, increase the outreach of our brands to our customers, and contribute to the nation’s economic growth.
At CCBA, we believe in doing business not the easy way but the right way. We strive to give back what we have received from the community through our water replenishment, building a world without waste, and empowering youth and women.
Over the past 12 months, we have handed over school blocks which are built at Senqele primary school in Ambo town with a cost of eight million Birr. The new addition enables the Senqele high school to receive up to 1,200 students in two shifts.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, we launched a project to help 600 women returnees. This year we built 75 Coca-Cola kiosks in 11 cities and handed them over to 210 beneficiaries. The construction of an additional 75 kiosks is well underway and will be handed over to beneficiaries soon.
We also supported the launch of the first web and app-based due diligence platform, Sumuni, which connects potential investors with startups. So far, the platform is supporting over 30 startups.
Beyond our sustainability initiatives, we have also extended humanitarian support to the Ethiopia Somali region and medical equipment worth 300,000 USD to the Ministry of Health.
We brought the FIFA World Cup Trophy to Ethiopia during this challenging time. The trophy shed a positive light on Ethiopia’s global image.
As the New Year is approaching, I would like to take opportunity to extend my heartfelt appreciation to our shareholders, and stakeholders for their unwavering support, cooperation, commitment, and effort for all the accomplishments.
Most importantly, a special thanks to our consumers for continually choosing our brands. We are confident to remain your number one choice and continue to serve you with our quality products.
We wish you a peaceful, joyous, and successful Ethiopian New Year.
Daryl Wilson,
Managing Director
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa-Ethiopia
