Coca-Cola Nigeria has announced a micro business empowerment scheme for over 50 internally displaced women.
The project was part of the company’s “5by20 Women Economic Empowerment Initiative” which sought to provide quality personal development and small business appreciation training for women.
The two-day programme tagged IDP Women Value Chain Integration Programme empowered women with assets that would enable them to start their respective small-scale businesses.
Public Affairs Communications Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Amaka Onyemelukwe, was quoted as saying:
“We believe there is no better investment than women to spur economic growth and foster sustainable development. Women are pillars of the communities we serve and pillars of our business. They will play a transformative role in shaping our global economy over the next decade.
“In 2007, the Coca-Cola Company started the Global Women’s Initiative known as 5by20 as part of our 2020 Vision to support women in global leadership positions, grow our pipeline of female talent and empower women of all cadres to be financially empowered, thereby creating a sustainable society.”
During the programme, the women were taught different methods and skills needed to successfully run a micro business, business sustenance and money-saving techniques, customer relationship management, as well as the knowledge of the right attitude to run a successful business, the statement added.
Overwhelming evidence indicates achieving equality and empowerment for women entrepreneurs has immediate impacts that benefit them directly as well as society and the economy. As pillars of communities, women invest a sizable portion of the income they earn on the health and education of their children and in their local economies, creating a tremendous economic impact.
The 5by20 initiative aims to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs in the global value chain by 2020. In collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), governments and businesses.
The initiative helps female entrepreneurs associated with the business gain access to three essential economic enablers:
- Business skills training.
- Loans and financial services and assets.
- Peer networks and mentoring.
The 5by20 initiative focuses on women in six segments of the value chain: producers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, recyclers and artisans. .
5by20 has enabled more than 513,000 women entrepreneurs in 2016 across the globe and a total of more than 1.75 million since 2010. In 2016, 5by20 expanded by 41 percent in total, reaching over 513,000 women, and broadening into four new markets: Australia, Guatemala, Italy and Poland.
Production of Coca-Cola began at a bottling facility in Lagos in 1953. While in 2015, for the first time in Nigeria, Coca-Cola swapped its iconic logo with some popular names among Nigerians .
