Encomium
Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited along with its bottling partner, Nigeria Bottling Company, has won two awards at the 14th edition of the Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility Awards, popularly known as the SERAS Awards, which was held at Oriental Hotel, Lagos on Saturday, December 12.
The leading beverage company received these prestigious awards at the award ceremony themed, ‘Decade of Action: Accelerating Sustainable Development in Africa Through Collaborations’. With nominations in six categories, Coca-Cola emerged winner in two categories including ‘Best Company in Social Enterprise’ and ‘Best Company in Innovation’.
Speaking on the development, the company’s Head, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, expressed her delight at the recognition of Coca-Cola’s efforts and reiterated the company’s commitment to engendering local partnerships and collaborations to build sustainable communities across the country.
“We are steadfast in our commitment to foster a better-shared future for Nigerian communities. These awards are an indication of this commitment and we are grateful to the SERAS platform for recognizing our efforts”, she explained.
Widely known for its CSR footprint, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited along with its bottling partner, Nigeria Bottling Company, has since been at the forefront of driving change while solving pertinent issues plaguing communities. Through its key sustainability pillars focused on Women, Water, Waste and Wellbeing, heralded as the ‘4Ws’, the company has formed partnerships with numerous local NGOs to help the government in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals across the country.
Some of the initiatives implemented by the company include The Safe Birth Initiative (SBI), which seeks to support the reduction in maternal and newborn deaths by improving the capacity of selected public hospitals through procurement of vital medical equipment and supplies.
Other women-focused initiatives driven by the company include the ‘SHAPE 2020’ program, organised in partnership with local NGO, Whitefield Foundation, in which over 1000 women were empowered through training in vocational skills.
Other programs include various recycling initiatives; ‘Recyclespay’, ‘RESWAYE’ ‘Project Revive’ and ‘Catalyst for Change’ which saw the empowerment of over 10,000 Nigerian women and youths, 2,120 children kept in school and simultaneously impacted over 17 coastal communities. These programs were implemented in collaboration with African Cleanup Initiative, MEDIC, Recycle Points and Karis & Eleos Hand of Hope Foundation respectively. Also notable was the company’s donation of N20 million in October 2020 to cover the medical expenses of victims of the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria.
As part of its continued efforts to support vulnerable communities in the wake of the pandemic, the company partnered with emergency food relief platform, Givefood.ng, to feed 1 million people across Nigeria to cushion the attendant effects of COVID-19; also partnering with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect the frontline heroes.
Coca-Cola’s multiple awards are therefore a reflection of its vision to provide loved brands, done sustainably, for a better shared future – making a difference in the lives of people, communities and the planet.
