Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda today has handed over 3 Nissan pickup trucks to the Government Taskforce on Covid-19.
The handover to the Prime Minister and Chair of the National Task Force for COVID-19, Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda was done by Conrad van Niekerk, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Regional Managing Director in charge of Uganda, Tanzania, and Ghana.
The three vehicles are in addition to a consignment of food relief worth UGX390 million from The Coca-Cola Foundation, distributed through the Uganda Red Cross Society to vulnerable families affected by the lockdown. The company also earlier donated Ush85million to the Ministry of Health to buy medical equipment and sundries.
Alongside the Ministry of Health, CCBA is also currently running a handwashing intervention that involves setting up Handwashing facilities to increase public hygiene- so far, the company has erected four (4) 5,000 litre Community Handwashing Tanks in Namanve, Kyambogo and Mbarara Central Market.
Coca-Cola also, starting April 2020 put all their commercial advertising for Coca-Cola and all its other brands on hold and directed the budgets towards creating Covid-19 awareness messaging for the general public. The company also went further, to change some of its product labeling to include Covid-19 messaging.
All this added together, brings Coca-Cola’s contribution against fighting the Covid-19 disease caused by the coronavirus to well over UGX1.3 billion.
Rt. Hon Ruhakana Rugunda, welcomed Coca-Cola’s contribution- probably the largest to date, by any private sector company, and commended Coca-Cola for being a long-standing partner with the government in health causes.
“We are grateful for your support. Coca-Cola has been a long-standing partner with us in many ways. This is further evidence that we stand together. Let’s continue the fight against COVID-19 together,” he said.
Conrad van Niekerk, who was among others flanked by Melkamu Abebe, the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, Uganda General Manager, stressed that the company contributions were only the first phase of the effort against COVID-19 in Uganda.
“At Coca-Cola Beverages Africa we always look for meaningful ways in which we can contribute to the local communities we serve, whether by partnering with stakeholders such as the government and NGOs or engaging in wider community causes. Our company purpose: ‘refresh the world and make a difference in the community’ is the guiding principle that drives our community outreach activities,” said van Niekerk.
“Since the outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease (Covid-19) in Uganda, we have been working with the Ministry of Health to support and implement measures to curb its spread. We believe in sustainability – of business and the communities in which we operate. This is an operating ethos that we carry throughout our business every single day. As Coca-Cola, we have carried out different interventions. Apart from taking care of our staff, we have been working with different partners to support our communities in various ways,” he added.
On receiving the vehicles, Minister in charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Mary Karooro Okurut, emphasized that the contribution would go a long way in enabling the frontline staff to further transverse the country providing assistance and monitoring the spread of the virus.
“We are grateful to Coca-Cola for always prioritizing the wellbeing of Ugandans in the different communities across the country. A pandemic like this one calls for public-private partnerships and we have found Coca-Cola to be a reliable partner,” she said.
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine, thanked the company for the wide range of support provided to the ministry in the fight against COVID-19, including handwashing support and public awareness.
Pearl Bank Celebrates Customers in Festive Campaign Dubbed Pearl Santa“Your contributions will help us sink the message deep into the farthest corners of Uganda, among all the people. The catchphrase you have chosen of #StaySafeUG is very important in all our messaging, and you have truly gotten involved in this struggle through handwashing and publicity,” she said.
Over and above the external donations, the company has gone further to manufacture hand sanitizers that it has distributed free of charge to its staff, as well as select segments of society across the country, including those involved in fast-moving consumer goods wholesale and retail trading.
“We are very happy to make this contribution while working closely with different government entities in the fight against Covid-19 for the greater good. When all this passes, all that will be left will be our people, so we have to stand strong together,” van Niekerk reiterated.
Also present at the handover ceremony were Covid-19 Task Force members Kishor Jobanputra, Gustavo Bwoch, and Coordinator Dorothy Kisaka.
About Coca-Cola Beverages Africa
CCBA bottles and distributes beverages whose trademarks are owned by The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) or TCCC’s affiliated entities and is the world’s 8th largest Coca-Cola bottler by revenue. CCBA has over 16, 000 employees across its operations in Africa with almost 40 bottling plants in 13 countries.
The creation of CCBA in 2016 was designed to advance a consolidated, more successful Coca-Cola system on the continent, and also in Ethiopia. Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) accounts for about 40% of all Coca-Cola volumes sold in Africa.
CCBA began its operations as a legal entity from July 2016 having been created as a direct result of a merger between non-alcoholic ready to drink bottling operations of The Coca-Cola Company, (then) SABMiller and the Gutsche Family Investments.
CCBA shareholders now are: The Coca-Cola Company 66.5% and Gutsche Family Investments 33.5%.
CCBA boasts a diverse pan-African footprint servicing over 650 000 outlets that serve a combined population of over 249 million people across the continent.
CCBA operations in sub-Saharan Africa comprise the following markets: South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Ghana, Mayotte, Comoros, Botswana, Zambia and most recently, Eswatini. Aligned with The Coca-Cola Company’s 2020 Vision, CCBA is pursuing an ambitious growth strategy that will be supported through investment in manufacturing, sales, distribution, and marketing.
CCBA aspires to refresh Africa every day and to make the continent a better place for all.
