Coca-Cola Africa and its bottling partners recently announced the launch of JAMII, the new Africa-focused sustainability platform. The platform houses the Company’s existing and new sustainability initiatives. Through this signature platform, Coca-Cola hopes to attract like-minded partners to help accelerate on-the-ground impact of its initiatives.
The Coca-Cola Company has focused on its three-pronged water strategy- Reduce, Replenish and Reuse. The new platform will build and expand on the past accomplishments in three areas; water stewardship, the economic empowerment of women and youth and waste management. This will be delivered together with bottling partners, system employees, and several NGO partners.
In the area of women and youth economic empowerment, JAMII will promote and stimulate entrepreneurship opportunities through the provision of improved access to skills training, networks, finance & markets. To date, over 2 million women across Africa have been economically enabled as part of the 5by20 program.
In the area of water stewardship, Coca-Cola promises to replenish 100% of the water used in production of their products by managing water use efficiency in their operations, supporting the conservation of natural water resources and improving community water access and climate change adaption. So far, combined efforts by Coca-Cola Africa, The Coca-Cola Foundation and its partners have resulted in sustainable access to drinking water for over 6 million people through the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN).
For waste management, Coca-Cola Africa is committed to driving a world without waste. Nearly all of Coca-Cola’s packaging is already recyclable with the goal of recycling the equivalent of 100% of its packaging waste by 2030.
“We recognize the responsibility we have as market leaders to make a meaningful difference – to empower and protect the communities and the environment in which we operate. Whether it is giving people access to safe drinking water, creating economic opportunities for people in dire need of it, or reducing the impact of our operations on the environment- we are committed to making that difference,” says Bruno Pietracci, Africa President at The Coca-Cola Company.
Patricia Obozuwa, AOU Vice President for Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability says “We chose the name JAMII, a Swahili word that means Community, Society, People – because it represents who we are as Africans and aligns with our values as an organization- our resilience, our commitment, and our spirit of community. Consolidating our sustainability efforts under this umbrella will allow us to strengthen our value proposition and make good on our promise to continue to be a trusted partner for sustainable growth in Africa.”
The Sustainability Track
Coca Cola’s focus on sustainability isn’t something new. Since the past few years, the company has been focusing on recycling to mitigate ecological degradation and pollution. It is working on design innovation in order to reach the target of making their packaging 100% recyclable globally by 2025. The Coca-Cola Company has made a commitment to make the world litter free by 2030, for which it has made critical development across its three key strategic pillars- Design, Collect and Partner.
In 2018, the Coca-Cola Company launched its global initiative ‘World Without Waster (WWW)’ with an aim to reduce plastic footprint, and as the company believes, they have achieved the significant milestone in 2019-20.
Coca-Cola’s Sustainability Update for the year 2019-20 showcased its commitment towards the purpose to ‘Refresh the world and make a difference’, which also align with the company’s principle of “building sustainable communities as foundations for sustainable businesses”.
“Consumers around the world care about our planet. They want and expect companies like ours to be leaders and help make a litter-free world possible,” James Quincey, president and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company was quoted as saying. “Through our ‘World Without Waste’ vision, we are investing in our planet and in in our packaging to help make the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past.”
The company has committed itself to the goal of ‘no-one will be left behind’ drafted in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Digital journey so far
In the world of today, sustainability and innovation complement each other. Technology is the key to map, monitor and devise effective solutions. Along with its efforts to prevent ecological devastation, Coca Cola is also digitalizing its processes and incorporating latest technologies to enhance customer experience.
In 2018, Coca-Cola embarked on a digital transformation journey in order to understand and serve its customers better. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), the company has reinvented its vending machines, which started a couple of years ago and now has been embraced by customers in several countries.
With the help of modern tools like AI and Machine Learning, Coca-Cola analyzes the app data to understand the consumer behavior — buying pattern, response to offers and campaigns, etc. With the help of the same data, the company interacts with the customers digitally for to collect their feedback in real time.
Earlier, Coca-Cola had announced the opening of seven digital centers in different parts of the world that would focus on Business Intelligence, data analytics, digital insights, digital marketing, and better customer experience. One of the centers was established in Dublin to support company leaders and colleagues from across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
