NBC proposes to invest $1bn to upscale company
The Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has proposed to invest an additional $1 billion (N560 billion) to strengthen its plants across the country.
Aside the new investment, the company’s investment in Nigeria has reached over $1.7 billion in 14 years, the Managing Director of NBC, Mr Mathieu Seguin, said.
He said that the proposed investment is to boost their capacities to meet the ever-changing demands of Nigerian consumers.
Seguin at a press briefing to flag off activities to mark its 70th anniversary celebration in Nigeria, said in the last five years, the Coca-Cola system has also supported the creation of 58,000 jobs along its value chain.
“As we continued to grow, we have been very deliberate about investing heavily to make a positive impact in the lives of people in communities where we work and operate.
“We believe that our business is only as sustainable as the communities in which we do business, and this is why we have mainstreamed sustainability into every aspect of our business.
“For perspective, in the last 10 years alone, the Coke System has invested more than 9 billion naira in lifting the living standards of communities where we do business in Nigeria, through locally relevant initiatives.
Some of the areas we have had the most impact have been in education and youth development, women empowerment, water, environmental sustainability, sports and the promotion of commerce and entrepreneurship,” he added.
Seguin went on to share some of the impact and notable accomplishments of the Coca-Cola system over the years, maintaining that the System has trained over30,000 youths on entrepreneurship and employability skills across different cities in Nigeria in the last 5 years.
“With regards to women development, from 2015 to 2019 alone the Coca-Cola 5by20 programme impacted over 470,000 women, with 38,000 women supported to start up their own medium, small or micro businesses as Coca-Cola Distributors or Retailers.