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Business Reporter
THE Coca-Cola Company says its “5by20” economic initiative has enabled the empowering of more than six million women entrepreneurs around the world.

In a latest media update, the multi-national beverages firm said the initiative has enabled economic empowerment by providing access to business skills, financial services and support networks.

“This International Women’s Month, The Coca-Cola Company and its partners are proud to celebrate exceeding our 5by20 goal by enabling the economic empowerment of more than six million women around the world and 34 percent (just over two million) of those women enabled by the 5by20 programme live and do business in Africa,” it said.

Coca-Cola said the 5by20 initiative was aimed at assisting women entrepreneurs across the Coca-Cola value chain — agricultural producers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, recyclers, and artisans — overcome challenges when establishing and growing their business.

By providing access to business skills, financial services, assets and support networks of peers and mentors, women entrepreneurs are enabled to overcome social and economic barriers and succeed as entrepreneurs while also helping create sustainable communities.

The beverages firm said it executed 5by20 across 33 countries in Africa with locally relevant initiatives rolled out.
“The 5by20 goal was ambitious, and we knew that we could not achieve it alone. Over the last 10 years, we have worked with countless partners including our bottling partners, civil society organisations, government stakeholders, other private sector actors, and generous financial grants from The Coca-Cola Foundation to recipients within its Women’s Entrepreneur Empowerment priority giving tier,” it said.

The Coca-Cola Foundation has funded some of 5by20 initiatives while the Coca-Cola system has worked with several partners to implement over 300 programmes in 100 countries to provide women entrepreneurs with business skills training, mentoring networks, financial services and other assets to help enhance their businesses and lives as well as providing more for their families, said the organisation.

“Women’s empowerment and progress against all the Sustainable Development Goals requires the collective effort of governments, civil society, non-governmental organisations and private sector organisations.

“Over the last 10 years, we have worked with countless partners who helped us bring our aspiration to life,” said Coca-Cola.

Partnerships with organisations such as the United Nations Women, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), Department for International Development (DFID), USaid, International Finance Corporation (IFC) MercyCorps, TechnoServe, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hand in Hand Southern Africa, and several other regional and local partners were critical to the success of the 5 by 20 programme.

“These partnerships are a demonstration that through collective action we achieve more together than we can on our own.”

In 2012, the Coca-Cola Company signed a global agreement with UN Women to enable the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in three pilot countries, which included South Africa.

At the end of the four-year programme in South Africa in December 2016, over 25 000 women micro-entrepreneurs had received business skills, leadership training, mentoring and peer networking skills and access to finance.