COCA-COLA COMMITS KSHS. 125 MILLION TOWARDS KENYA’S ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RECOVERY FROM COVID-19

The Coca-Cola System in Kenya, in partnership with  the  County Government of Laikipia,  Women Enterprise Fund (WEF), Absa  and Amref Health Africa in Kenya have launched an initiative to support small and micro business outlets across the country to recover and reopen after the adverse effects of  Covid-19  on Kenya’s  economy. Most of these businesses either lost revenue or ceased to operate.

The support is targeting 18,000 trade outlets across the country who will receive personal protective equipment including masks and face shields, hand washing jerry cans, sanitizers and garden furniture to enable them to enforce the required social distancing. They will also be provided with communication and awareness materials related to Covid-19 safety and precautions.

Phillipine Mtikitiki, vice president and general Manager, Coca-Cola East and Central Africa Franchise said: “Over the last few months, we have been focusing on the health and safety of our employees and communities. We are now extending our support to local economies as well as micro and small businesses.”   He added: “To help those who have always been at the heart of our social fabric but had to temporarily close, we  have committed Kshs.  125 million towards supporting our trade partners and waste collectors, eateries, restaurants, bars and kiosks.”  

Under the initiative, the traders and their staff will also benefit from Covid-19 health and safety training provided by Amref Health, to help them adhere to business opening and operating guidelines as per the government directives. Absa, the financial business partner will facilitate access to business loans to the traders that require working capital to revive their enterprises, including restocking.

While speaking at the event, Absa regional corporate director for East Africa, James Agin, explained that under this partnership, the bank shall support affected businesses across the entire value chain with revolving short-term working capital financing to bridge any cash flow challenges between stock purchase and receipt of payment from their customers.

 Absa will offer small and medium businesses unsecured loans of up to Kshs.10 million (which is the highest in the market), local purchase order (LPO) financing and invoice discounting of up to Kshs. 50 million as well as insurance and asset based financing   amongst other benefits. This will give the distributors and retailers the flexibility to accept extended payment terms from manufacturers, besides increasing their credit when the need arises.

“We are delighted to be part of this noble initiative that will contribute to ensuring that our economy starts to grow again and that businesses comply to national health and safety guidelines. Our role in this initiative is to empower traders with the knowledge that enables them to operate safely while ensuring they maintain a safe space for their customers. This will be done through an easy to understand training curriculum and application of a set standard of operating procedures,” said Dr. Meshack Ndirangu, Amref Health Africa in Kenya country director.

The initiative has brought on board   the County Government of Laikipia’s economic stimulus programme to provide trade finance to the county’s distributors and retailers. Hon. Ndiritu Muriithi, Governor, County Government of Laikipia, emphasized: “The retailers under this Coca-Cola scheme operating in Laikipia are eligible for business loans to help them restock and accelerate recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and will benefit from the County Government of Laikipia’s interest cost subsidy of up to five per cent. The county has already committed Kshs. 123 million to the economic stimulus programme, of which Kshs 73 million will cater for the interest cost subsidy.

By the  same  token,  Eng. Charles Mwirigi, WEF chief executive  officer  observed: ” To complement the efforts by Coca-Cola, the Fund has committed over Kshs. 2 billion to provide affordable and relevant loans to support women traders besides  extending  business skills training to enable them to bounce back from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.” Small traders and waste collectors across the country have experienced unprecedented losses occasioned by the effects of coronavirus.  

“We will continue to prioritise initiatives that support our traders as they reopen for business and we are already rolling out some initial support that will be augmented by what we have officially launched today. The response from our trade partners has so far has been very positive, and we hope that in the coming months they will regain consumer confidence and record more business,” said Xavier Selga, managing director, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa – Kenya.