Coca-Cola Africa and its bottling partners have launched a new platform that will build and expand the brand’s past accomplishments in Africa.
Dubbed JAMII, the new Africa-focused sustainability platform will centre its focus in three areas which include; water stewardship, the economic empowerment of women and youth and waste management.
Coca-Cola hopes to attract like-minded partners to help accelerate on-the-ground impact of its initiatives together with bottling partners, system employees, and several NGO partners.
“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,” said Bruno Pietracci, Africa President at The Coca-Cola Company.
JAMII will promote and stimulate entrepreneurship opportunities through the provision of improved access to skills training, networks, finance & markets in the area of women and youth economic empowerment.
In the area of water stewardship, the company plans to replenish 100 percent of the water used in the production of its products by managing water use efficiency in 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 six million people through the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN).
For waste management, Coca-Cola Africa will commit to driving a world without waste, with nearly all of Coca-Cola’s packaging is already recyclable with the goal of recycling the equivalent of 100 percent of its packaging waste by 2030.
“Coca-Cola Africa is already forming new partnerships to facilitate the implementation of JAMII projects that will deliver on these goals.”
Internally, JAMII will inspire employees to make a difference in their immediate communities. Employee-nominated charities will receive grants and employee volunteering will be encouraged. Also, the Coca-Cola Employee Disaster Relief Fund will support employees facing financial hardship as a result of a natural disaster.
