coca cola in africa case study

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Water, Waste, Energy: Lessons from Coca-Cola in Africa

Africa’s challenge.

The United Nations has set as a goal universal access to “affordable, reliable, and modern energy” sources by 2030 (United Nations, 2015). From the vantage of 2017, this will be no small feat for Africa, where roughly one third of the population lacks access to electricity and more than half rely on biomass for basic energy needs (UNEP, 2017).

The United Nations has similarly set as its goal universal access to “safe and affordable drinking water” by 2030, one of several targets aimed at water and sanitation (United Nations, 2015). Again, this is a steep goal for Africa, where roughly half of the estimated 663 million people worldwide without access to clean water live (WaterAid Global, 2017; JNP, et. al., 2017).

Likewise, the United Nation’s 2030 development targets include the desire to “substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse” (United Nations, 2015). Proliferation—and failure to dispose of—waste adversely affects health while polluting the natural environment, problems that abound in Africa. Together, questions around water, waste, and energy challenge stakeholders on the African continent; but they also present opportunities for innovation. This digest examines two case studies of such innovation through the lens of what is arguably the world’s most recognizable brand: Coca-Cola. 

Coca-Cola in Africa

Coca-Cola has been in Africa since 1928, arriving first in South Africa forty-two years after the beverage was invented in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its franchise bottler model, the “secret formula” from Atlanta was exported to Africa, where it was bottled by independent franchisees who were mandated to meet standards set by the American-based corporation.

Today, Coca-Cola is in all 54 countries in Africa, where it employs more than 70,000 people in 140 bottling and canning plants, 900,000 retail outlets, and at least 3,200 micro-distribution centers (Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, 2014). This makes Coca-Cola one of, if not the, single largest private employer on the continent. Taking into consideration its positive multiplier effect—meaning the informal number of people who are supported as a result of each formal employment opportunity—the company’s reach is even bigger (Moore School of Business, 2005; PwC, 2012; PwC, 2013).

Anyone who has traveled or lived somewhere on the continent knows that it is virtually impossible to journey far enough off the beaten path to find oneself beyond the reach of Coca-Cola. Somehow, in every nook and cranny of the vast continent, you can still find a Coca-Cola product, and often a cold one. This uncanny ubiquity, striking for its contrast to the lack of basic amenities like power and clean water (that you might find there) lends insight into the singularity of this product.

Beyond having a popular product, Coca-Cola’s power rests in its vast distribution model. A bottle of Coca-Cola can—and does—travel from bottling plant to distribution center to small-scale outlet to hawker by the side of the road. That bottle travels by truck, tricycle, tuk-tuk, hand-held cart, and even dugout canoe. The strength of the Coca-Cola system is twofold: 1) along the way, each person engaged in the process makes a small profit, and 2) because of its franchise bottlers, Coca-Cola is considered to be local. And, so it is that in Africa, Coca-Cola is both a global and local commodity.

Coca-Cola’s Commitment to Sustainability

More than just an American corporation that operates overseas, Coca-Cola aims to stay attentive to immediate realities in order to protect its license to operate, mostly through collaboration with its bottlers. Creating marketing campaigns around local holidays, producing local language radio advertisements, and funding local initiatives, all under the umbrella of local bottlers, keeps the outward face of this multinational company recognizably local.

Like other companies in Africa, Coca-Cola began to pay attention to questions around sustainability at the turn of the century, particularly since its core business rests on the availability of water and energy, which were increasingly under threat. But, because Coca-Cola is a multinational company, it is also beholden to global sustainability standards.

The company’s 2020 sustainability goals, established around 2007, are aligned with global best practices, even when these exceed regulations set locally. When it comes to water, Coca-Cola’s primary ingredient, the company pledged to reduce inefficiency, promote healthy freshwater, and replenish the water it uses globally (Coca-Cola Water Report, 2017).

In 2015, the company announced that it had achieved what it calls “water neutrality,” that is, it “safely return[ed] to communities and nature an amount of water equal to what [it] uses in [its] finished beverages” on a global scale (Coca-Cola Water Report, 2017). It did this in large part through in-plant innovations and waste treatment facilities that ensure the water it puts back into the environment is clean. Since 2004, the company has also reduced the amount of water it uses to make a liter sized beverage by 27% (Sustainability Report, 2016).

At the same time, the company has partnered with more than two hundred communities across the globe to increase access to potable water, largely through its umbrella project, RAIN, and largely in Africa (RAIN, 2017). Funded by a company grant of 30 million USD, in addition to money from other donors, RAIN responds to continent-wide water crises in multiple ways (Walsh and Dowding, 2012).

Under RAIN, projects range from extending access to municipal water that, while safe, does not reach enough people, to filtering available, non-potable water, to providing access to clean water where there was none before. There are dozens of technologies employed in these projects, each dependent on immediate realities.

When it comes to energy and climate, Coca-Cola’s corporate goals also align with global benchmarks: In 2013, it pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 25% throughout its value chain by 2020. Numbers released recently show that emissions have been reduced by 14% since 2010 (Sustainability Report, 2016). Reaching these goals entails enhancing energy management devices within its plants and installing more coolers free of hydrofluorocarbon across the globe (as old ones are replaced).

Presently, there are 81 green initiatives underway across the system, with an additional 50 in the pipeline. Most of these are small-scale solar initiatives that provide supplemental energy to plants. Although wind has the potential to generate far more energy, the capital expenditure needed for wind farms is much higher (Sustainability Report, 2016).

Turning to packaging, the other component that plays into sustainability, Coca-Cola has pledged to reach a 75% recovery rate in developed markets. This means continuing to promote recycling efforts. At the same time, the company is focused on expanding the production of what it calls “plant bottles” (recyclable Polyethylene Terephthalate, or PET, made partially from plants), which saves oil costs. And, since 2008, the company has steadily reduced the weight of its packages, helping lower fuel costs for transport. The most recent numbers note that 60% of all introduced packaging has been either recycled, recovered, or refilled (Sustainability Report, 2016).

Yet, Coca-Cola’s sustainability success stories—of which there are many—sometimes obscure regional differences. The reality is that sustainability efforts lag in Africa. According to internal Coca-Cola tracking, total waste production, energy use, and CO2 emissions across the company’s three African business units have all trended downward since 2010. However, the numbers remain above best-practice levels within the global system.

Unstable regulatory environments, the predominance of small—and therefore less efficient—plants, and under-developed provider sectors all hamper achievement in Africa. In terms of package recovery, while most  levels in Africa were reportedly high in 2015 (the most recent data), they still failed to reach levels achieved in places like Japan, Western Europe, and Canada. It should be noted, however, that package recovery levels exceeded the levels reported in the United States (Sustainability Report, 2016). Shortcomings, in other words, are not unique to Africa.

These numbers suggest there is room for improvement in Africa when it comes to water, waste, and energy. It is that space for possibility on which the company is now focused. At present, some Coca-Cola bottlers are starting to set up small photovoltaic initiatives at individual plants. Others are further along. Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, the lead bottler in Nigeria (which also operates in Europe), has several large co-generation schemes that provide its plants with some independence from an unreliable and limited grid, while reducing carbon output.

Other plants across Africa are considering similar schemes. These are all nascent, often stymied by an immature provider sector, regulatory environments inhospitable to such initiatives (compared to, say, European subsidies), and, in some cases, lack of human resources to do the significant legal, procedural, and ultimately technical legwork needed. But, they are in the pipeline, particularly because energy access is increasingly seen as a threat to operations on the ground.

At the same time, Coca-Cola is focused on packaging recovery. While cultures and systems of waste collection are not firmly in place in Africa, entire upcycling and repurposing industries arise from refuse, sometimes in ways that confound bottlers who need their glass bottles returned, for instance, and often in ways that are degrading and dangerous. Though in most of Africa returnable glass bottles (RGB) remain king, PET (plastic) is making inroads, often adding to waste. In countries where PET is captured, like Rwanda, the plastic bottles are shipped to China for recycling, which often means breaking it down for use as fiber or pellets. South Africa provides an alternate model, described below.

PETCO: Plastic Recycling

Coca-Cola South Africa played a key role in the formation of PETCO, the PET Recycling Company NPC. Established in 2004 as a voluntary consortium of members of the South African PET industry, PETCO “self-regulates” recycling of plastic bottles. In the decade since its creation, PETCO has driven recycling efforts in South Africa to over 50%, reduced landfill storage, and helped lower CO2 levels.

This means there has been an 822% increase in recycling tonnage in South Africa since its creation (Wells). As part of its model, PETCO contracts with the only bottle-to-bottle recycling plant on the continent, where PET is repurposed into food-grade PET, versus PET for use as fiber, and living out PETCO’s motto that “plastic bottles are not trash.”

To achieve these results, PETCO has incubated what it calls “income opportunities” for trash collectors, often called trolleypreneurs, who sprung up on their own to meet a need they saw. In 2016, Dr. Casper Durandt, who serves as both chairman of PETCO and technical manager for Coca-Cola South Africa, estimated the number of people doing this type of work at around 40,000, with about 18% of them scavenging on landfills (Durandt).

Coke and PETCO do not support landfill picking, which is dangerous and unhygienic, though the practice persists. Rather, they support those pickers who process rubbish at the point of consumption. Named for the trolleys they push around the city and their entrepreneurial spirt, these trolleypreneurs earn cash while serving environmental and practical ends.

This work is difficult and degrading, as the folks at Coca-Cola and PETCO are quick to point out; the average trolleypreneur was making about 200-250R, or $20 USD, a day at the time I spoke to Durandt (Durandt). But, in the absence of available employment as well as other viable methods of trash collecting, Coke and PETCO are nevertheless trying to incubate these collectors. They provide reflective vests, safer trolleys, and plastic collection bags, while paying them on debit cards and helping train them in basic business skills.

While PETCO has established a robust model that has the capacity to “close the loop” on packaging, PET use remains secondary to RGB. There is a fierce debate about what is better from an environmental point of view: PET (that can be recycled and created with plant matter) or glass. While glass theoretically retains endless recycling potential, its use requires sanitizing—that uses water; glass is also heavier than plastic.

There is no single answer to this question, since much depends on the distance the bottle travels, whether or not it is reused—and how many times—and other variables. What is clear is that with the rise of GDPs across Africa, more and more consumers will demand one-way (plastic) packaging, increasing the need for sustainable PET use.

EKOCENTER: Energy, Water, and More

Just as PETCO provides an exportable model for Coca-Cola-driven sustainability, Coke’s EKOCENTER—a kiosk/energy hub—does likewise. A two-hour drive from Kigali, the capital of the small, landlocked central African nation of Rwanda, is the flagship center in Ruhunda. There, the 25,000 residents of this rural area can now access things they once lacked: basic consumer goods, purified water, 3G internet access, a regulation soccer field, and a medical center backed by a solar powered generator.

Unlike other Coca-Cola initiatives in Africa, many of which are anonymous, the EKOCENTER is Coca-Cola branded. Inside, young women run the shop, which sells Coke, but also milk and maize, pens and paper, solar panels and toothpaste, and more, alongside a much-used cell-phone charging station.

The Ruhunda location is the model of all that an EKOCENTER can be. Beside the kiosk is a seating area with room for sixty people, space for small-scale food vendors, pit latrines with sanitation stations, and a telecommunications tower. Adjacent is a free-standing water pump that provides both “raw,” municipal water and water that has been purified by reverse osmosis to meet WHO standards. Behind that is a medical clinic frequented by 100 to 200 people daily.

The water pump, kiosk, and telecom tower are powered by a solar system with storage capacity of 13 kilowatts of power. The water pump requires between ½ and 1 kilowatt of power daily, some of which is held as back up for the clinic and some of which is sold back to small-scale entrepreneurs. The fees received help maintain the device, which is monitored remotely, but fixed locally by trained mechanics. At the time I visited, the kiosk was generating 4,000 Euros in monthly revenue with a gross profit of 800 Euros monthly.

The EKOCENTER demonstrates what Coca-Cola often refers to as its immense convening power. It is an example of what Coca-Cola calls its tri-sector partnership between business, civil society, and government. As of June 2016, Coca-Cola had placed more than 100 EKOCENTERS on the continent, with 35 in Rwanda alone.

Lessons Learned

When it comes to water, waste, and energy, no one-size solution can work across a continent as vast as Africa. Still, there are several lessons that emerge from these two case studies:

Job Creation. Any solution aimed at tackling water, waste, and energy challenges should include a job creation component. Multiple analysts across these domains have made this point: employment is central to any enduring development model (Brew-Hammond, 2297). And here, of course, is where a company like Coca-Cola, with its vast employment potential, comes in.

Serving Multiple Bottom Lines.  In the Coca-Cola system every single person who touches the supply chain makes a profit, however small. So too could those who do work aimed at tackling the world’s biggest problems. Coca-Cola understands that small profits made along the way, if properly harnessed, become the seeds of future profits and, in the best-case scenario, provide an escape from poverty. Coca-Cola’s EKOCENTERS (whose female employees are often participants in the company’s larger initiative to empower 5 million women by 2020) and PETCO, that incubates workers, are prime examples of the type of scheme that pairs income generation with sustainability work.

Corporate Involvement. These lessons also call for a willingness to see multinational corporations as potential partner agents for change. At the same time, and differently, the lessons make clear that in order for Coca-Cola, or any corporation, to rise to these challenges, it must work hard to determine that its activities are truly supporting sustainability, rather than being green window dressing. These lessons also call for a continued transfer of knowledge across the Coca-Cola (and other) corporate systems and, if possible, an extension of providers (whether around energy, water, or recycling) across geographies to expand possibilities.

Balance. Water, waste, and energy in Africa, when examined via the lens of Coca-Cola, call to mind the balance that should always be at the front of any sustainability discussion. Where we might lower carbon production with reusable glass bottles, for example, we might simultaneously expend more water. Where we might get rid of manual bottle cleaning, we might lose employment opportunities. Where we hinge our hopes at electrifying the continent around a corporation, we may undermine governments. Where we rely on a beverage company’s initiatives, we may extend the consumption of sugary drinks to those whose diets are already compromised.

The matrix around these questions is complex; the answers far from easy. The implications for the energy, sustainability, public health, and policy certainly require more exploration. 

The research featured here was supported by grant funding from the Kleinman Center. The author’s research, opinions, and insights do not represent the voice of the Kleinman Center. The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments of Dr. James R. Hines.

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Q&A: Author of 'Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African' on Coke's surprising history

A store in Monrovia, Liberia, advertises Coca-Cola. The photo is from circa 1947. Alberts/Alberts/Three Lions via Getty Images hide caption

A store in Monrovia, Liberia, advertises Coca-Cola. The photo is from circa 1947.

Author-historian Sara Byala had an epiphany about Coca-Cola's role in African life and culture in 2003. She and a group of fellow graduate students had found their way across Mali's Saharan Desert via an arduous journey that involved a broken-down jeep followed by bouts of hiking and hitchhiking.

When the exhausted group reached a Niger River ferry stop the next day, the pause that refreshes took on new meaning. "Boarding, grimy and parched, we are offered — as in a dream — ice-cold Coca-Cola," she writes in her book, Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African.

At the time, she wondered, "How is this here ... Where was this bottled, how was it transported and, most importantly, how was this cooled?"

Good questions, all — which she pursued and now answers in her new book. After writing it, Byala, associate director of the University of Pennsylvania's Global Documentary Institute and a senior lecturer in critical writing there, has come to conclude "that an ice-cold Coke far up the Niger River was as much about Mali as it was emblematic of an American corporation's reach."

If this sounds a bit like an explanation for how the blog you are reading came to be called "Goats and Soda," you are not far off.

"The blog is aptly named," Byala affirmed in a telephone conversation about how Coca-Cola and Africa became so intertwined — and the pluses and minuses of their shared history.

Egyptian workers push Coca-Cola refrigerators through a Cairo street in 2000. Mohammed Al-Sehti/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Egyptian workers push Coca-Cola refrigerators through a Cairo street in 2000.

Byala also explained how the American multinational company made its soda seem "local" in even the most out-of-the-way areas in Africa; how the company dealt with divestment and apartheid; and how the company is addressing health and environmental challenges.

Here are excerpts from the interview, which has been edited and condensed for clarity and space:

How big is Coca-Cola's footprint in Africa?

It's huge. The company employs about 70,000 people in Africa. [Each of] these jobs in turn supports between four and ten additional people in secondary jobs, in industries providing bottles, crowns [caps], carbonic gas [for the water], advertising. This multiplier effect makes it responsible for up to 750,000 jobs.

It's also ubiquitous. You see signs advertising Coca-Cola everywhere. Being able to sell Coke came to signify modernity — because to serve it cold you need electricity and refrigeration. People also came to trust Coke as safe for consumption, which cannot always be assumed about water in remote places.

What were Coke's beginnings in Africa?

Kola nuts, native to Africa, are sorted in the Ivory Coast. The nuts were used in the original recipe for Coca-Cola and gave the soda half of its name. The company does not give out its current formula but numerous articles on Coke assert that extract of kola nuts is no longer used. Sia Kambou/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Kola nuts, native to Africa, are sorted in the Ivory Coast. The nuts were used in the original recipe for Coca-Cola and gave the soda half of its name. The company does not give out its current formula but numerous articles on Coke assert that extract of kola nuts is no longer used.

The story begins with the kola nut. It had been cultivated [in its native Africa] and used as everything from a stimulant to [medical] restorative in all parts of the continent for centuries [usually it was chewed]. By the 1880s, kola samples had reached Europe and America. Atlanta-based patent medicine maker John Pemberton formulated a non-alcoholic brew (a marketing plus for the temperance-minded) that combined carbonated water with kola, sugar, caramel and coca leaves.

According to official Coca-Cola history, the beverage itself didn't appear on the continent until 1928, but I found records of it being sold as early as 1909 at a soda fountain in Cape Town.

And as you note in the book, kola nut extract is no longer likely part of the recipe: "Somewhere along the way, the amount of kola nut that could be found in Coca-Cola became close to, if not, negligible."

How did Coke become so popular in Africa?

By becoming local. It sounds counterintuitive. But what became apparent to me in researching the book was that though it is an American product, throughout Africa it's considered local.

So in addition to Coke's appeal as a sign of modernity, it was also seen as local? In what way?

Coke exports a concentrate to two factories in Africa where it is then mixed with carbonated water and sugar and other ingredients, all provided locally. Any local bottler will be getting shipments of that concentrate and doing everything locally. There are bottling plants in the vast majority if not all of African countries — and usually several within a given country.

From there, the many distributors and distribution centers — including small, independently run depots, most of which are owned and run by women — transport Coca-Cola via large truck or bicycle or boat or small ships or mule, including to the most remote points in the continent.

Is it unusual to have women entrepreneurs in Africa?

Bottles of Coca-Cola are sold at a market in Northern Cameroon. Pierre Guillaud/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Bottles of Coca-Cola are sold at a market in Northern Cameroon.

Coke worked with NGOs, governments, and other actors to provide access to mentorship, credit and employment to women. Because female entrepreneurship is so entrenched in sub-Saharan Africa, women rapidly took advantage of these new opportunities. The work in north Africa was similar but faced a different set of cultural values.

How else did Coke become both visible and local?

Coke also found numerous ways to make the brand visible everywhere, helping to sponsor parades, beauty pageants, tournaments, sports, music concerts, public events, major and minor, throughout the continent.

A group of Rwandans waits for transportation near a Coca Cola placard. The photo is from 1994. Hector Mata/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A group of Rwandans waits for transportation near a Coca Cola placard. The photo is from 1994.

You also see fascinating ways in which Coke waste materials get upcycled, recycled, and repurposed. I was in Uganda last summer and saw petrol being sold to drivers in Coke bottles.

Coca-Cola bottles get repurposed all over Africa in all sorts of ways. In this case, they were used to sell small amounts of petrol, presumably because that quantity is all people either needed or could afford.

You can buy numerous arts and crafts items among other objects on sale, all made from Coca-Cola bottles both plastic and glass, cans, labels, and so on.

Like the Coca-Cola picture frame with the photo of your family?

I've been collecting these kinds of items for years! Coca-Cola cans, bottle tops, and bottles are upcycled in all sorts of ways to make everything from toys and purses to trivets and frames. This means that the containers are used as mediums for artisans who produce items that are worth more than the original material. Hence, my picture frame, made out of flattened Coke bottles, and housing a family picture from my cousin`s wedding in 2013 Durban.

How did Coke respond — or not – to apartheid?

Many Coke plants resisted so-called "petty apartheid" rules such as segregating bathrooms and canteens. Still, in the 1970s the company remained reluctant to sign the "Sullivan Principles" that called for disinvestment in apartheid South Africa. That was one reason why, in 1981, American civil rights activists threatened to boycott Coke. In response, Coke promised to hire and promote Black employees in the U.S. and review how to deal with apartheid in South Africa. Coke figured out a way to simultaneously keep selling the product there while also technically divesting themselves from the country, thus depriving the apartheid state of tax revenue.

In addition, Coke funded a $10 million independent charity [based in South Africa] called the Equal Opportunity Fund to support education, housing and business development. And it allied itself with Nelson Mandela's ANC party to help end apartheid.

The EOF was based in South Africa and funded work solely in South Africa. In the book, I write about Coca-Cola's work with the ANC, Nelson Mandela's party. This work never took the form of a formal alliance. Nor was the company ever outwardly committed to working with the ANC or helping end apartheid. Still, the company played an important and never before written about role in doing just that, through funding, disinvestment and creating on-ramps to economic participation for previously disadvantaged South Africans that helped ease the transition to the post-apartheid order.

Are there costs to Coke's popularity in Africa?

First, there are threats to the human body: sugar is not good for you, and liquid sugar is worse for you.

Second: waste from packaging, leaving landfills stuffed with plastic and glass and cans.

Third: water.

Do you mean using supplies of potable water that would/should go to the general public?

Yes and no.

Coca-Cola cannot be produced without access to clean water. The environmental challenges around water are vast and include procuring enough water, making sure available water is clean and being sure to put back into the environment as much water as it uses so as not to use more than its fair share.

How does Coke address these issues?

These are threats to Coke's business as well as to humanity.

Many people in Africa lack sufficient water. In 2010 the company launched the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) a huge umbrella project to address the water crisis throughout the continent.

A shopkeeper win Zanzibar, photographed in 2005. Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A shopkeeper win Zanzibar, photographed in 2005.

In just over a decade, about six million Africans had improved water access while over one million Africans had access to better sanitation and nearly half a million hectares of land had improved water access. While critics argue that RAIN's success is but a drop in the bucket in terms of human need, it remains the case that it has done more than any other benefit scheme.

And how about sugar, and its relation to obesity and related health problems?

Coca-Cola's approach to sugar is multifold: one, reduce package size; two, expand into non-sugar and low-sugar drinks, including bottled water and juice; and, three, lower the amounts of added sugar in established brands. There are many [other] products on the market that contain high levels of added liquid sugar, like drinkable yogurts and Frappuccino's. Coca-Cola's aim is, in its breadth of products and variety of sizes, to provide options for all consumers.

And what about landfills?

Just as Coca-Cola seeded recycling in America, so too the company is at work to create mechanisms for recycling in Africa, thus reducing landfill. In the book, I detail the work of PETCO, a Coca-Cola driven consortium of PET or plastic producers in South Arica, that has successfully driven that country's recycling rate.

The company also partners with governments and NGOS to provide their technical or logistical expertise. One example is Project Last Mile , whose website asks, "If you can find a Coca-Cola product almost anywhere in Africa, why not life-saving medicines?" The group partners with other organizations (including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a funder of this blog) to get medical resources to those who lack access to necessary medicines. Coca-Cola helps apply its logistical knowledge base to help with issues of storage, distribution, marketing and delivery.

So on balance, how would you describe the benefit/harm ratio of Coke in Africa?

My book does not offer a clearcut verdict on the benefit/harm ratio of Coke in Africa. Rather, my book is a work of explanation that sets out to show how Coca-Cola became ubiquitous across Africa and to describe what this ever-presence means. In laying out this complex story, I show how the company uses resources, brands the continent and leads the rise of noncommunicable diseases. But, I also show how with the spread of Coca-Cola came the spread of electricity, human capital, employment and water. I leave it to the reader to wrestle with the verdict.

Diane Cole writes for many publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. She is the author of the memoir After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges. Her website is DianeJoyceCole.com .

• Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African

Coca-Cola in Africa: a long history full of unexpected twists and turns

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A new book called Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African tells the story of how the world’s most famous carbonated drink conquered the continent. It’s a tale of marketing gumption and high politics and is the product of years of research by critical writing lecturer Sara Byala , who researches histories of heritage , sustainability and the ways in which capitalist systems intersect with social and cultural forces in Africa. We asked her some questions about the book.

What do you hope readers will take away?

There are three main takeaways. The first is that while Africa is largely absent from books on Coca-Cola, the company’s imprint on the continent is enormous. It is present in every nation. Most estimates put Coke as one of the largest private employers in Africa, if not the largest. Beyond official jobs, the company has been shown to have a multiplier effect that means that for each official job, upwards of 10 other people are supported.

The second takeaway is that Coke’s story in Africa is an old one. It starts with its use of the west African kola nut , from which it takes its name (if no longer its source of caffeine ). Arriving in Africa in the early 1900s, it’s a story that is deeply and, often surprisingly, entangled with key moments in African history. This includes the end of apartheid in South Africa and the advent of postcolonial African nations.

Third, I want readers to see that while we may assume that a multinational company selling carbonated, sugary water is inherently a force for ill, both the history of Coke in Africa and my fieldwork suggest a far more complicated story. Coca-Cola is what it is today in Africa, I argue, because it became local. It bent to the will of Africans in everything from sport to music to healthcare . Its ubiquity thus tells us something about African engagement with a consumer product as well as the many ways in which ordinary people wield power.

How did Coca-Cola first arrive in Africa?

Coca-Cola doesn’t export a finished product from its corporate headquarters in the US. It sells a concentrate , which comes from a handful of locations around the globe, including Egypt and Eswatini. This concentrate is sold to licensed bottlers who then mix it with local forms of sugar and water before carbonating and bottling or canning it.

Coca-Cola lore says that the company first secured local bottlers for its concentrate in South Africa in 1928, its first stop on the African continent. By combing through old newspapers, archival documents, and pharmaceutical publications, however, I found evidence to suggest that Coke may in fact have been sold in 1909 in Cape Town as a short-lived soda fountain endeavour. This is just 23 years after the product was invented in Atlanta, Georgia.

It was neither easy nor assured that Coca-Cola would take off anywhere in the world upon its arrival. The early chapters of my book detail the often ingenious lengths that bottlers had to go to to get Coke off the ground. This included creating a new line of sodas to support the fledgling product called Sparletta . This includes green Creme Soda and Stoney ginger beer , both still available for purchase. Later chapters explore the routes by which the product spread across the continent, by detailing everything from the co-branding of petrol stations with Coca-Cola, to the rise of Coke beauty pageants, the birth of local forms of Coke advertising, the proliferation of Coca-Cola signage, and much more.

What role did it play in apartheid South Africa?

Coca-Cola was entrenched in South Africa before the advent of the racist, white minority apartheid state in 1948. While the company largely attempted to stay out of politics in South Africa, much as it did elsewhere in the world, it resisted certain “petty apartheid” rules. For example, the washrooms and lunchrooms in its plants were open to all ethnic groups, unlike the “whites only” facilities established under apartheid. A turning point came in the 1980s when, in tandem with activism in the US calling on the company to redress racial imbalances in America, the company was forced to reexamine its racial politics in South Africa as well.

What followed was perhaps the most interesting chapter in the story of Coca-Cola in Africa. Breaking with established precedent, the company took a stance against the apartheid state. Coca-Cola executive Carl Ware led the way here. Under his direction , the company crafted a unique form of disinvestment that enabled it to do what no other company managed: keep the products in the country while depriving the apartheid state of tax revenue. To do this, the company sold all its holdings to a separate business that continued to sell Cokes. It then moved its concentrate plant to neighbouring Eswatini, leaving Coca-Cola with no assets or employees in South Africa.

In part, this was possible because the company aligned itself with the African National Congress (ANC) , making a host of moves to help to end apartheid. These included meeting in secret with ANC leadership, funding clandestine meetings between the ANC and businesspeople, and setting up a charitable fund headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to support Black educational empowerment. In the book, I document these activities for the first time with extensive interviews and archival material.

It was during this era of disinvestment that Coca-Cola exploded within densely populated and remote parts of the country, providing on-ramps to economic participation for scores of South Africans that were later replicated with its global 5x20 project to empower women in business.

This spread in turn drove the consumption of liquid sugar to new heights, causing a host of other problems such as diabetes and dental cavities , which both the company and my book tackle too.

What I demonstrate in the book is that Coca-Cola’s shrewd positioning at the end of apartheid allowed it to emerge, in the post-apartheid landscape, ready not only to renew business in South Africa, but also to reinvigorate its presence on the continent at large. The question is how to weigh this spread (and its attendant benefits) against the costs.

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Project Last Mile is The Coca‑Cola Company’s pioneering partnership to strengthen health systems across Africa by leveraging our distribution and system network.

This is achieved by working with global donors and African governments.

Without life-saving medicines, people in Africa experience avoidable loss of life from treatable diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria or from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines or by proactively accessing essential health services.

The Challenge Project Last Mile Faces​

Project Last Mile believes life-saving medicines should be available to all people, regardless of where they live. ​

In Africa, nearly 50% of people lack access to critical medicines. The program is working to change that.

• Systemic Barriers​

Across Africa, governments and donors are investing billions to strengthen health systems and make affordable medicines available. However, traditional supply chains often struggle to get medicines and supplies to the health facilities and people who need them most. In addition, they often lack marketing skills to communicate the health services available, resulting in health facilities with medicines and services, but no patients.​

• Partnership Approach​

African governments and the private sector coming together with a common goal, to make sure life-saving medicines and health services are in reach of every person in Africa​.

• Leveraging Coca‑Cola's Network​

A powerful cross-sector partnership by leveraging and sharing the Coca‑Cola system’s reach and business strength. ​ This supports and enables what public health departments are already doing to get medicines to the public and strengthen health systems.​

Project Last Mile works with a national Ministry of Health in enhancing the work they have already done in improving the health system capacity.​

Project Last Mile conducts in-depth scoping with stakeholders in each country to understand local context and design programs to meet the unique needs of country partners.​

Transferring Skills

Project Last Mile transfers skills and knowledge from the Coca‑Cola system and builds the capacity of Ministry of Health partners to improve the availability of life-saving medicines and helps to improve the uptake of related essential services.​

Help Project Last Mile by Getting Involved​

Project Last Mile believes partnerships and collaboration can help put life-saving medicines in reach of every person in Africa. Visit the site to learn more and to share their social media stories.

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• 27 Aug 2021

Africa’s biggest Coca-Cola bottler raises the bar for water stewardship with 2030 strategy

With the arrival of World Water Week, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is forging ahead with implementation of its 2030 Water Stewardship Strategy.

The continent’s biggest bottler of Coca-Cola beverages has been laying the foundation to implement the Coca-Cola system’s 2030 Water Stewardship Strategy, which focuses on sustainable, efficient water usage, improving local water challenges and partnering with others to improve watershed health and enhance community water resilience, focusing on women and girls.

The strategy has a strong emphasis on understanding the local context and needs of communities, which then informs the choice of appropriate interventions.

“We have a global Coca-Cola system framework with goals for operations, watershed health and communities, based on in-depth risk assessment. That determines our targets,” said CCBA’s supply chain director, Rian Hurter.  

CCBA head of sustainability, Diana Sibanda, said: “We are identifying where we have most volumes at risk and the watersheds they source from and will develop specific water projects and mobilise partnerships that can address water challenges.

“We will maintain the global metric of 100% replenishment, focusing on improving watershed health in water-stressed areas that are critical to our business, our communities and our agricultural supply chain. We are continually assessing our priority watersheds and engaging local stakeholders to devise integrated and holistic plans for collective action.”

For example, in Ethiopia, East Africa Bottling SC, in partnership with the community and local government, made a 3 million Birr investment to construct a reservoir and pipeline from a rehabilitated borehole, as well as installing a submersible pump to create a safe water supply for 3 000 households, along with health centres, schools and religious institutions in the community of Bahirdar Zuria Woreda in the Mi’erab Gojam zone.

A total of 17 000 community members will benefit, with positive impacts on health and development.

In South Africa, an expanding network of groundwater harvesting and treatment facilities is fulfilling its promises to provide millions of litres of water to water-distressed communities around the country.

By the end of July, the Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa’s Coke Ville groundwater community water project had reached over 10 000 homes, just shy of its target of reaching 12 000 homes by the end of 2021. These projects have cumulatively produced 51 million litres of water to these homes, well on the way to the 2021 year-end target of 80 million litres.

“CCBA, together with the Coca-Cola system are leaders in using water responsibly in our operations and giving it back,” said Sibanda.

“We continue to manage water resources through country projects that reduce water use in our operations, protect local water resources and provide safe, clean drinking water to communities in need.”

CCBA’s water stewardship initiatives complement the work of The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) and its Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN), which gave improved access to clean water to six million Africans in more than 4 000 communities across 41 countries.

The Upper Tana River Basin, north of Nairobi, is home to two of the five mountain ranges that feed Kenya’s major waterways. The region is critical to Kenya’s economy since much of the nation’s famous coffee and tea is grown there, but soil erosion from these farming activities on the steep slopes reduced harvests and put Nairobi’s water treatment stations under pressure.

Around 95% of Nairobi’s water is pumped to the city from the Upper Tana River Basin, and based on the principle that it is cheaper and more efficient to address water challenges at the source, TCCF funded a RAIN grant to The Nature Conservancy to train farmers on soil erosion mitigation techniques.

This decreases sedimentation and lightens the load for Nairobi Water’s treatment stations.  

Sustainable access to safe water is critical to the health and economy of rural communities in Tanzania. In the past, community water systems have fallen into disrepair because of high costs and limited capacity to maintain and repair them. Solar power created new opportunities to provide rural Tanzanians with safe, affordable water. 

The Water for Development Alliance, an initiative of TCCF  and the US Agency for International Development, collaborated with The Ohio State University’s Global Water Institute, Waterboys, WorldServe International, and their local Tanzanian partner Majitech, to deliver sustainable water access to over 70 000 rural Tanzanians in 14 communities across the country.  

Safe water access was a constant issue for the residents of Marracuene, Mozambique. A TCCF grant to the Nando’s MaXamba enabled it to commission two water access points to ensure the 700 community members have access to an affordable, sustainable, and safe water source. To complement this infrastructure, TCCF grants were used to install a network of 50 handwashing stations and the community received training on best hygiene practices. To round out the intervention, the women-led community water association participated in economic empowerment activities and received basic operations and maintenance training to maintain the water infrastructure.

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Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA)

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) the 8th largest Coca-Cola bottling partner worldwide. In 2018, they shipped over 916 million cases throughout Southeast and East Central Africa.

Business Challenge

Like many manufacturers worldwide, CCBA focuses on continuous improvement. Over the years, they’d made some progress, such as reducing stock outs from 29% in 2013 to 18% in 2016 and raising on-time in-full (OTIF) shipments from 65% to 68% during the same period. But those achievements weren’t nearly good enough for CCBA to meet the growing demands of the markets it serves.

Part of the problem was the proliferation of SKUs and product categories. From 2013 to 2016, SKUs had grown from 370 to 580 and product categories had expanded from 7 to 18. Compounding the issue of complexity, CCBA was still planning demand from forecasts, and despite their best efforts, they were unable to raise accuracy much above 68%.

Finally, the organization lacked the visibility they needed to manage replenishment well. So, like many other manufacturers that rely on forecast-driven planning, they had too much of the wrong materials and not enough of the right. Their network of planners relied on homegrown spreadsheets and judgement calls to determine what they needed to order.

“If I had to summarize DDMRP into one word it would be visibility. We are able to see, at first glance the actual status of our raw materials and finished goods, which guides us in the right direction to do replenishments in the right order.”

In 2016, CCBA decided to take a closer look at Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP), a replenishment methodology that aligns inventory replenishment to true market demand. By October of the same year, they started sending planners through training, setting them on the path to become Certified Demand Driven Planners. Then, in February 2017, they launched their first pilot at a bottling plant in Namibia. This plant shipped more than 14M cases annually across 135 SKUs.

In March of 2018, after holding group-wide Demand Driven Planner training, CCBA rolled out a spreadsheet-based DDMRP solution across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania. By September of 2018, however, CCBA decided the time had come to replace their DDMRP spreadsheets with a packaged solution that would help them streamline their DDMRP operations to achieve even greater improvements.

After a thorough investigation that included developing a solution in-house, they chose Intuiflow by from Demand Driven Technologies (formerly Replenishment+). Once again, the organization rolled the solution out in Namibia first with significant results, including a 29% reduction in total inventory within the first two months.

For CCBA, the journey continues. In the fall of 2019, the organization rolled out Intuiflow to Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania with additional locations planned.

Steven Wicks, Planning Manager talks about the impact DDMRP has made in Namibia.

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Proceedings of the 1996 Multicultural Marketing Conference pp 178–183 Cite as

Coca-Cola Sabco - A Case Study in Distribution to the “Main Market” in South Africa

• Gavin E. Staude 3  
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The black population in South Africa represents the “Main Market” when it comes to fast-moving consumer goods. This paper attempts to show how Coca-Cola Sabco has adopted innovative marketing and distribution strategies to penetrate the Main Market in South Africa and to fulfil its vision and mission.

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Coca-Cola Marketing Case Study

From the star ‘Coca-Cola’ drink to Inca Kola in North and South America, Vita in Africa, and Thumbs up in India, The Coca-Cola Company owns a product portfolio of more than 3500 products . With the presence in more than 200 countries and the daily average servings to 1.9 billion people, Coca-Cola Company has been listed as the world’s most valuable brand with 94% of the world’s population recognizing the red and white Coca-Cola brand Logo . Moreover, 3.1% of all beverages consumed around the world are Coca-Cola products. All this because of its great marketing strategy which we’ll discuss in this article on Coca-Cola Marketing Strategy .

Coca-Cola –

• has a Market capitalization of $192.8 Billion (as of May 2016).
• had 53 years of consecutive annual dividend increases.
• with the revenue of over $44.29 billion, is not just a company but an ECONOMY.

The world knows and has tasted the coca cola products. In fact, out of the 55 billion servings of all kinds of beverages drunk each day (other than water), 1.7 billion are Coca-Cola trademarked/licensed drinks.

Marketing history

Market research in the beginning.

It all started 130 years ago, in 1886, when a Confederate colonel in the Civil War, John Pemberton, wanted to create his own version of coca wine (cola with alcohol and cocaine) and sent his nephew Lewis Newman to conduct a market research with the samples to a local pharmacy (Jacobs pharmacy). This wasn’t a new idea back then. The original idea of Coca wines was discovered by a Parisian chemist named Angelo Mariani.

Pemberton’s sample was sold for 5 cents a glass and the feedback of the customers was relayed to him by his nephew. Hence, by the end of the year, Pemberton was ready with a unique recipe that was tailored to the customers taste.

Marketing Strategy In The Beginning

Pemberton soon had to make it non-alcoholic because of the laws prevailing in Atlanta. Once the product was launched, it was marketed by Pemberton as a “Brain Tonic” and “temperance drink” (anti-alcohol), claiming that it cured headaches, anxiety, depression, indigestion, and addiction. Cocaine was removed from Coke in 1903.

The name and the original (current) Trademark logo was the idea of Pemberton’s accountant Frank Robinson, who designed the logo in his own writing. Not changing the logo till date is the best strategy adopted by Coca-cola.

Soon after the formula was sold to Asa G Candler (in 1889), who converted it into a soda drink, the real marketing began.

Candler was a marketer. He distributed thousands of complimentary coca-cola glass coupons, along with souvenir calendars, clocks, etc. all depicting the trademark and made sure that the coca cola trademark was visible everywhere .

He also painted the syrup barrels red to differentiate Coca-Cola from others.

Various syrup manufacturing plants outside Atlanta were opened and in 1895, Candler announced about Coca-Cola being drunk in every state & territory in the US.

The Idea Of The Bottle

During Candler’s era, Coca-Cola was sold only through soda fountains. But two innovative minds, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, secured from Candler exclusive rights (at just $1) for bottled coca cola sales.

But Coca-Cola was so famous in the US that it was subjected to imitations. Early advertising campaigns like “Demand the genuine” and “Accept no substitutes” helped the brand somewhat but there was a dire need to differentiate. Hence, in 1916, the unique bottle of Coca-Cola was designed by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. The trademark bottle design hasn’t been changed until now.

Coca-Cola Worldwide

In 1919, Candler sold the company to Robert Woodruff whose aim was to make Coca-Cola available to anyone, anytime and anyplace. Bottling plants were set up all over the world & coca cola became first truly global brand.

Robert Woodruff had some other strategies too. He was focused on maintaining a standard of excellence as the company scaled. He wanted to position Coca-Cola as a premium product that was worthy of more attention than any of its competitors. And he succeeded in it.  Coca-Cola grew rapidly throughout the world.

Coca-Cola Marketing Strategies

The worldwide popularity of Coca-Cola was a result of simple yet groundbreaking marketing strategies like –

Consistency

Consistency can be seen from the logo to the bottle design & the price of the drink (the price was 5 cents from 1886 to 1959). Coca-Cola has kept it simple with every slogan revolving around the two terms ‘Enjoy’ and ‘happiness’.

From the star bottle to the calendars, watches and other unrelated products, Candler started the trend to make Coca-Cola visible everywhere. The company has followed the same branding strategy till now. Coca-Cola is everywhere and hence has the world’s most renowned logo.

Positioning

Coca-Cola didn’t position itself as a product. It was and it is an ‘Experience’ of happiness and joy.

Franchise model

The bottling rights were sold to different local entrepreneurs , which is continued till now. Hence, Coca-cola isn’t one giant company, it’s a system of many small companies reporting to one giant company.

Personalization & Socialization

Unlike other big companies, Coca-Cola has maintained its positioning as a social brand. It talks to the users. Coca-Cola isn’t a company anymore. It’s a part of us now. With its iconic advertising ideas which include “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” & “Share a Coke”, it has maintained a special spot in the heart of its users.

Diversification

Coca-Cola, after marking its presence all over the world, took its first step towards diversifying its portfolio in 1960 by buying Minute Maid. It now operates in all but 2 countries worldwide with a portfolio of more than 3500 brands.

Coca-Cola Marketing Facts

• Logo & bottle design hasn’t changed since the start.
• During its first year, Coca-Cola sold an average of 9 drinks a day.
• Norman Rockwell created art for Coke ads.
• Coke has had a huge role in shaping our image of Santa Clause.
• In the 1980s, the company attempted a “Coke in the Morning” campaign to try to win over coffee drinkers.
• In 1923, the company began selling bottles in packages of six, which became common practice in the beverage industry.
• Recently, it was in the news that Verizon acquired Yahoo for around $5 billion which is more or less the same amount the Coca-Cola Company spends on its advertisements.
• The number of employees working with the Coca-Cola Company (123,200 to be exact) is more than the population of many countries.

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A startup consultant, digital marketer, traveller, and philomath. Aashish has worked with over 20 startups and successfully helped them ideate, raise money, and succeed. When not working, he can be found hiking, camping, and stargazing.

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Table of Contents

Coca-cola target audience , geographical segmentation , coca-cola marketing channels, coca-cola marketing strategy , coca-cola marketing strategy 2024: a case study.

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Coca-cola has colossal brand recognition as it targets every customer in the market. Its perfect marketing segmentation is a major reason behind its success. 

• Firstly, the company targets young people between 10 and 35. They use celebrities in their advertisements to attract them and arrange campaigns in universities, schools, and colleges. 
• They also target middle-aged and older adults who are diet conscious or diabetic by offering diet coke. 

Income and Family Size

It introduces packaging and sizes priced at various levels to increase affordability and target students, middle class, and low-income families and individuals.  

Coca-Cola sells its products globally and targets different cultures, customs, and climates. For instance, in America, it is liked by older people too. So, the company targets different segments. It also varies the change accordingly, like the Asian version is sweeter than other countries. 

Coca-Cola targets individuals as per their gender. For example, Coca-Cola light is preferred by females, while coke zero and thumbs up are men's favorite due to their strong taste.

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Coca-Cola initially employed an undifferentiated targeting strategy. In recent times, it has started localizing its products for better acceptability. It incorporates two basic marketing channels : Personal and Non-personal.

Personal channels include direct communication with the audience. Non-personal marketing channels include both online and offline media, such as

• Promotion Campaigns 
• PR activities 

Social Media

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A uniquely formulated Coca Cola marketing strategy is behind the company's international reach and widespread popularity. The strategy can be broken down into the following:

Product strategy 

Coca-cola has approximately 500 products. Its soft drinks are offered globally, and its product strategy includes a marketing mix. Its beverages like Coca-Cola, Minute Maid, Diet Coke, Light, Coca-Cola Life, Coca-Cola Zero, Sprite Fanta, and more are sold in various sizes and packaging. They contribute a significant share and generate enormous profits. 

Coca-Cola Products

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Pricing Strategy

Coca-Cola's price remained fixed for approximately 73 years at five cents. The company had to make its pricing strategy flexible with the increased competition with competitors like Pepsi. It doesn't drop its price significantly, nor does it increase the price unreasonably, as this would lead to consumers doubting the product quality and switching to the alternative.  

Place Strategy 

Coca-cola has a vast distribution network. It has six operating regions: North America, Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Pacific, and Eurasia. The company's bottling partners manufacture, package, and ship to the agents. The agents then transport the products by road to the stockist, then to distributors, to retailers, and finally to the customer. Coca-Cola also has an extensive reverse supply chain network to collect leftover glass bottles for reuse. Thus, saving costs and resources.

Coca-Cola’s Global Marketing

Promotion Strategy  

Coca-Cola employs different promotional and marketing strategies to survive the intense competition in the market. It spends up to $4 million annually to promote its brand , utilizing both traditional and international mediums for advertisements.   

Classic Bottle, Font, and Logo

Coca-Cola organized a global contest to design the bottle. The contest winner used the cocoa pod's design, and the company used the same for promoting its shape and logo. Its logo, written in Spencerian script, differentiates it from its competitors. The way Coca-cola uses its logo in its marketing strategy ensures its imprint on consumers' minds. 

Coca-Cola’s Gripping Advertisements

Localized Positioning

The recent 'Share a coke' campaign, launched in 2018 in almost fifty countries, has been quite a success. The images of celebrities of that region and messages according to the local language and culture of the area target the local market. 

Coca-Cola Advertisement Featuring Celebrities

Sponsorships 

The company is a well-recognized brand for its sponsorships, including American Idol, the NASCAR, Olympic Games, and many more. Since the 1928 Olympic Games, Coca-Cola has partnered on each event, helping athletes, officials and fans worldwide. 

Coca-Cola as Official Olympics Partner

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With technological advancement, social media and online communication channels have become the most significant part of the Coca-Cola marketing strategy. It actively uses online digital marketing platforms like Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat to post images, videos, and more.  The Coca Cola marketing strategy primarily includes SEO , email marketing , content marketing , and video marketing .   

Coca-Cola’s Instagram Posts 

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