KATHMANDU: Coca-Cola has concluded its Saksham training programme which reached over 1000 women entrepreneurs from small and medium-scale businesses in retail and restaurants, providing them with a platform for empowerment and skill development.
Coca-Cola along with its bottling partner Bottlers Nepal Ltd officially launched ‘Saksham’ on March 8, 2022 (International Women’s Day), with an aim to provide equal opportunities for women to compete in the marketplace. The training programme was designed to build the capacity of women retailers and owners of small restaurants on financial literacy, hospitality, sanitation management and the use of the digital wallet. The one-day training session was conducted across cities in Province 1, Madhes Province, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province.
Geeta Shrestha from Sauraha shared her experience, “Saksham training is an inspiring session for young women entrepreneurs. I started my own business with just Rs 160 about 44 years ago. With my hard work, I have been able to fulfil my dreams and now own two houses along with a store, and proudly able to support my family as a single woman.”
Similarly, Maya Pandey from Narayangadh expressed, “The Saksham programme provided us with skills to be economically empowered and has helped us build more networks over the years. Skill development programme like Saksham has encouraged me to do business more efficiently.”
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Adarsh Awasthi, Country Director of Coca-Cola in Nepal shared, “At Coca-Cola, we believe in a better-shared future, and women empowerment is core to our values. We launched the Saksham training programme in 2022 in partnership with a proficient trainer to provide business skills training, mentoring networks, financial services and other assets to help women entrepreneurs improve their livelihoods, families and communities. We are happy that we have crossed our initial target of 1000 women entrepreneurs and will strive to empower more women in the near future further.”
Sneh Rajbhandari, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director at Bottlers Nepal Limited shared, “Women entrepreneurship has been on the steep rise in Nepal, and there are many small shops and restaurants that are being run by women, especially outside Kathmandu valley. In an attempt to support women retailers to overcome any challenges they may face, we at Coca-Cola invest in programmes like Saksham to help encourage women to grow their businesses. This programme helps in facilitating women business owners to continue and flourish their current entrepreneurial ventures through new perspectives on scaling up.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of Coca-Cola’s values and growth strategy and play an important part in the company’s success. This can be reflected in Coca-Cola’s various women-empowering initiatives over the years. In 2010, Coca-Cola globally announced the ambitious 5by20 programme which aimed to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million female entrepreneurs across its value chain by 2020. Additionally, Coca-Cola in Nepal has also successfully conducted the STAR (Shopkeeper Training and Resources) programme for 5,800 women in retail during the past six years.
The initiatives also support the Nepali Government’s aim to achieve substantial gender equality by ensuring equal and meaningful participation of women as announced in the 15th National Plan (2019-2024).
Coca-Cola in Nepal refreshes consumers across the country through its core product offerings of Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and Kinley, and impacts thousands as a System. The Company works with WWF Nepal, WaterAid Nepal and Smartpaani on innovative integrated water management solutions for water conservation, water replenishment and to improve the livelihoods of communities which has made Coca-Cola a water-positive company.
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Published Date: January 18, 2023, 12:00 am
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