Africa-Press – Tanzania. COCA-COLA Beverages Africa (CCBA) has said developing youth skills for the labour market will be one of the great challenges of the continent’s recovery path from Covid-19.
The CCBA Chief Executive Officer, Jacques Vermeulen said skills development will increasingly have to be modular, to allow the young to bridge learning gaps, and it will increasingly have to transcend the classroom setting through digital offerings.
Mr Vermeulen made the remarks yesterday as the world marked the International Youth Day, noting that Africa needs to think about how it can embrace its large youth population for the benefit of the continent.
A great example of this is CCBA’s own Learning Centre, which is an online tool for all employees to use for self-directed learning and career development, and an investment in our employees’ personal growth.
There are more than 120 courses which are relevant to CCBA’s business and which help its team keep pace with the changing world of work – all they need to do is log in and learn.
“Our focus on developing young talent in our business extends further; we offer training programmes for graduates as well as management training for young people who have gained some experience already,” he said.
Solutions like this can make a critical contribution to upskilling African youth and overcoming the learning deficit brought about by Covid-19. Because youth are integral to our continent’s shared success, we seek to empower them by enabling their economic inclusion through internal training and community programmes throughout our markets on the continent.
Coca-Cola’s youth empowerment programmes are targeted at current or potential entrepreneurs with the possibility to link to the Coca-Cola value chain today or in the future. In order to help grow the livelihoods of youth, enabling activities in our programmes include business skills training, access to finance, assets and mentoring.
“We focus on assisting with skills development, particularly for graduates who may require additional training in soft skills that would make them more employable, or which would aid their entrepreneurial endeavours,” he noted.
CCBA directly empowers thousands of young people every year through various programmes across our markets, enabling their inclusion in the economy.
At CCBA, we will continue using our focus to help youth become architects of their own success, resulting in increased economic value and business capability for not only themselves, but for their communities and our business system. We realise that through investing in growing the communities in which we operate, we are investing in building our own business.
CCBA’s efforts will remain focused on ensuring that young people run successful enterprises, increasing their participation in the formal economy through education and initiating programmes to prepare them for the world of work – all in partnership with like-minded stakeholders.
Ensuring that Africa’s youth achieve their full potential, and that we unlock the ’demographic dividend’ that makes this continent such an exciting prospect for the future, is not the responsibility of governments alone.
Businesses like ours have a lot to contribute, and by doing so we can help to create a better, more prosperous future for all.Businesses like ours have a lot to contribute, and by doing so we can help to create a better, more prosperous future for all.
