The Coca-Cola Foundation continues to reiterate its commitment to empower women in Africa through specific “In-Country” developmental programs, executed in partnership with credible Non-Governmental Organizations.
TCCF awarded a $66,000 grant to Lagos based NGO, WhiteField Foundation to implement its capacity building and upskilling program tagged S.H.A.P.E 2020. The acronym, which stands for “She Has Ability, Position & Equip Her” is Whitefield’s women focused intervention which commits to train and equip “at-risk” and “underserved” women in local communities with transferable skills such as catering, cosmetics, fashion designing, soap making etc. They will also receive business management trainings focused largely on personal branding, marketing and financial literacy among others.
The grant allows Whitefield expand the program to 600 participants and also empower over 100 of the women with tools of trade with which they can set out on their journey out of poverty. Whitefield Foundation has trained over 5000 women and youth in different skill-acquisition programs over its 17 years of existence.
Speaking at this year’s program launch, the Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe noted the Foundations commitment to empower and invest in women, maintaining that the awarding of the grant is in line with that objective. She said:
“We truly believe that women are not only essential to building thriving communities, but they also represent one of the biggest accelerators to economic growth globally. We have learned that if they have access to the right support, they can be extraordinary economic multipliers – both at the community level as an essential part of building thriving communities. The award of this grant to Whitefield Foundation will help in achieving the shared objective of supporting women, growing a sustainable pipeline of female talent and empowering women which would ultimately create a sustainable society.”
Coca-Cola had set an ambitious goal in 2010 to enable and empower 5million women by 2020 through its 5by20 Program. So far 4.6 million women have been directly impacted by this program across the world, including over 400,000 women in Nigeria whose livelihood have been improved.
Expressing the thought process behind the SHAPE program and her gratitude to The Coca-Cola Foundation was the Chief Operating Officer, Whitefield Foundation, Funmi Johnson: “Every individual requires living an independent life, free of domination and subjugation, hence the need to empower the women in Nigeria. It is our belief at Whitefield Foundation that apart from just being financially independent, women have the capacity to perform and add to the economic benefit of society. With the support of The Coca-Cola Foundation, we have moved a step further in our dream of empowering one million women across Nigeria and Africa by 2023,” she said.
Taking the keynote addresses at the SHAPE 2020 launch event were Head of Department, Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Professor Abigail Ogwezzy- Ndisika, Honorable Justice of Lagos High Court, Justice Adenike Josephine Coker and the representative of the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Lagos State, Mrs. Olayinka Oye-Bamgbose . They all acknowledged the importance of women empowerment initiatives just like SHAPE 2020 and expressed their gratitude to The Coca-Cola Foundation for supporting the program, urging the foundation to spread its oars and continue in its support of more initiatives like this.
The launch event also had performances from top entertainers in the industry including popular Tinsel star, Abiola Segun Williams.
The Coca-Cola Foundation has contributed more than $1 billion to help protect the environment, promote recycling, empower women and enhance communities around the world.