Aligned with bottling company Coca-Cola Beverages Africa’s (CCBA’s) commitment to growing its investment in Africa and creating shared opportunities across the value chain, the company has invested in production capacity alongside other related initiatives.

As part of CCBA’s continued investment in new production capacity, the company has launched new bottling lines, equipped with advanced technology such as AI, in South Africa, Namibia and Malawi over the past year.

Combined, these bottling plants have increased total production capacity by over 108 000 bottles an hour.

Further, CCBA has opened a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) flaking plant in Namibia, doubling the capacity of the only mechanical recycler of plastic in the country through a partnership with packaging solutions provider Plastic Packaging.

The completion of the recycling facility has enabled Plastic Packaging subsidiary Namibia Polymer Recyclers to recycle up to 500 t of PET a month.

These investments are a demonstration of the company’s progress, says CCBA, asserting that these investments go “beyond numbers” to create value and enable opportunities throughout its value chain.

“Our value chain includes a significant number of businesses, many of them small- and medium-sized enterprises,” CCBA CEO Sunil Gupta states.

CCBA has also announced the company’s intention to grow its investment in Kenya by up to $175-million between 2024 and 2029, provided it achieves its anticipated growth targets in the country.

“These investments are a demonstration of our progress and continued belief in the future of Africa,” says Gupta.

The investments coincide with the ninth anniversary of the merger between multinational beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola Company, brewing and beverage company SABMiller and private equity firm Gutsche Family Investments, which consolidated their non-alcoholic ready-to-drink bottling operations in Southern and East Africa to form CCBA.

CCBA is currently the eighth largest Coca-Cola authorised bottler in the world by revenue, and the largest on the African continent, accounting for over 40% of Coca-Cola ready-to-drink beverages sold in Africa by volume.

The company boasts 36 bottling plants across 14 African countries, serving over 800 000 customer outlets and employing over 17 000 people.

“Our vision is to refresh Africa and create shared value. As we celebrate our ninth birthday as a company, we aim to inspire excellence and set the standard as Africa’s leading and most admired company, fostering growth, innovation and impact across the continent,” Gupta concludes.