Zimbabwe gets portion of Coca Cola's water investment

The world's largest beverages firm, Coca Cola Company, has invested about US$30 million towards improving water access and sanitation on the African continent in the last few years, with Zimbabwe getting nearly US$1 million.

Nathan Kalumbu, the Zimbabwean-born president of Coca Cola Company's Eurasia and Africa Group, revealed this to the Financial Gazette's Companies & Markets last week.

The Istanbul based executive, who manages the Coca Cola business in more than 80 countries, said the investments were made under a project called the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAI).

This RAI project is aimed at improving access to clean water on the African continent. Kalumbu said they have invested close to US$30 million in this continent, Zimbabwe getting about $750 000 under our RAI.

The Coca Cola Company has supported programs focused on improving water access and this extends our original commitment to bring safe water to two million people across the continent by 2015 and central to this approach is supporting health and hygiene in thousands of communities and schools across Africa.