Coca-Cola Beverages Africa kicks off ‘Year of the Customer,’ honouring teams driving market excellence

Johannesburg – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) has declared 2026 its ‘Year of the Customer,’ a strategic focus brought to life this week as the company honoured its top-performing teams and countries at its annual awards ceremony.

The awards ceremony concluded a dynamic two-day Leadership Conference, where over 100 of the company’s top leaders gathered to align on strategic priorities. The sessions were filled with robust dialogue and collaboration, all aimed at sharpening the company’s execution and ability to win in every market by placing the customer at the centre of all operations.

A central theme of the conference was the company’s commitment to a customer-centric growth strategy. This belief is put into action by empowering every employee, whether in a customer-facing role or a support function, to take ownership of the customer experience. This unified, customer-first approach is the key to delivering superior value across the continent.

Addressing the leadership team, Sunil Gupta, CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, delivered a powerful and direct message about the company’s path forward. “Our success is a direct reflection of how well we serve our customers. They are the heart of our business,” Gupta stated. “In our ‘Year of the Customer,’ we are sharpening our focus on execution, innovation, and partnership to ensure a CCBA product is always within reach and consistently delivered with excellence. The teams we celebrate this week are the champions of this mission.”

The evening’s top honours, recognizing execution and impact in the market, went to:

  • CEO Award: The highest recognition for the top-performing team demonstrating all-around excellence was awarded to Malawi. This team excelled across financial performance, customer execution, operational delivery, and people leadership.
  • Top Line Acceleration Award: Recognising outstanding revenue growth and increased consumption, this award went to Malawi for its exceptional commercial execution in the market.
  • Customer Obsession Award: Celebrating the team that consistently delivered a superior customer experience through product availability and execution excellence, this award was won by South Africa.
  • Corporate Reputation Award: Acknowledging an unwavering commitment to the highest standards in safety, quality, and sustainability, this award was presented to Kenya.
  • Building enduring economic value: Honouring strong financial outcomes delivered through disciplined execution and margin improvement, this award was given to Malawi.
  • Employer of Choice Award: Celebrating the market that has built an exceptional, high-performance culture and an engaging workplace, this award was earned by Uganda.

CCBA’s Leadership Conference reinforced the organisation’s commitment to making customer-centricity the primary driver of its growth. The event concluded by emphasising that this unwavering focus on the customer is central to its ambition to be the most admired company in Africa.

  • Business

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Frank O’Donnell

Chief Commercial and Customer Officer, CCBA

Frank leads CCBA’s commercial agenda, with responsibility for accelerating revenue growth, strengthening route to market and customer partnerships and driving execution excellence across markets.

Frank brings extensive international experience from Coca‑Cola HBC, where he held a range of senior commercial and general management roles. Most recently, he served as Region Director, overseeing 13 markets across Europe, where he led high-performing teams and delivered strong business results.

He is recognised for his strong commercial acumen, customer focus and track record in building high-performing teams across diverse markets.

Gerald Lewis

Chief Information Officer, CCBA

Gerald leads CCBA’s digital, data and technology agenda, focusing on enabling business performance through scalable platforms and enhanced digital capabilities.  Gerald brings extensive international experience, most recently as Head of Technology Strategy & Operations at Coca‑Cola HBC. He has also held senior CIO roles at Bacardi across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as transformation roles at GlaxoSmithKline and Mettler Toledo. He is recognised for translating technology strategy into business value and for leading transformation across emerging markets.

Matthew Welz

General Counsel and Company Secretary, CCBA

Matthew joined us from the Clicks Group, a JSE Top-40 company, where he has been the Head of Legal and Company Secretary since 2016. In this role Matthew successfully navigated a highly regulated environment, including overseeing compliance with company laws and the JSE Listings Requirements. As company secretary, he managed governance at Board level as well as being the Chairman’s chief of staff. Prior to this, Matthew was a Legal Manager with Anglo American, a major multinational diversified mining group, which includes three companies listed on the JSE, with extensive operations across Southern Africa.

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