More than 360 women food vendors have been equipped to take their rightful place as equals in the economy through a partnership between Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Tanzania and the Institute of Social Work.

Today, the women received business and entrepreneurship training, focusing on bookkeeping and capital growth, as part of CCBA in Tanzania’s Mwanamke Shujaa campaign, (which means “A Brave Woman”).

CCBA presented 120 customer benches to the vendors to make their outlets more welcoming, as well as 15kg gas bottles, gas stoves, aprons and t-shirts to support their businesses.

The Minister for Community Development, Dr Dorothy Gwajima, attended the official handover function at the Institute of Social Work, accompanied by CCBA in Tanzania Managing Director, Unguu Sulay.

In March this year, on International Women’s Day, CCBA in Tanzania committed to empowering 1 000 women this year through education, employability, and entrepreneurship programmes as part of its Mwanamke Shujaa campaign. This weekend’s activity was an opportunity to contribute to that commitment,

“Because women and youth are integral to Africa’s shared success, we seek to empower them by enabling their economic inclusion throughout our markets on the continent,” said Sulay.

“CCBA has adopted the three pillars of education, employability and entrepreneurship as a framework for its economic inclusion strategy.

“We define economic inclusion as the opening of gainful economic opportunities by providing access to markets and other economic activities leveraging the business and the entire industry.

“Our aim is to boost income, provide decent earning potential and improve skills and business knowledge for women, giving them greater access to income opportunities.

“We have a particular focus on current or potential entrepreneurs with the possibility to link to the Coca-Cola value chain today or in the future,” Sulay said.

“Our efforts will remain focused on ensuring that women run successful enterprises, increasing their participation in the formal economy through education and initiating programmes to prepare them for the world of work, in partnership with like-minded stakeholders.

“When we grow our business the right way, not just the easy way, we help create inclusive growth opportunities for our communities, women and youth, our customers, our employees and our shareholders, for a better shared future,” said Sulay.