Kingdom of Bahrain: In a unique initiative of its kind, the Ministry of Social Development, The Coca-Cola Bottling Company and The Family Bank have signed an agreement in the context of corporate social responsibility of the private sector. The agreement aims to support people with special needs to unleash their abilities for establishing and managing small and micro businesses through their participation in "Dannatt" project. Financed by The Family Bank, the project provides 100 kiosks a year in cooperation with The Coca-Cola Bottling Company. These kiosks will be installed in the gardens, public facilities and certain locations in the Kingdom, which will be manned by people with special needs.
The Coca-Cola Bottling Company's charitable initiative, which bears the cost of manufacturing and furnishing the kiosks, will provide opportunities of self-employment, training and supervising the establishment of small businesses for people with special needs manning the kiosks. Furthermore, the company will assign a training manager to provide the personnel manning the kiosks with the basic selling skills required to accomplish the job.
"This agreement comes as a result of the activities of the ministry to empower people with special needs and to provide the suitable environment to integrate them into society and provide employment opportunities and self-employment for them," Dr Fatima Muhammed Al Blushi, Minister of Social Development, said.
Al Blushi thanked both The Coca-Cola Bottling Company for its valued contribution to bear the cost of 100 kiosks, and The Family Bank, which collaborated to launch this initiative to facilitate the involvement of individuals with disabilities in small businesses that improve their income and raise their living standards.
"The Ministry of Social Development will support this initiative by providing the Licensee with an exclusive license to install the Kiosks at the various Social Development Centres in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in addition to providing training for the personnel managing the Kiosks," Al Blushi added.
Sanjeev Khanna, GM of the Bahrain Bottling operation stated,"The Coca-Cola Bottling Company is dedicated to providing the necessary support for people with special needs in our community, and we hope that this new partnership will positively impact the society and people who is in most need of our support." He also points that the company will design and install 100 Kiosks in certain strategic locations in the Kingdom of Bahrain, to sell a variety of its products and other products.
For his part, Dr. Atef Al Shabrawi, CEO of Family Bank was pleased with this initiative which comes after many meetings and contacts with various sectors, especially the disability sector in the Ministry of Social Development and a number of NGOs that serve and develop people with special needs. The initiative reflects the Bank's mission to support the Bahraini family from all categories, especially marginalized groups, youth and women.
The Atef Al Shabrawi thanked the Ministry of Social Development for this initiative and its efforts to develop the disables' capabilities and improve their standards of living. The bank thanked The Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the Ministry of Municipalities and the Municipal Councils for licensing these activities, which supports the standard of living of marginalized groups in society i.e. disables and people with special needs. Al Shabrawi invited individuals with special needs to communicate with The Bank and the Ministry to register for the project and benefit from it as soon as possible.
The initiative, which is launched by the Ministry of Development in collaboration with The Family Bank, provides financial and non-financial services for families with low income and marginalized groups in the Kingdom of Bahrain by providing training and microfinance.
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About Coca-Cola
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion-dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, and Coca-Cola Zero. It is globally the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, The Coca-Cola Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate.
About Family Bank
Family Bank was established as the first Islamic micro-finance bank with the prime objective to contribute to poverty alleviation and socio-economic empowerment of the communities it serves through the provision of sustainable Islamic financial services to the needy. Family Bank will also act as a mechanism to guide and maintain programs that aim to enhance the living conditions of the needy families, and provide official channels for obtaining financial and organizational support for such households and the organizations providing patronage from inside and outside the Kingdom.
About The Ministry Of Development
The Ministry Of Development role is to improve the Bahraini citizen and to make him productive socially, economically, and politically further more to that it develops the infrastructure of social work, motivate its performance and to work on magnifying its developmental return.
For further information, please contact:
Antoine Tayyar
Public Affairs & Communications Director
The Coca-Cola Export Corporation | Middle East Business Unit
Office: +973 17 216614
E-mail: antayyar@mena.ko.com
Pooja Sharma
Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Bahrain
Office: +973 17561723
E-mail: pooja.sharma@ogilvy.com
© Press Release 2010
