Burno Pietracci, general manager of the East and Central African Franchise, said that the beverage company has decided to expand its outlay and promote Ethiopia as a destination for other potential foreign investors. Coca-Cola and its shareholders have since announced their intentions of investing $300 million in the coming five years at Ethiopia's market.
On Thursday, the company broke ground on the new plant that will be the biggest bottler in Ethiopia. The plant which will be located at the town of Sebeta, some 25 kilometers from Addis Ababa is set to be finalized early next year.
According to reports, East African Bottling Share Company (EABSC) launched “vision 2020” where it will become energy self-sufficient; and during the same year, the company set plans to reach 100 million unit cases, that will put Ethiopia on par with Egypt and South Africa.
Coca Cola entered the Ethiopian market some 60 years ago and the company currently employs some 2,200 local jobs. The overall jobs created in Ethiopia under Coca-Cola is expected to hit 2,700 including the 500 newly expected jobs from the upcoming factory.
Coca-Cola has already installed three plants in the country. The first Coca-Cola bottling plant was set up in Addis Ababa in 1959 then followed by the second plant installed in Dire Dawa in 1965.
The Addis Ababa plant alone has a capacity of bottling some 36,000 plastic bottles (PET) per hour. The most recent plant installed in Bahir Dar commenced its production in 2016.
