Coca-Cola Partners Kiva to Scale-up Support for Entrepreneurs

 Omolabake Fasogbon

The Coca-Cola Foundation has stepped-up its support for entrepreneurs across the globe in a new deal it entered with a micro loan non-profit, Kiva. 

The five-year deal was in support of ‘Change Make Her’ initiative and to smoothen financial access for under-represented entrepreneurs around the world.

Disclosing this at Coca cola’s ’Level the Playing Field’ DEI Summit in Sydney, recently, President of the Foundation, Saadia Madsbjerg said the partnership would enable the company to lend and relend to a sizeable number of entrepreneurs across the globe. 

He informed that repayments from borrowers will return to the fund to allow funding to be loaned and re-loaned to borrowers around the world.  He said, “This structure will allow a $1.1 million grant in 2023 to have up to a $4.5 million impact on loan volume by 2028.We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with Kiva, which goes beyond traditional forms of giving”.

The Chief Executive Officer of Kiva, Vishal Ghotge stated that partnering with Coca‑Cola Foundation would further expand the company’s work of financial access through life-changing loans. 

“Together, we will be able to serve thousands more individuals than we would be able to do alone, demonstrating the collective power of value-aligned organizational partnerships. We are grateful to the company for its commitment and look forward to working alongside one another as we continue to advance gender equity, refugee financial inclusion, and climate-smart solutions in communities across the globe.” Ghotge said.

Commenting on the partnership, Director, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability of The Coca-Cola Company, Amaka Onyemelukwe said, “I am particularly thrilled that the programme will be supporting entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, which included Nigeria.”