Call to Action for Economic Growth in the Middle East and North Africa

Muhar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company
WEF Summit
Jordan
October 28, 2011

 

Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent traveled to Jordan last weekend to co-chair a special World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on economic growth and job creation in the Middle East and North Africa.

More than 1,000 decision-makers from business, government and civil society met to address challenges and opportunities the region faces in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, with a specific focus on driving sustained growth and development through employment, education and entrepreneurship.

Throughout the three-day summit, Kent participated in panel discussions and plenary sessions on job creation, empowering women and the importance of public-private partnership.

The Coca-Cola system - which currently employs more than 40,000 people across the 22 Arab League member states - will invest $5 billion in the region over the next 10 years, Kent announced during the session.

"The Middle East and North Africa, despite its challenges, is positioned to benefit from a booming youth population that's dynamic, resourceful and highly entrepreneurial," Kent said. "Ongoing demographic shifts can be a powerful and even irresistible tool in helping bring additional economic opportunity and foreign direct investment to the region."

Watch Kent speak about the positive implications of the region's newfound "quest for dignity."

International and regional stakeholders can support economic and social development, he added, by investing to generate job growth and building public-private partnerships to support local communities.

Entrepreneurship will play a critical role in the region's future, Kent said, referencing our 5 BY 20 commitment to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs across our value chain by 2020. Business, government and civil society must work together to remove the cultural, educational, political and financial roadblocks that currently stand in the way of women's empowerment, he added.

Coca-Cola is driving collaboration in the region through our involvement with the Partners for a New Beginning (PNB) alliance to foster entrepreneurial linkages between the U.S. and Muslim communities. Kent serves as Vice Chair of the initiative, which now has 70 community projects underway in seven countries - from equipping 1,500 people in Pakistan with the knowledge and tools to become honey farmers, to providing micro-loans to aspiring women entrepreneurs in Egypt, to helping women in Turkey create and cultivate new business ideas.

"Working with local PNB chapters, we're advancing public-private partnerships in science and technology, economic empowerment, education and exchange," said Kent, who attended the launch of PNB in Jordan, the ninth country to form its own chapter.

Kent concluded, "We believe the Golden Triangle of collaboration between business, government and civil society is the best, most sustainable way forward."