How the Coca-Cola system is responding to Coronavirus

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Our deepest sympathies go out to those whose families or friends have been tragically impacted by the Coronavirus.

We are carefully following all government guidelines and taking precautionary steps to do what we can to prevent the further spread of the virus. The safety and health of our customers, consumers, employees and our communities are always a high priority for us.

Here are some of the ways we are protecting our employees and serving our communities and customers during this time.

Protecting Employee Health and Well-being

The safety of Coca-Cola system employees is our highest priority. We have closely followed guidance from health authorities to protect the health and safety of employees across offices, production and distribution facilities by enabling the following:

  • Increasing cleaning routines and improved hygiene protocols.
  • Providing hand sanitisers to employees and positioning them in strategic locations.
  • Encouraging good hygiene and other behaviours such as social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
  • All operations have an isolation room with trained personnel. Personnel that may come into contact with affected or at-risk employees are trained in recognising the symptoms and how to protect themselves.
  • At each of our operations, a local Health Authority approved medical facility has been identified to refer possible affected employees as well as appropriate methods of transportation.
  • Personnel are encouraged to advise in advance when feeling ill and stay at home when not well.
  • All offices across Southern & East Africa have encouraged employees to work from home to increase social distancing. Employees can still come into the office if their role requires them to be onsite to do their job effectively.
  • In markets that are in lock down, the offices will close. Production facilities will remain open as per government guidelines.  
  • Prioritising Safety in Production and Distribution Facilities 

To ensure we can continue to make the beverages our communities need, our production and distribution facilities continue to operate but have adjusted their ways of working to protect everyone’s safety and well-being.

  • The operations’ stock and ability to procure cleaning and disinfecting agents have been secured. We have also ensured that items required for our operations that might become scarce due to the virus outbreak is procured upfront.
  • All personnel have a facility to wash and sanitise their hands before starting work. Delivery trucks and other company vehicles are also equipped with hand sanitiser and our operations are enabled to sanitise vehicles on return from the market.
  • Contactless thermometers or cameras are available on site to measure temperature at the plant entry points.
  • We have ensured sufficient stock of PPE, especially disposable overalls, masks, surgical gloves and safety glasses.
  • Plans are in place for minimising contact of truck drivers with office bound or other operational personnel. We are implementing “runner roles” where one admin person handles all the delivery documentation, while truck drivers remain in vehicles.

We will continue to closely monitor the situation across our region and adapt our protocols and actions accordingly. Critical updates and changes will be communicated.

Restricting Travel

Any business travel, both local and international, has been suspended. Should employees experience flu-like symptoms, they have been asked to seek medical attention, inform their line manager and self-isolate to limit flu transmission.

Serving Customers and Consumers

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, we have been focused on ensuring our products are delivered safely to the stores and communities that need them, while taking every precaution to protect our employees’ well-being.

We would like to give consumers and customers our full assurance of the sustained integrity of our products. The safety and quality of our products are of the utmost importance. We have stringent processes in place to ensure that our products meet all applicable safety and quality standards everywhere we operate.

Ensuring Product Safety and Availability

The safety and quality of our products are top priorities for us, and we can say with confidence that our products are safe.

There is currently no evidence to support the transmission of COVID-19 associated with food or food packaging. In addition to the precautions that are described, we also ensure that the factories and all food contact surfaces are sanitised on a routine basis.

We are taking extra precautions to ensure products are handled hygienically at every step, from manufacturing facilities to customer outlets. This includes providing employees with alcohol wipes and hand sanitisers and installing temperature screening in certain manufacturing facilities. These measures not only protect our customers and consumers, they also protect our employees.

To ensure our products’ availability, we maintain business continuity plans to address any supply chain challenges that could arise.

We use ingredients sourced from various countries. Currently, we do not expect any impact to our customers or consumers. To ensure that we are always able to meet their needs, we maintain business continuity plans that are implemented to address any supply chain challenges, should they arise.

We have alternative procurement sources across the globe, should our operations need to implement contingency plans for sourcing.

Supporting Our Communities

These are challenging times and we are fully committed to doing everything we can to help.

We have decided that our commercial advertising will be scaled back and redirected to help amplify recommended global health guidelines to our communities.

We are working with NGO partners to support COVID-19 relief responses across Southern & East Africa. This includes donating and distributing medical supplies, bulk water and soap to vulnerable communities. We’ll be donating additional beverages to health workers and setting up handwashing stations in areas of need.

We are enhancing our support for affected small retailers and will continue to work with government authorities to address critical needs.

Globally, the Coca-Cola system and The Coca-Cola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company, have made contributions to support relief efforts in China, Italy, the United States and Canada. The foundation is reviewing additional opportunities to support the most vulnerable communities across Africa. Foundation grants so far total $20.5 million.

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Rakesh Rajbally

Managing Director: South Africa

Rakesh has 26 years of experience in General Management, Sales, Marketing, Logistics and Finance in the Coca-Cola bottling system. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and his focus on growth and leadership in CCBSA’s Commercial function has made him a sought after thought leader in developing and implementing revenue growth and route to market strategies in both modern and emerging markets.

As a leader of CCBSA’s strategic and operational customer management, he recently achieved the #1 ranking across FMCG companies in the Advantage survey for two consecutive years. Having started his Coca-Cola system journey as a young temporary Filing Clerk at ABI in 1997, Rakesh’s drive to succeed is inspirational testament to the power of self-development within our system that supports and rewards a consistent work ethic, self-empowerment and a growth mindset.

Janett Forbes

Commercial Excellence Director

Janett is a seasoned financial, logistics, and commercial executive who joins us from Vector Logistics previously a division of RCL Foods where she held position of Finance Director.

Prior to this, Janett was part of the Coca-Cola family, having occupied various senior roles of Finance Manager, Category Manager, Revenue Growth Manager and Channel Development Manager within ABI in 2002 and 2016.

Janett is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA(SA), has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University in Grahamstown and a higher diploma in Accounting from University of Natal in Durban.

Desilan Pillay

Logistics Director

He joined the Coke system as a Unit Manager Designate at ABI Midrand in 2008. Desilan encompasses 20 years of management experience from companies including Afrox (Linde Group), the South African Breweries (ABI soft drinks and SABMiller – now ABInbev), and Unilever.  

He has a wealth of experience and a vast skillset within South Africa and across the African continent – all at executive levels. This includes, but is not limited to, project management, engineering, production (gases), packaging (FMCG), as well as operations management, financial management, sales and distribution, procurement, and planning (demand, supply, and production). Desilan has managed portfolios across end-to-end Supply Chain (Sourcing, Demand, and Supply Planning), Warehouse Management, Production, and Distribution, including Customer Care, After-sales and reverse logistics. He was also accountable for the delivery of service excellence in order fulfilment, cost of goods sold enhancement via strategic sourcing, and the overall cash optimisation (inventory) across the business. His most recent role before re-joining the CCBSA family is as the Chief Operations Officer at Anchor Holdings, one of the largest privately-owned warehousing companies in South Africa.

Desilan is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and has completed a Management Development Programme from UCT. His areas of expertise include building high performance teams and E2E supply chain and commercial acumen.

Desilan has been happily married for the past 16 years and has a 12-year-old daughter and 18-month-old twins – a boy and a girl. In his spare time, he enjoys seeing new sights locally and abroad. He is always planning his next trip to an exciting destination together with his family.

Nozicelo Ngcobo

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director

Nozicelo started her corporate career in 1994 when she was recruited by Sasol into their Management Trainee Programme of the top 16 academic graduates in South Africa – class of 1993. In addition to Sasol, Nozicelo has since worked for listed companies such as Telkom SA, South African Breweries (SAB) as well as multi-national organisations such as Philip Morris International (PMI). In 2020, Nozicelo joined Coca Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) as Director for PACS.

Nozicelo has a demonstrable track record in successfully developing and managing corporate affairs and regulatory strategies for complex industries such as alcohol, tobacco and recently the beverages industry. Nozicelo has strong professional networks spanning more than 25 years in both public and private sectors. Her strategic insights, value creation, solutions orientation, strong business/political acumen, solid networks and ability to mobilise teams to successfully execute towards a common vision are just some of the many attributes she brings into any organisation.

Nozicelo is an advocate of human rights, animal rights and has a passion for youth/women empowerment.

Michael John Wilson

Finance Director

Michael started his working career at KPMG as a Manager and Trainee Accountant from 2002 until 2006. After completing his articles, his highest position held at KPMG was Audit Manager and Office Administration Manager. In 2006 to 2009, he worked at BASF South Africa (previously known as Engelhard South Africa), where he was appointed as Site Controller – Mobile Emissions Catalysts Division. He also served as a Team Leader for Finance when the company changed its ERP from JD Edwards to SAP. In 2009, Michael joined Coca-Cola Fortune (CCF) as Finance Manager – Business Support.

In 2015, he was assigned to the CCBA integration team as a Finance work stream member and later that year, Michael was appointed Finance Manager for Marketing, Sales and Distribution. Michael relocated to Windhoek, Namibia in January 2016 as Financial Director for Coca-Cola Beverages Namibia. In October 2017, Michael returned to Port Elizabeth as Group Financial Controller for CCBA, a position he currently holds. He serves on a number of boards and audit committees within the CCBA Group.

In 2000, Michael graduated with a B.Com (Accountancy) Degree from the University of Port Elizabeth and a year later, he completed his B. Com Honours (Accountancy) at the same university. He was admitted as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2005. In 2010, he completed his Executive Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

Moses Lubisi

Manufacturing & Technical Director

Moses has over 20 years of extensive experience spanning various industries such as Sugar, Food and Beverages, and Mineral processing, including 15 years within the Coca-Cola system, Moses brings a wealth of knowledge to this role.

His journey within CCBSA has seen him excel in positions ranging from Plant Manager, Regional Manufacturing Manager (Coastal) in CCBSA to Executive Director for Appletiser (Pty) Ltd. Before returning to CCBA within Group Office, Moses served as an Operations Director at Illovo Sugar (Pty) Ltd. His expertise lies in strategy formulation, governance and execution, with a focus on end-to-end value chain orchestration across manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and supply chain management.

Moses has held senior and executive management roles for over six years, overseeing regional and enterprise-level strategies, assets and resource allocation.

Agatha Masemola

Strategy and Performance Director

Agatha joined CCBSA in April 2020 from Absa Corporate and Investment Bank Africa, where she held various roles in the past nine years, including as Managing Principal for Strategy & Business Transformation and Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive of Barclays Africa Corporate Bank. She was a key figure in the build-out and integration of the Corporate Bank across 13 African markets.

Prior to joining Absa, Agatha was a Senior Management Consultant in Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte Consulting, South Africa. At Deloitte, Agatha worked on several executive-sponsored strategy and innovation projects across various sectors, as well as driving new business development. Prior to Deloitte, she worked in Life Sciences R&D for over ten years, both as a full-time researcher with publications in peer reviewed journals, and as a Portfolio Manager & COO for a biotechnology fund management, focusing on investment in early-stage biotech ventures and commercialisation.

Agatha holds a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town and has completed post-Doctoral research in South Africa and the USA. She obtained her BSc (Biochemistry and Physiology) and MSc (Biochemistry) from the University of the North. She completed a Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School to help her transition from laboratory to business.

Agatha loves to travel and enjoys experiencing different cultures and sampling local cuisine.

Hannes Prinsloo

Country Sales Director

Hannes comes with a wealth of experience and strong commercial operations expertise stretching over 30 years within the Bottling system; truly an example of “home grown timber”.

In his most recent role, of General Manager Commercial, he managed the Revenue Growth, Route to Market, Category management, Channel Development and Knowledge and Insights. His previous experiences include that of General Manager Operations, District Manager and National Account Manager.

Among his career achievements, he counts being inducted as a Grand Master in 2021, which is a true testament to his passion for people, strong work ethic, and unwavering commitment to performance. The Masters are seasoned professionals in our core functions (Commercial, Logistics & Manufacturing) who have consistently delivered exceptional results in their 20-plus years of service in the organisation. CCBSA bestows its highest honour these professionals who have shown exemplary commitment, fortitude, passion, loyalty and most importantly, value-adding leadership.

In May 2023, at the annual Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) General Management Meeting (GMM) Awards, he was honoured to receive the CEO Award, which honours exceptional leadership that sets a clear example of consistently living our values. In his leisure time, Hannes follows a wide variety of debate platforms and sports.

Mkuseli Dlikilili

Human Resources Director

Prior to Mkuseli’s appointment to CCBSA, Mkuseli was Group Executive: Human Resources at Pioneer Foods, he  worked for leading South African organisations, including Eskom, SAB, Dulux and Portnet.

Mkuseli’s extensive experience in the FMCG environment includes playing a leading role in Pioneer Foods’ successful listing on the JSE and the integration of SA Dried Fruit and Ceres Fruit Juices. Mkuseli is passionate about empowering and developing people to realise their full potential, as well as contributing positively to all the spheres of their lives, and the accentuation of human dignity. He describes himself as an authentic, resilient, reliable, courageous, humble, principled and value-based person, and a committed Human Resources professional.