Project Summary
In the first initiative of the partnership, economically disadvantaged Vietnamese women in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are being given opportunities to build small businesses with brand new, custom-built pushcarts to sell a selection of Coca-Cola beverages and snack-foods on city streets.
| Title | Pushcart Project |
| Member | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Country | Vietnam |
| Area Focus | Poverty Alleviation/Micro Finance |
| Beneficiaries | 2,000 women |
Coca Cola's Efforts
The Coca-Cola Pushcart Project, a partnership between Coca-Cola and the Vietnamese Women's Unions, was launched in October 2002 in response to the government's poverty alleviation program. Set up in 1930, the Vietnamese Women's Unions seek to improve the quality of life in culture, education, health and employment. Much of the focus of the Women's Unions today is on programs to combat urban unemployment, and also to improve living standards of poor women in rural areas.
The Pushcart Project is benefiting thousands of economically disadvantaged women and their families. In the first phase, 2,000 women selected by the Women's Unions in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are being given opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods with custom-built pushcarts to sell a selection of ice-cold Coca-Cola beverages. The pushcarts are also selling chewing gum, snack-foods and confectionery to provide the women with opportunities to expand their businesses.
Coca-Cola is providing all the women with an initial quantity of discounted product and detailed product and sales training to help get their new microbusinesses off the ground. There will also be product promotions exclusive to the pushcarts as the project progresses. The Women's Unions have made start-up capital available for a number of the women who require this to begin trading.
The second phase of the project, launched in September 2003, awarded 30 scholarships to children of the Pushcart operators and other deserving students to encourage them to continue their education. Five newly-built houses were also granted to women in the city's outlying districts of Can Gio, Nha Be,and Binh Chanh to help improve their living standards.
An in-house Pushcart Training Workshop was also organized in the first quarter of 2004 benefiting more than 1,000 Pushcart operators. The workshop was designed to provide operators with further understanding of the project in terms of product exclusivity, merchandising standards and product availability, as well as knowledge about Company products and business systems in order to help improve their performance and increase sales volume.
Company Description
The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone who is touched by the company's business. Founded in 1886, Coca-Cola is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 300 beverage brands. Its corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, with local operations in nearly 200 countries around the world. Coca-Cola's Asia operations cover 38 countries, including Japan, India, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Australia. The Asia Group accounts for 30 percent of The Coca-Cola Company's revenue, refreshes over half the world's population and provides total system employment to over 100,000 people.