The Coca-Cola system generated $3.6bn in value-added economic activity across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in 2024, according to a study presented in Harare.
The system and its value chain supported more than 458,200 direct and indirect jobs across agriculture, manufacturing, retail, transport and services.
The research, carried out by the consultancy Steward Redqueen and unveiled at the 19th Comesa Business Forum on October 20, 2026, also found that the system spent almost $1.5bn on goods and services from suppliers in member countries. That spending, the company argues, supports local industry and economic resilience.
The headline figures put the company’s contribution in context. The $3.6bn represents 0.3 per cent of Comesa’s combined gross domestic product.
The report’s multiplier is the more striking number: for every direct job the system creates in the region, a further 28 are supported across the wider economy, according to Avellar.
Coca-Cola’s executives framed the findings as evidence of partnership rather than simply commercial success. Alfred Olajide, the company’s vice president for East and Central Africa, said the system operated as “a critical economic engine” across the region, while Luis Felipe Avellar, president of its Africa Operating Unit, described the forum as a platform to show how businesses contribute to sustainable development.
The report, which used a Multi-Regional Input-Output model to measure ripple effects, says spending benefited sugar production, manufacturing, packaging and logistics. The company also points to its Africa Water Stewardship Initiative, a programme of nearly $25 million that targets water challenges in 20 African countries by 2030.
The study was commissioned and presented by the company, and its figures have not been independently verified in the material available.
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