IESE and Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC) are rolling out new grants to boost executive talent in Africa through the MBA and MiM programs

IESE Business School and Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company (ECCBC) recently signed a Collaboration Agreement, with the aim of facilitating executive training and talent development on the African continent.

Initially established for a duration of five years, the agreement states that, each year, the company will grant a maximum of two students on the MBA program and another two students on the Master in Management (MiM) through the new “Equatorial Coca-Cola” Grants.

Also, once the recipients of the grant have graduated and successfully completed a period of work experience in the company, they will begin a rotational program at the company´s headquarters in Morocco, or in one of its subsidiaries on the continent.

This year, IESE and Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company have awarded the grants to students who have already begun their studies: two from the MBA, and one from the MiM. Both institutions hope that this agreement will serve to attract more African talent to IESE in the coming years, and that it will convince more high-level professionals to choose to pursue their executive career in Africa.

In addition to the fact that this alliance may be making an important contribution in enriching the international nature of the school´s programs, it is also part of the mission of IESE´s Africa Initiative, which is to promote sustainable business leadership on the continent, with the aim of having a positive, lasting impact on African societies.

For more than 20 years, IESE has been contributing to business development and executive training in Africa, with dozens of programs and modules, training courses for professors, exchange events and activities, institutional agreements and academic research. Among other milestones, it is worth highlighting the crucial participation of IESE in the creation of three business schools on the continent: Lagos Business School in Nigeria, Strathmore Business School in Kenya and MDE Business School in Ivory Coast.

On its part, ECCBC´s mission is to become the best beverage company in all the countries in which it operates and the leading bottler of the Coca-Cola system in Africa, creating long-term value for local communities and investing in a better future for Africa. For that, in 2022 they created an ESG impact strategy for 2030, with the aim of improving and reinforcing the value of ECCBC in all its areas by integrating ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) considerations into the company´s business strategy. In this sense, ECCBC has managed to link sustainability, environmental protection, local communities and governance practices as interconnected and fundamental elements for reinforcing business success.