Anybody who has spoken with me about business and global development knows that I am a HUGE supporter of Coca-Cola and their role as a responsible business in sub-Saharan Africa. Whether you like the product or not, the company has setup massive distribution networks tapping local entrepreneurial talent in a way that supports local businesses and opens the door for innovative nonprofit work like that being done by Cola-Life. If you haven’t read it already, watch this video about Coca-Cola in Africa. Also take a look at this blog post from the archives on statistics related to Coca-Cola in Africa. (Interesting Fact: Coca-Cola is one of the consistent top keywords driving traffic to this site. In fact, somebody arrived to the site by searching ‘How Do I Get Coca-Cola Delivered to My House?’ in Google!)

Anyways, Melinda Gates agrees that Coca-Cola is a force to look at in the developing world. In this very interesting TED talk, Ms. Gates highlights the lessons that nonprofits can learn from Coca-Cola. The three key characteristics that the development community can learn from Coca-Cola include:

Real-Time Data Immediately Fed Into Product

The key here is “real-time”. Too often, nonprofits conduct their evaluations at the end of a project to measure its impact. The obvious problem with this is that it is typically too late to make any changes that might maximize their impact. Coca-Cola has a team called “Knowledge and Insight” continuously monitoring distribution and sales in real-time so they can understand what is going on with their product, why, and how to adapt to increase sales. This is the mindset that nonprofits need to adopt into their own monitoring and evaluation programs.

Tap Into Local Entreprenurial Talent

As I mentioned already, my favorite part about Coca-Cola is its distribution networks. Coke recognized local entrepreneurs who were buying Coca-Cola and then reselling it in hard-to-reach places. In 1990 they begin training these local entrepreneurs and providing them with small loans to setup local distribution centers. Those entrepreneurs would then hire sales people to go out with bicycles, push carts, and wheelbarrows to sell the product. In Tanzania and Uganda, these local distribution centers represent 90% of total sales.

Incredible Marketing

Coca-Cola’s marketing is “aspirational” — it associates its product with a “lifestyle” that people want to live. Their global campaign is “Open Happiness”, but this takes on different meanings based on local cultures and how they define happiness. Happiness in Latin American is associated with family life. In South Africa, happiness is associated with community respect. Coca-Cola’s marketing focuses on appeal,celebration, and unity. Development marketing tends to be focused on “avoidance” rather than “aspiration”. Changing the tone can go a long ways in creating an environment where social change can thrive.