Via The Reporter, an article on Coca Cola’s plans to invest in Ethiopia:

Stretching on 14.3 hectares of land, a new Coca-Cola Factory that requires an investment outlay of two billion birr or USD 70 million, said to be the largest plant for coca cola in the country, is set to be finalized early next year, The Reporter has learnt.

Joining the Ethiopian beverage market some 60 years ago, Coca-Cola and its shareholders have announced their intentions of investing USD 300 million in the coming five years. Burno Pietracci, general manager of the East and Central African Franchise, said that Coca-Cola has decided to expand its outlay and promote Ethiopia as a destination for other potential foreign investors.

After breaking ground on Thursday at the town of Sebeta, some 25 kilometers from Addis Ababa, the new plant will be the biggest bottler that it has built in Ethiopia so far. Coca-Cola has installed three plants creating some 2,200 local jobs to date. The overall jobs created in Ethiopia under Coca-Cola will reach to 2,700 including the 500 newly expected jobs from the upcoming factory.

According to Daryl Wilson, managing director of East Africa Bottling Share Company (EABSC), the investment disbursement will further reach USD 150 million since one more plant is planned to be installed in Hawassa, capital of the Southern Regional State. The Sebeta plant will have a manufacturing capacity of 70,000 cases per day.

The first Coca-Cola bottling plant was set up in Addis Ababa in 1959 then followed by the second plant installed in Dire Dawa in 1965. The Addis Ababa plant alone has a capacity of bottling some 36,000 plastic bottles (PET) per hour. The most recent plant installed in Bahir Dar commenced its production in 2016.

According to reports, EABSC launched “vision 2020” where it will become energy self-sufficient; and during the same year, the company set plans to reach 100 million unit cases, that will put Ethiopia on par with Egypt and South Africa.