Coca Cola Nigeria Spends $601m on Local Goods, Supports 160,000 Jobs

For many Nigerians, Coca-Cola is a familiar brand found in homes, restaurants, kiosks and neighbourhood stores. What is less visible, however, is the scale of the economic activity that takes place behind every bottle produced, transported and sold across the country. A new study has tried to put a number on what that chain is worth to the economy.

A new Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA), conducted in 2024 by the global consultancy, Steward Redqueen, sheds light on the Coca-Cola System’s footprint in Nigeria by revealing how the System’s operations support jobs, local businesses and economic growth.

The headline figure: jobs

The most striking number in the report is employment. The employment figures provide perhaps the clearest picture of the System’s economic reach.

According to the report, the Coca-Cola System in Nigeria, comprising The Coca-Cola Company and its authorised bottling partner, the Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (NBC), directly employed 2,989 people in its offices and eight bottling plants across the country. Furthermore, it supported an additional 157,200 jobs through suppliers, distributors, retailers and other value-chain partners.

In practical terms, it means that over 160,000 people were engaged by the System in 2024. The report estimates that for every one job directly created by the System, another 53 jobs were supported across the wider economy. These jobs are not limited to beverage production. They include farmers supplying raw materials, transporters moving products across the country, wholesalers and retailers selling beverages, and workers in service-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants and bars.

The $601 million local procurement supply

Equally compelling is the System’s deep commitment to domestic integration. Rather than relying heavily on importation, the Coca-Cola System anchored its operations locally, investing $601 million in the Nigerian economy through the procurement of goods and services from local suppliers in 2024.

The figure matters because it answers a question often asked of multinationals: how much of your input is actually Nigerian? Ingredients, packaging materials, and operational services are predominantly sourced, produced, and manufactured locally, injecting much-needed liquidity into domestic agricultural and industrial supply chains.

$1bn in overall value-added economic activity

When all of that is summed up as value-added activities across the economy: salaries, taxes and profits that contribute to GDP, the system contributed $1 billion in economic activity economy-wide in the year under review, according to the assessment.

Sustainability initiatives make a mark

Beyond economic metrics, the System noted in the assessment that it is investing in sustainability and community development initiatives. In February 2025, the Coca-Cola System commissioned a packaging collection hub in Apapa, Lagos, with the capacity to process up to 13,000 metric tonnes of PET plastic bottles annually.

The facility is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s recycling infrastructure while supporting livelihoods, including those of informal waste collectors

The System is also backing water stewardship projects across Africa, including Nigeria, through a nearly $25 million investment programme running to 2030. For example, the S-WASH programme, funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation and implemented by WaterAid and the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, has improved water, sanitation and hygiene services for more than 16,000 people in six communities in Borno State.

How the study was done

Steward Redqueen, which has done over 60 such studies for the Coca-Cola System globally, used an input-output model developed by Nobel laureate Wassily Leontief, a tool economists have used in over 200 studies worldwide.

The consultancy combined operational data, including headcount, vendor spending, sales volumes and community investment, with third-party sources such as the World Bank, the International Labour Organisation, Purdue University’s Global Trade Analysis Project and Euromonitor.

The consultancy said individual bottler data was collected under non-disclosure agreements and was not shared with The Coca-Cola Company, a measure intended to protect data integrity.

What comes next

After 75 years in Nigeria, the System said it plans to scale up investment to $1 billion over the next five years under a stable regulatory climate. The System’s contribution to Nigeria is not limited to economic activity alone.

Through The Coca-Cola Foundation, the System has committed $1.25 million to expand access to safe water and strengthen water systems in Lagos and Abuja. This initiative will help strengthen infrastructure, develop local expertise, and enhance resilient community water access for thousands of Nigerians.

The SEIA report, therefore, offers a clear snapshot of how one of the country’s longest-standing consumer brands contributes to employment, enterprise development and economic activity. It highlights an important reality: a business is often measured not only by what it produces, but also by the opportunities it creates across the communities it serves.

Source: Legit.ng