"Empowering 200,000 Filipina retailers by 2020", 28 Oct 2014

…Coca-Cola is aiming to partner with 200,000 women sari-sari store owners and operators in the Philippines by 2020 by including them in the company’s value chain development programs. “Coca Cola recognizes the significant role of women in the development of business and communities. In the Philippines, we find sari-sari stores in every corner managed by women. The company’s thrust is to include them in the value chain by enabling environments for their business to thrive and become sustainable,” said Coca-Cola Philippines Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications…STAR [Store Training and Access to Resources] program beneficiaries, whose sari-sari store business must be operational for at least six months to qualify, will undergo a 12-week Basic Entrepreneurship and Gender Sensitivity Training. Subsequently, they will have the option to access financing through rural banks and micro-finance partners of the company…STAR is part of Coca-Cola’s worldwide initiative…to contribute to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) poverty-alleviation efforts…