Coca‑Cola Launches Education Program for Young People

Zagreb, October 9, 2017 – Coca‑Cola HBC Croatia has launched the social responsibility project Coca‑Cola Youth Empowered to increase the employability of young people who have completed their education but are still unemployed. It is a free education program focusing on business and life knowledge as well as skills sought on the labour market and largely insufficiently represented in existing formal education programs. The program was designed as a multi-year program, it will be implemented this year through workshops and an online education platform in Osijek, Sisak, Split and Zagreb and will include 250 young people.

“By implementing this project we want to contribute to the solving of one of the biggest social problems, i.e. high youth unemployment. Croatia is not the only one faced with this problem, but the entire European Union, so the same program will also be implemented by other members of Coca‑Cola HBC Hellenic Group. In the first year, our program will include 250 unemployed young people aged 18 to 30 in four cities and another 1,000 in the following two years. Young people are the future of every country and it is important that we all join forces to make it possible for them to work and build their careers here in Croatia. With its partners and with support from relevant institutions Coca‑Cola demonstrated with this program once again that it is a company which is firmly connected with the community and which helps resolve important issues and contributes to the overall development of Croatian society not only with its business operations, but also with its actions”, said Ruža Tomić Fontana, General Manager of Coca‑Cola HBC for Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia during the presentation of the project.

Coca‑Cola's partner in the program's implementation in Croatia is Selectio Group, a leading group specialising human resources consulting and talent recruitment.

Along with experts from Selectio Group, lectures will be held by experienced lecturers, including dr.sc. Andrej Grubišić, Romeo Jerčić and Vesna Vrga Perović, and lectures will cover, among other things, topics such as business planning, financial literacy as well as sales and negotiation skills. The workshops will also be attended by mentors, Coca‑Cola managers who will provide attendants with practical experiences and advice. 

The project is supported by the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, the Croatian Employment Service and the Croatian Employers' Association.

Attention was once again drawn to the unfavourable conditions on the labour market and the necessity to acknowledge the existence of a problem among young people by Kristina Fleischer, Senior Advisor at the Department for Employer Relations at the Croatian Employment Service: “When it comes to unemployment, including youth unemployment, it is evident that it has been reduced, but young people are still in our focus because they represent an important part of social development. The Croatian Employment Service is continuously working on increasing the competitiveness of young people on the labour market and strengthening their competencies, and it has recognized this initiative as a valuable contribution to increasing the competitiveness of young people. Coca‑Cola’s project is an example of good practice and perfectly corresponds with our activities aimed at young people within the framework of which we will invite as many young people as possible to sign up for it.”

The Institute for Professional Training of Young People, the PRONI Centre for Social Education, the student association AIESEC as well as the cities of Osijek and Sisak have joined the implementation of the Coca‑Cola Youth Empowered program, the program's media partner is Hanza media. The Coca‑Cola Youth Empowered program will start November 15 and will go until December 15 of this year. The workshops in Osijek, Sisak and Split will each be attended by 50 people, the one in Zagreb by 100.

All project information is available on the website https://prijava.cocacolinapodrskamladima.hr, where anyone interested can sign up for participation by November 9.

Contact

Public Affairs and Communications Department
Coca‑Cola HBC Hrvatska d.o.o.
phone 01 2480 749
e-mail [email protected]