Coca-Cola's Summit Empowers Diversity with Malala Yousafzai's Keynote

Through its one-day "Level the Playing Field" conference, hosted on August 18, 2023 in Sydney, The Coca-Cola Company is taking a brave step towards encouraging development for women and underrepresented groups in business, sports and society. The Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, the Saudi woman's rights activist Manal Al Sharif, the Australian paralympian Dylan Alcott AO, and Elizabeth Broderick, the founder of the Champions of Change Coalition are just a few of the eminent speakers who have been invited to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Summit.

Claudia Lorenzo, President of Coca-Cola ASEAN & South Pacific, emphasised the company's commitment to fostering equitable opportunity both within its workforce and throughout the larger global society in conjunction with the FIFA Women's World Cup finals, the largest female athletic event in the world. The FIFA Women's World Cup has broken records and is an important milestone in women's sports, symbolising the conviction that every objective is achievable, Lorenzo said.

"Our Level the Playing Field summit," she said, "is geared towards enhancing visibility and propelling progress for women and underrepresented groups across society and workplaces."

A multi-year relationship between a financial access NGO and The Coca-Cola Foundation, the company's philanthropy arm, was announced by Coca-Cola in advance of the summit. This cooperation will result in "Change Make Her," a five-year project with the international microloan marketplace Kiva. Up to 45,000 underrepresented entrepreneurs from Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Latin America, and Africa will get help from the project.

The Coca-Cola Foundation's Saadia Madsbjerg, President, expressed her delight for this innovative relationship, which has been awarded a grant of USD 1.1 million by the foundation. With the help of this award, a revolving loan fund for five years will be created to support ambitious female business owners in developing nations. "We recognise that one of the major obstacles to equality, particularly for women, is access to economic resources, including credit, finance, and business training," Madsbjerg emphasised.

She declared, "The Coca-Cola Foundation is happy to announce its support for the Change Make Her programme by partnering with the global microloan platform Kiva.

Coca-Cola's ongoing dedication to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion on a global scale is embodied in the "Level the Playing Field" summit, and its partnership with Kiva's "Change Make Her" programme represents a significant step towards enabling women and underrepresented groups to succeed in the business world and beyond.