An economic impact assessment commissioned around Coca-Cola’s 75th anniversary in Nigeria has estimated that the company’s wider operating network generated $1 billion in value-added activity and supported more than 160,000 jobs in 2024.
The analysis, undertaken by consulting firm Steward Redqueen, combined operational information from the Coca-Cola system with external economic datasets to estimate direct activity as well as effects flowing through suppliers, distributors, retailers and household spending. The results are estimates of economic impact, not a claim that Coca-Cola directly employed all the people counted.
The system comprises The Coca-Cola Company, its authorised bottling partner Nigerian Bottling Company and a broad network of businesses involved in supplying materials, moving products and selling beverages. According to the assessment, direct employment was close to 3,000, while another 157,200 jobs were supported elsewhere in the economy.
The study calculated that approximately 53 additional jobs were associated with every direct job in the system. Such multiplier estimates describe broader economic linkages and should be distinguished from positions on the company’s own payroll.
Local purchasing was another major component of the findings. Coca-Cola’s Nigerian operations reportedly obtained $601 million in goods and services from domestic suppliers during 2024, creating demand in industries such as packaging, sugar, transportation and marketing.
The report also pointed to environmental investments, including a packaging collection facility opened in Apapa, Lagos. The hub is described as having the capacity to process up to 13,000 metric tonnes of plastic bottles each year through collection, sorting and recycling of polyethylene terephthalate materials. The initiative is intended to support recycling activity while creating associated economic opportunities.
On water management, the study referenced the Africa Water Stewardship Initiative, a programme involving investment of nearly $25 million through 2030 across 20 African markets, Nigeria among them. The programme is intended to address water-related challenges in participating communities.
The figures underline the extent to which a large consumer-goods supply chain can influence other businesses. They also depend on the assessment’s modelling assumptions and should be read as the findings of the stated study, rather than independently audited national employment or output totals.
