Anyway, the Mangina-of-the-Year award goes to...Muhtart Kent, Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola:
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This Century Goes to the Women</font>
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Muhtart Kent</font>
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Chairman of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer, The Coca-Cola Company</font>
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Posted: October 13, 2010 08:50 PM</div></div></div></div></div>
Let's discuss the future of our global economy and society.
Specifically, I'd like to discuss women, and the role women will play in
transforming our global economy and society over the next decade. I
also want to share some thoughts on the role women will play in helping
transform The Coca-Cola Company over the next decade and beyond.
Like so many of you, I usually start my day with National Public
Radio. And driving into work one recent morning, I got stuck in Atlanta
traffic and my attention turned to a report on the radio. It was yet
another story about China's rise in the world. Some economists were
predicting that China would most likely eclipse Japan as the world's
second largest economy by the end of this year -- a full five years
ahead of most previous projections.
Perhaps you heard the same report. China's GDP is projected to grow
to more than $5 trillion dollars this year. Of course, a day doesn't go
by without some new breathtaking statistic about China or India or
Brazil, or some other fast-growing economy in the developing world. No
one has done a better job chronicling the economic rise of the rest of
the world than Fareed Zakaria. I've had the good fortune of meeting
Fareed on a number of occasions and I am always impressed by his
fascinating insights on the global landscape. In his seminal book,
The
Post-American World, he wrote at length about the nations that
will be driving the 21st century economy, and the implications this will
have on America.
I think there's another way of looking at this as well -- one that
goes beyond national comparisons.
In fact, I would say that real
drivers of the "Post-American World" won't be China ... or India ... or
Brazil -- or any nation for that matter. The real drivers will be
women. Women entrepreneurs, women business, political, academic and
cultural leaders -- and women innovators. The truth is that women
already are the most dynamic and fastest-growing economic force in the
world today.
Women now control over $20 trillion dollars in spending worldwide.
To put that into context -- that's an economic impact larger than the
U.S., China and India economies combined. But there's so much more to
the story. Here in the U.S., women-owned businesses account for nearly
$4 trillion dollars in GDP. That's right: $4 trillion dollars in
economic output. This alone constitutes the fourth-largest economy in
the world. Only the U.S., Japan and China are larger today.
Women's entrepreneurship doesn't stop at U.S. borders, of course. It
is soaring around the world. In fact, today, one in 11 working-age
women is now involved in entrepreneurship. And the highest percentages
of women business owners are in markets you might not expect.
Consider
this: nearly 20 percent of working women in Thailand are entrepreneurs.
In India, it's 14 percent; Argentina, 12 percent; Brazil, 11 percent;
and Mexico and Chile 10 percent. And these percentages are rising every
year.
So, let's for the moment forget all the talk about the "China
Century" or the "India Century" or the "BRIC Century." The real story
is that the 21st century is going to be the "Women's Century." As the
world desperately looks for ways to restart and reset the global
economy, the solution lies right in front of us. In the words of World
Bank President Robert Zoellick, gender equality is simply "smart
economics."</font>
Now, I realize some of you may be scratching your head and thinking
-- "Why is this guy so interested in women's empowerment issues?"
That's a fair question. For starters, I have been managed by women all
of my life ... beginning at birth with my mother. Now Defne and my
daughter, Selin, continue that strong management tradition today. I
like to think they've done a wonderful job.
Selin is also in the early stages of her professional career. I
would like to see my daughter flourish professionally in a world that is
more just and equitable for women, and where the benefits of diversity
are fully appreciated. I also a feel a deep and personal obligation to
uphold the legacies of my father and father-in-law -- men of great
principle who worked tirelessly to promote the rights of all men and
women.
And, of course, as a business leader and someone who has been given
the responsibility of creating shareholder value for the world's most
recognized brand -- I feel a tremendous sense of urgency in ensuring
that conditions are ripe for women to thrive around the world.
Call it self-interest ... or enlightened self-interest -- it really
doesn't matter. Creating a climate of success for women globally is
just simply smart business for a consumer-products company. It's smart
business for any company.
Empower women and you recharge the world.
In recent months, magazines ranging from
Business Week to
The
Economist have cited studies that show a direct correlation
between women's empowerment and national GDP growth, business growth,
environmental sustainability, and improved human health, just to name a
few things. The community, social, and family implications are vast.
For instance, there's no question that women influence public opinion
inside the home.
At Coca-Cola we have massive banks of information on shoppers and
consumers around the world and all of our data points to women as the
household opinion elites. Women determine what comes into the home and
in what quantity and frequency. It's probably no surprise to you that
women account for the majority of purchase decisions for our beverages.
In fact, they represent 70 percent of all grocery shoppers.
At Coca-Cola, we can't grow our business or reach any of our
long-term business goals without greater women's economic empowerment
and entrepreneurship around the world. In fact, no business or economy
will be able to grow without this. All the growth projections we've
been hearing about for the coming years -- for China, for India, for
Africa, for North and South America --
none of it will be possible
without women's economic empowerment.
The only way a projected billion people will rise to the middle class
in the next 10 years... the only way the world will grow $20 trillion
dollars richer... the only way more nations will rise out of poverty and
become more politically stable... will be by women achieving gender
parity on a global scale.
If we fail in this regard, the world's economy will fail.
While business and society have made great progress in recent years,
the journey has just begun. We still see too many roadblocks to women's
empowerment. Cultural roadblocks ... educational roadblocks ...
political roadblocks ... financial roadblocks, and technology
roadblocks, to name just a few. I had a great conversation not long ago
with President Obama's Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues,
Melanne Verveer. Ambassador Verveer said something very poignant about
the persistent lack of access to capital for women entrepreneurs.
She said, and I quote: "Too many of the best business ideas die in
bank parking lots. That's got to change and it will change."
Here I'd
like to outline 3 concrete ways that business, government and academia
can have a significant impact in generating female empowerment around
the globe.
This is the new model. We in business have to think differently
about the way we work with and view governments and NGOs. Governments
and NGOs, in turn, need to think differently about the way they work
with and view business. And academia needs to continue be an impartial
filter of the truth -- keeping us all honest.
So let me just preface this by saying that these three areas are not
nice to-dos ... rather they are imperative to our long-term viability.
1. The first way we can help fuel women's
empowerment is the most obvious: Accelerating women's leadership within
our own four walls.
One of the most fulfilling programs I am personally involved in is
serving as the chair of our company's Women's Leadership Council, which
we initiated three years ago. In this role, I work with senior women
executives throughout our company to identify strategies to accelerate
global recruitment, development, advancement and retention of women.
The program is built around the core focus areas of:
<ul>[*]Building a leadership pipeline[*]Creating an enabling culture that values personal sustainability.[*]And driving employee engagement within our company.[/list]
One area of major concern for our women employees across all of our
global geographies is work-life balance. To help ease some of the
burden, in 2008 we initiated flexible-work arrangements in North
America and provided a global framework and tool kits for our business
units around the world.
In addition, we have grown the number of women in upper management
level positions across our company, and our female employee engagement
rate is now higher than our overall company engagement rate. Today,
women hold top leadership positions in our corporate finance group,
including our Head Controller, M&A and Internal Audit executives.
Women make up half of our Global Public Affairs and Communications
leadership team, and about half of our legal team. We have women in our
top science and regulatory, quality and human resources positions. One
of our largest and most important global operating units -- Europe --
is led by a woman, and our operations in my native country, Turkey, is
run by a woman.
While we've made good progress the past three years, we have much,
much work to do. I am holding myself accountable for greater progress.
We have aggressive metrics in place that are embedded into our 2020
Vision -- our growth path forward for the next 10 years and beyond. We
are pushing ourselves to more than double our volume and revenue. We're
pushing ourselves to be among the greatest places in the world to work.
We're pushing ourselves to be even more consumer focused ... more
community focused ... and more environmentally focused.
We can't do any of that without greater participation of women at our
senior ranks, and we know we need to get there sooner rather than
later. For Coca-Cola, this is absolutely mission critical. The keen
insights women bring to our business are profound, to say the least. As
more and more women around the world gain economic power, we need to be
there to ensure the right shopper insights, the right mix of products,
and the right marketing and merchandising strategies.
This is the message I took to Davos earlier this year when I appeared
on a gender-parity panel discussion with Arianna Huffington and
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, among others.
2. Another theme that was echoed in that discussion
was the importance of bringing more women-owned businesses into our
supply chains -- which is the second area where business, government and
academia can continue to impact massive change. Because of the global
reach and influence of our operations, we can be powerful agents of
constructive change.
One of the most exciting women's entrepreneurial development programs
we have been involved in at Coca-Cola is our Micro Distribution Center
network in Africa. This program allows independent entrepreneurs to set
up distribution centers on behalf of our company. Micro Distribution
Centers are typically located in areas where a lack of stable roads and
infrastructure makes it difficult for delivery trucks to travel.
This independent network of entrepreneurs distributes Coca-Cola's
beverage products to retailers, often by bicycle or pushcart. In fact,
the vast majority of our sales in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda, Ethiopia and Mozambique are the result of this business model.
Nearly a thousand of these businesses in Africa alone are owned by
women.
Here's story of one of these entrepreneurs. Her name is Rosemary
Njeri and she has been running a Micro Distribution Center in downtown
Nairobi for the last 10 years. She's a hard-working, hand's-on business
owner who likes to lead by example and is very loyal to her staff.
Rosemary has grown her business so successfully that today she employs
16 people, some of whom have worked with her since she started. Two of
her salespeople have been able to build their own houses from the income
they've earned working for Rosemary.
Rosemary's livelihood has simply blossomed. In addition to her
thriving distribution business, she now invests in real estate and she
has been able to educate all three of her children. The multiplier
effect of such actions are significant.
Today, across our global supply chain, we work with upwards of 10
million women-owned or operated businesses -- from suppliers and
distributors to retailers -- that derive a significant portion of their
profits from Coca-Cola. We know there's more we can do stimulate even
greater female participation across our global value chain.
Two weeks ago I met with President Clinton in New York and announced
our commitment to reach out and help empower 5 million women
entrepreneurs by the year 2020. Now that may sound bold, but I have
seen the power and conviction of our system, and when we put our mind to
something we achieve results. To achieve this, we're going to partner
with other companies, governments and civil society organizations to
bring all of our skills and resources to bear to help break down the
barriers that small businesswomen face. Barriers like access to credit,
peer networking and basic training. We're going to give high potential
women in our system a chance to champion and manage this work.
There is so much business knowledge across our workforce that we can
transfer to emerging entrepreneurs. Basic accounting knowledge,
business planning, marketing, merchandising, customer service, and legal
advice to name just a few areas. And we're going to encourage all
Coca-Cola associates -- men and women alike -- to take advantage of this
opportunity to support women small business owners through one-on-one
mentoring and training.
I should be clear, too, that this kind of initiative will also reach
millions of men who are part of this vast network. All boats will rise.
As our suppliers and retail customers gain greater skills and
empowerment, their businesses will reflect this. And Coca-Cola's
business will reflect this. We are all in this together.
We've seen,
time and again, that as women rise in their communities -- the
communities themselves rise to new heights of prosperity and health.
3. This leads directly to the third area in which
business, government and academia can help promote global women's
economic empowerment, and that is by staying committed to sustainability
initiatives.
In this economic environment, there has been lots of discussion
across the business world about cutting back on corporate sustainability
initiatives. That's extremely short sighted as this is exactly the
time to recommit to these programs.
Whether it's, educational initiatives, environmental programs,
human-health programs, cultural programs or economic-development
initiatives -- all of these touch and influence women's empowerment and
entrepreneurship. Everything is inter-related.
We have experienced this countless times in the communities we serve
in over 206 countries.
As you might imagine, water is a huge focus of
our sustainability efforts at Coca-Cola. It is central to our business
and to our future. Water is also a fundamental women's economic
empowerment issue.
Here's one example. In Mali, we dug a well in a rural village so
that women wouldn't have to spend 8 hours a day walking back and forth
to a clean water source. The savings in time allowed these village
women to reinvent their lives. Guess what they did with their new
freedom? They started their own catering and events business. This
well-drilling program, by the way, was developed by one of our young
female managers at Coca-Cola.
Which brings me back full circle. Smart organizations -- and those
that succeed over the next decade and beyond -- will understand that the
21st century is the "Women's Century." Women's economic empowerment
and entrepreneurial growth will drive the world's economy. It's not a
matter of "if" -- but rather a matter of "to what heights." For all of
us in business, government, education and civil society -- the
implications will be vast and profound. Everyone's success will be
contingent upon women's success.</font>
This is not a battle of the sexes. Far from it. This is a battle
for preserving and enhancing the world's economic, environmental and
social fabric. It's just that simple. No one knows this more than Yale
which has flourished to an unprecedented level these past 40 years as a
coeducational institution.
Adapted from the address I delivered to the Yale World Fund on October 1, 2010.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/muhtar-kent/post_1057_b_762044.html?page=1
Edited by: Highlander 
I like Hoboken, though, I go there all the time and I keep Tunes in business
