How The Coca‑Cola Foundation and Partners are Empowering Entrepreneurs and Youth to Overcome Economic Challenges

Not long ago, Seema felt hopeless. A young, widowed mother in India, she was alone and without a way to feed her three children. Then she found Generation, a global nonprofit network supported by The Coca‑Cola Foundation (TCCF), that readies people for life-changing careers.

“Generation gave me the skills, confidence and mindset to move forward,” she said. “Today, I live on my own terms, without fear that my children will go to bed hungry. I focus on their education so they can have a better future than I ever dreamed of.”

Seema was one of the approximately 3.5 billion people globally who struggle to earn enough to meet basic needs¹. To help, TCCF funds entrepreneurship, workforce development and education programs for men and women to improve livelihoods and economies in communities served by The Coca‑Cola Company. The Foundation invests in institutions and transformative ideas, ranging from assisting under-resourced small businesses and disadvantaged students, to upskilling young people for decent paying jobs.

“The Coca‑Cola Foundation envisions a brighter, shared future where vulnerable individuals can triumph over educational, workforce, financial, and other challenges to unlock a world of economic opportunities for generations to come,” said Carlos Pagoaga, President of TCCF.

Overcoming obstacles

With approximately 60% of workers worldwide employed by informal micro and small enterprises², small business owners are the primary job creators in many communities. However, in emerging markets, they often lack access to credit, insurance and savings accounts, and women, in particular, are left out or poorly served by financial systems.

Take Elizabeth, a beauty salon owner in Costa Rica, and mother of two. She was eager to grow her small business but was unable to access traditional financial services. A local partner told Elizabeth about Kiva, a TCCF-supported global nonprofit that provides crowdfunded loans to underserved communities. After receiving her loan, Elizabeth was able to purchase specialized products and expand her salon’s services.

"As a female head of household, getting this loan changed my life,” she said. “It made me feel like a more confident and empowered woman. I feel that I can succeed…and from today onwards there won’t be any obstacles on the way.”

Elizabeth’s story illustrates the kind of impact that initiatives like ‘Change Make Her’ strive to create. This five-year loan initiative from TCCF and Kiva, spanning Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Africa, Latin America and Europe, has put more than $2 million of capital in the hands of women business owners, and once loans are repaid, Kiva multiplies the impact by lending the repayments to new borrowers. Progress is tracked in a real-time dashboard that predicts that approximately 45,000 women will benefit from the project.

TCCF also recently joined with global nonprofit Accion to further address financial challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The year-long effort has Accion’s team of experts working with financial institutions in Bangladesh, Ghana, India and Mexico to reduce gender inequalities and barriers, and design banking products tailored to women’s needs.

“Over one billion women globally still lack access to the essential financial services³ that can help them build successful businesses and invest in their futures,” said Liza Guzmán, Vice President of Customer Strategy and Women’s Economic Empowerment at Accion Advisory. “With support from The Coca‑Cola Foundation, Accion will connect partners with the latest technologies to test, improve, and scale responsible financial solutions that enable small business owners and their families to strengthen their economic well-being.”

Potential new solutions include creating a digital profile for women who lack access to formal financial services, scaling a resilience fund in response to climate impacts, and conducting market research to better understand social norms that prevent women from accessing and using financial services.

Supporting new career paths

In many local communities, people like Seema are commonly unemployed or overlooked for jobs because they lack the skills needed. Generation offers training, mentorship and placement services across 17 countries, with over 26,000 people graduating from its programs last year.⁴

TCCF funding helps enhance the global platform used to deliver Generation’s workforce development curricula and resources. It also backs efforts to prepare young men and women for tech, green and retail jobs in Brazil, Spain, Kenya, India and France. Nearly all graduates find employment within six months of completion, including Andrei, a specialist developer in Brazil.

“I gained not only technical skills but also soft skills and psychological support that helped me persist through challenges,” said Andrei. “Today, my financial situation is no longer a concern for my parents and I can support them when needed. Generation played a vital role in transforming my life.”

¹ World Bank: Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024
² ILO: Micro and Small Enterprises Engines of Job Creation
³ World Bank: Gender Strategy 2024 – 2030
⁴ Generation: Our Impact