SUCCESS IS THE RESULT OF STRONG PARTNERSHIPS AND STRATEGIC APPROACH TO COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

Genuine success is possible and complete if we share it with our community. This seemingly simple sentence is one of the essential benchmarks and values ​​of the corporate culture of Pivara Skopje. At the same time, it represents a driving force for inclusion and volunteer engagement for all of us – the employees of Pivara Skopje, in the implementation of the numerous socially responsible activities and long-term projects of the company.

In creating and implementing activities and platforms for corporate social responsibility, Pivara Skopje has a well thought-out, long-term and strategic approach. In this process, we are driven by the determination to focus our efforts, resources and energy on areas that have a great significance for the quality of life of the entire community. In doing so, we are trying and investing ourselves in creating strong partnerships with the institutions at the state and local level, in the scientific and educational institutions and, of course, the civil sector organizations. Cooperation with them enables us to better understand the needs of the community, and then to create and implement appropriate activities. Certainly, in doing this, we benefit greatly from the experience and support we have from the systems of Coca-Cola HBC and HEINEKEN where our company belongs.

Our work in the segment of social responsibility has a really wide scope, starting with the realization of many donations, sponsorships and long-term support of various cultural and sports events, and all the way to providing the necessary assistance to the people most in need, especially when dealing with misfortune and natural disasters. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that we are focusing our efforts on the implementation of many socially responsible platforms in areas such as: education and development of young people, raising awareness for providing clean environment and protection of water resources, health, safety and importance of active lifestyle, moderate and responsible consumption of alcohol, and the strengthening of the role of women in society.

We are proud and happy that with our work as a company, but also as volunteers, we have achieved remarkable results in all these areas. One of them, in which we are particularly active, is education and support for the development of young people. For that purpose, the Educational Center has been functioning within our company for two decades, as it is one of the most renowned centers for training and acquiring additional knowledge and skills in the country. Over the years, members of the management and employees in Pivara Skopje, as well as representatives of our partners and associates, are transferring their professional knowledge and experience to thousands of young people. In 2016, we started a new program in the Educational Center called “Skills for success”, which consists of free trainings for young unemployed people, especially from socially vulnerable categories. With this program, we want to motivate and encourage young people to take their future into their own hands by providing them with the skills that will help them find jobs or start their own business more easily. In this way, we open new perspectives for the young people, we contribute to increasing the employment and we further develop the entrepreneurial culture in the country. We expect the number of young people who will acquire new skills through trainings to exceed 5400 in the first five years of this program.

Another area that we are focused on is, of course, the protection of the environment and water resources. Along with the other members of the Coca-Cola HBC Group, our company has won first place in the world beverage industry for the fourth consecutive year, according to the results and commitments for sustainability and environmental protection, in the ranking conducted by The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. It’s a huge success that did not come randomly. It is the result of countless specific activities and investments in increasing the thermal efficiency and energy saving, recycling and saving of water used in the production process, for which we have built the most modern water treatment, as well as in reducing the weight of plastic (PET) packaging, which significantly reduced our environmental footprint. In addition to such investments in the production process, we also invest in the education and the raising of public awareness on the need for selecting and recycling waste. Together with our partners – the company Pakomak – we organize volunteering eco-actions featuring a large number of our employees, members of the management team, as well as many of our friends with whom we share the same values, including the Ambassadors and staff of diplomatic representative offices in the country. So far, we have organized such eco-actions to clean the quay of the river Vardar in the center of Skopje and the Lake Matka, which sent a message to the whole community about how we should all treat the environment, especially water resources, and at the same time we have contributed to achieving the national targets for the collection and recycling of packaging waste in the country. Additionally, within this platform, which is under the motto “Are you recycling!?”, together with our partners, we joined the educational caravan intended for children from the first to the fifth grade. The goal of this project, which is realized through an innovative theater play “Green Planet”, visited by about 10,000 children in ten cities over a few months, is motivating the new generations to act responsibly to the environment through entertainment and thus contribute towards creating a sustainable future for all.

Since we saw that the combination of education and entertainment works best, especially among the young, we decided in cooperation with the municipalities to implement a program through which we educate the children in primary schools about healthy habits and the right attitude towards the rules that provide safe and healthy school days. Thus, in the past four years, a large number of volunteers from Pivara Skopje showed over 18,500 students in 16 municipalities and cities across the country in an interesting and vivid way how to maintain proper body posture while sitting in a school chair or while working in front of a computer, how to properly carry the school backpack, how to prevent injuries caused by slipping, stumbling or falling and how to behave in the event of a fire in the school. Encouraged by the great interest of the children so far, we decided to continue this educational program this year as well. In addition, in order to promote active lifestyle as an effective recipe for a healthy life, again in cooperation with local institutions, we also built “Coca-Cola active zones” in 10 municipalities in the country and equipped them with modern fitness equipment for outdoor workout. We also built open bicycle parks, which provided direct benefits to 55,000 and which, together with our partners, sent a clear message to the public about the use of bicycle as an energy efficient means of transport that protects the environment and health of the people.

At the same time, with all these activities, we have set out for ourselves a long-term obligation to expand the culture of responsible consumption, starting from the fact that as the biggest beer producer in the country and the market leader we also have the biggest obligation to educate the public on all aspects related to this topic that has great social significance. In spreading the messages of moderate and responsible consumption, besides all employees in the company, associates and partners, we also included a large number of public figures, such as top athletes, who serve as an example for other people, especially for young people, thanks to their successes and lifestyle. To this end, we also made available all the communication channels of the company, including the Internet platform “Glass Full”, where, among other things, we upload regular contents for responsible consumption, active lifestyle, protection of the environment and water resources, health and safety, and other socially important topics.

All these, but also many other socially responsible platforms and activities, show that we strategically treat the sustainable development of the company, which will provide clear benefits for the community. In this process, we endeavor to involve a large number of partner organizations, institutions and individuals, and of course all of our employees and associates, promoting volunteering. As part of the team of Pivara that participates in the implementation of all these activities, I can freely say that we are all satisfied with what we have achieved so far. Our results show that the community has clear benefits from our efforts and the investments of the company. I believe that I am speaking on behalf of all my colleagues when I say that our results so far give us additional energy, but they are also an incentive for other companies to follow the example of Pivara Skopje, which undoubtedly is the benchmark for strong integration and partnership with the community for 94 years already.