E-Business
International Women’s Day: How Coca-Cola is Championing Women Empowerment
The economic empowerment of women remains a burning issue in countries across the world. On International Women’s Day, a day set aside to celebrate the social, cultural, political and economic achievements of women, issues around women empowerment generally come to the fore.
In many parts of the world, women still face discrimination in areas of remuneration, education and governance. As a result, women are often labelled vulnerable with their lack of power, influence and access to economic resources.
Due to the harsh economic climate and unemployment rate in many parts of the world, it has become more desirable for households to have gainfully employed couples to contribute to the larger economy than to have homes with unemployed, full-time housewives.
Also, there has been an increase in single parenthood as many cultures are beginning to embrace the decision of women to raise their families single-handedly either by choice or circumstances. Whether they are breadwinners or not, women are entitled to their economic autonomy just as their male counterparts in order to care for their health, fend for their children and other dependents.
With the global awareness on women economic rights, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited recognizes the potential in women to make significant contributions to the economy. This conviction led to the birth of the “5by20” initiative, a Coca-Cola program designed to help uplift and empower five million female entrepreneurs – from fruit farmers and artisans, to recyclers and retailers – to become part of its value chain by 2020.
The initiative, which began in 2010 and ended in 2020, saw numerous projects funded by Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited along with its bottling partner, Nigerian Bottling Company for the economic inclusion of over 450,000 women across the country. The women were equipped to overcome social and economic barriers through the provision of basic business skills, access to financial services and assets, connections with peers and mentors, along with the confidence that comes with building a thriving business. The 5by20 initiative targeted women in six segments of Coca Cola’s value chain: producers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, recyclers and artisans. As of 2019, over 4.6 million women in over 90 countries had started businesses as part of the 5by20 program.
Consistently, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and its bottling partner, Nigerian Bottling Company has leveraged diverse platforms to implement the 5by20 initiative to better fit local needs as well as make a greater impact using various platforms.
These include the IDP Women Value Chain Integration Programme which is a two-day micro-business empowerment scheme for over 50 internally displaced women.In addition, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and the United Kingdom Department for International Development of Girls Education launched the Educating Nigerian Girls in Nigeria Enterprise (ENGINE) Value Program aimed at strengthening the educational and economic opportunities of the Nigerian girl-child. Through the programme, Coca-Cola improved the learning outcomes and economic status of over 21,000 marginalised adolescent girls in Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos.
Another interesting intervention by Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited is The Lady Mechanic initiative which empowered about 100 girls in Benin through auto-mechanic skills capability development. Today, the initiative has broken the glass ceiling or gender barrier that is largely associated with the automobile profession which had been deemed by some as off-limits for women. The reality is that the empowered women under this initiative are all now employers of labour.
The SHAPE 2020 programme is yet another women empowerment program implemented by Whitefield Foundation, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Foundation and endorsed by Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation. With a $66,000 grant, the women-focused intervention trained and equipped “at-risk” and “underserved” women in local communities with transferable skills such as catering, cosmetics, fashion designing, soap-making, amongst others.
According to the World Health Organization in 2020, the maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria is 814 per 100,000 live births, accounting for 20% of global maternal deaths. One of the contributing factors for this sad reality is the lack of access to quality and affordable health care facilities. In response to this dire situation, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited launched its Safe Birth Initiative to impact the lives of expectant mothers and their babies.
The Safe Birth Initiative is a social investment from Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited in partnership with Medshare International, the Federal Government through the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, and the Federal Ministry of Health. The initiative seeks to support the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on maternal and neonatal mortality; with a key focus on improving the capacity of selected public hospitals through the procurement of vital maternal and neonatal medical equipment and training personnel in biomedical engineering to improve equipment maintenance and uptime, while reactivating a large stock of abandoned medical equipment wasting away in public hospitals.
For this project, Coca-Cola will donate a total of thirty-six 40ft containers of medical equipment, kits and supplies worth over N3.8b to tertiary hospitals like the Federal Medical Center Ebute Metta Lagos, Abuja National Hospital, Alimosho General Hospital, University Teaching Hospital Ilorin, Federal Medical Center Owerri, Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and many others. The initiative, through its partners, Medshare International has also trained over 150 technical staff in these health centres; with many others scheduled to be trained in 2021/2022.
The Coca-Cola Foundation, through the New World Program (NWP), has also awarded a grant worth $100,000 to the Mental and Environmental Development Initiative for Children (MEDIC) towards implementing a Recycling Scheme for Women and Youth Empowerment (RESWAYE).In the same vein, the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and its bottling partner, the Nigerian Bottling Company, have announced a collaboration aimed at empowering 1,000 women in Lagos State. The selected women received training in financial literacy and business skills as well as start-up capital to integrate them into the Coca-Cola value chain as retailers of the company’s beverage products.
While reflecting on these initiatives, the Managing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Alfred Olajide, reaffirms the importance of creating an economic model that empowers women and hinges on sustainability.
“Women constitute a significant part of the world’s shared success because we recognize their roles not just as homemakers and influencers but as drivers of economic growth and pillars of their communities and business systems.
“At Coca-Cola, we have initiated these numerous projects through partnerships with non-governmental organisations, women leaders and the government to improve the lives of women who participate in the 5by20 projects.
“The entrepreneurial spirit of these women has made a positive impact on the larger economy through our value chain whether as retailers, suppliers, producers, artisans and mentors”.
Women constitute a major pillar as part of Coca-Cola’s sustainability agenda, this is evident in the numerous initiatives highlighted. Through scalable models and powerful partnerships, Coca-Cola continues to facilitate the development of women while creating shared value for their host communities. With the results proving the efficacy of their programmes, there is no doubt that the company continues to live its purpose of refreshing the world and making a difference in the lives of many.
Pan-African digital rights organisation Paradigm Initiative (PIN) has warned that violent extremist groups are increasingly exploiting digital platforms to recruit, radicalise and manipulate young people across the Sahel region.
The organisation raised the concern in a new policy brief titled “Digital Frontlines: Countering Online Radicalisation and Violent Extremist Narratives in the Sahel.”
According to the publication, extremist groups are shifting from traditional recruitment methods to digital platforms, including social media, encrypted messaging applications, short-form video platforms and online financial incentives, to target vulnerable populations.
PIN noted that unemployed youths and people facing insecurity and limited economic opportunities are particularly susceptible to online recruitment campaigns.
The organisation said that although governments have intensified efforts to combat violent extremism, responses to the digital dimension of the threat have failed to keep pace with rapidly evolving online tactics.
It argued that addressing online radicalisation requires more than surveillance and restrictive measures, recommending investments in digital literacy, stronger community resilience, improved early-warning systems and credible counter-narratives.
PIN also urged governments to work closely with technology companies and civil society organisations to disrupt extremist recruitment while protecting citizens’ digital rights.
The report further highlighted the growing convergence between organised crime and violent extremist groups, noting that online propaganda increasingly promises financial rewards, belonging and purpose to vulnerable young people.
According to the organisation, this trend underscores the need for policymakers to prioritise prevention alongside conventional security responses.
Speaking on the findings, Moussa Waly SENE, Programmes Officer for Francophone Africa at Paradigm Initiative, described the digital space as a new frontline in the fight against violent extremism.
“As more young Africans come online, stakeholders must ensure that digital platforms remain spaces for opportunity, innovation and civic participation, not recruitment grounds for violent extremist groups. Protecting digital rights and protecting vulnerable communities should be mutually reinforcing objectives,” he said.
Among its recommendations, the policy brief called for stronger regional cooperation to tackle cross-border online extremist networks, rights-respecting content moderation and greater accountability by digital platforms.
It also advocated expanded digital literacy programmes to strengthen resilience against online manipulation and community-led initiatives that empower young people to identify and reject extremist narratives.
The organisation further urged policymakers to develop security measures that balance national security objectives with the protection of privacy, freedom of expression and access to information.
E-Business
Kaspersky Reveals a New Malicious Framework Targeting Cryptocurrency Users with the Use of OkoSpyware
At its recent annual Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) region, Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) shared insights about the new OkoBot campaign targeting cryptocurrency users.
The new sophisticated framework employs TookPS to exfiltrate seed phrases and uses a new OkoSpyware module to monitor Chromium-based browsers and deploy various malware strains, including the Rilide stealer.
It has already targeted hundreds of victims across over 25 countries, with the highest number of affected end users recorded in Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and Turkiye. According to Kaspersky experts, the threat remains active and primarily poses a risk to cryptocurrency users.
In January 2026, experts from the Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) identified multiple attacks involving a previously unknown malware capable of capturing the contents of cryptocurrency wallet windows. Dubbed Okobot, the new sophisticated malware framework comprises more than 20 malicious payloads and implants designed to perform a wide range of functions, including collecting local files, executing remote commands, downloading arbitrary browser extensions, stealing cryptocurrency wallets, harvesting seed phrases and credentials, recording video and carrying out other malicious activities.
One of the new implants used in the campaign is a loader that modifies browser memory to load and hide malicious extensions. OkoBot also includes a new OkoSpyware module, which captures keystrokes and the video stream of a target application’s window.
Currently available information does not allow the campaign to be attributed to any known crimeware actor with high confidence. However, the techniques and infostealer involved are widely used by Russian-speaking threat actors, and technical analysis has also revealed code artifacts in Russian.
The initial infection typically occurs through two main vectors: ClickFix attacks, in which threat actors use social engineering to trick users into running malicious code, and malware distributed via GitHub under the guise of legitimate software. During the investigation, researchers identified one such case involving a fake installer for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), a widely used Microsoft database management tool.
The malicious framework includes SeedHunter, a malware component that monitors active system processes and injects an implant into Trezor Suite, Ledger Wallet, and Ledger Live, – official applications used to manage cryptocurrency assets. When it detects a connected Trezor or Ledger hardware wallet, it triggers the hooked functions to display a hard-coded phishing page aimed at stealing the user’s seed phrase, using a distinct layout for each wallet type.
“The OkoBot campaign has been active for more than a year and remained ongoing as of July 2026. The observed infection vectors strongly suggest that developers are among its primary targets. Of particular concern is the malware’s continued evolution, which indicates that the framework is being actively maintained. As distribution efforts persist, the campaign has the potential to reach more users and expand into additional countries in the near term,” says Dmitry Galov, Head of the Russia and CIS unit at Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team.
Afri Invoice, one of Nigeria’s leading accredited e-invoicing service providers, has announced plans to recruit more than 100 professionals nationwide to strengthen support for the Nigeria Revenue Service’s (NRS) mandatory e-invoicing compliance programme.
The recruitment campaign, is aimed at expanding the company’s workforce to meet the growing demand for digital tax infrastructure and help businesses transition smoothly to the country’s evolving e-invoicing regime.
According to the company, the new positions will be spread across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to ensure businesses receive timely, localised support as they adapt to the new tax compliance framework.
The vacancies cut across several key departments, including Information Technology (IT), Marketing and Digital Marketing, Audit, Legal, Human Resources and multi-site office operations.
Afri Invoice said applicants are expected to possess relevant professional experience, particularly in managing operations across multiple locations and supporting organisational growth.
The company explained that the latest recruitment drive builds on a similar exercise conducted last year, which significantly expanded its operational reach and increased its capacity to onboard clients nationwide.
With the NRS intensifying the implementation of mandatory e-invoicing, Afri Invoice said it is investing in additional manpower to ensure uninterrupted service delivery, efficient client onboarding and expert technical support for businesses of all sizes.
Speaking on the expansion, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Afri Invoice, Mark Odenore, said the company remains committed to helping Nigerian businesses comply with the new tax regulations through innovative technology and professional support.
“As the national drive toward comprehensive e-invoicing gathers momentum under the Nigeria Revenue Service, our mission is to ensure that Nigerian businesses have a reliable, accredited partner to navigate this transition effortlessly,” Odenore said.
He added that recruiting more than 100 professionals across the country’s geopolitical zones would significantly strengthen the company’s ability to provide quality technology solutions and customer support nationwide.
Interested and qualified candidates have been encouraged to submit their applications through Afri Invoice’s official careers portal.
Afri Invoice is an accredited e-invoicing service provider that offers digital solutions designed to simplify financial processes, improve tax transparency and support businesses in complying with national tax regulations while enhancing supply chain and financial management.
ITUC-Africa Faults FG’s Plans to Remove Electricity Subsidy
SEC Begins Full e-Registration for Capital Market Services
NAICOM Revokes Nigeria Reinsurance’s Licence over Failure to Meet MCR
Many Nigerian Airlines May Collapse within 30 Days – Onyema
Ogbaga, Abuja Lawyer to Sue Telcos, DStv over Alleged Unfair Practices
NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira
From Scarcity to Scale: What Africa Can Learn from India’s Agricultural Transformation
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
BON Establishes Six Ad Hoc Committees to Modernize Broadcasting
How EFCC Turned Recovered Loot Into School Supplies for Thousands of Nigerian Students
E-Business3 days agoKaspersky Identifies Cyberespionage as a Growing Threat Across Africa, Others
Broadcasting3 days agoNBC Files Fresh Appeal against Judgment Barring it from Imposing Fines on Broadcast Stations
News3 days agoINTERPOL Report Shows AI Powers 55% of Cybercrimes in Africa Amid $484m Losses
News3 days agoNigeria Expands Deep-tech Skills Pipeline
Telecom3 days agoWhy Strong Institutions Remain Africa’s True Growth Engine
E-Financial3 days agoNigerians Lost N25.85Bn to Digital Payment Fraud in 2025 –CBN
E-Business2 days agoKaspersky Reveals a New Malicious Framework Targeting Cryptocurrency Users with the Use of OkoSpyware
E-Financial3 days agoNRS Announces 30 Percent Tax on Corporate Crypto Income