JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) has declared 2026 its “Year of the Customer,” a strategic focus brought to life this week as the company honoured its top-performing teams and countries at its annual awards ceremony.
The ceremony marked the conclusion of a dynamic two-day Leadership Conference, where more than 100 of the company’s top leaders gathered to align on strategic priorities.
The sessions featured robust dialogue and collaboration, all aimed at sharpening execution and strengthening the company’s ability to win in every market by placing the customer at the centre of its operations.
A central theme of the conference was CCBA’s commitment to a customer-centric growth strategy. This approach is driven by empowering every employee, whether in customer-facing roles or support functions, to take ownership of the customer experience. This unified, customer-first mindset is key to delivering superior value across the continent.
Addressing the leadership team, Sunil Gupta, CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, delivered a clear and compelling message on the company’s direction.
“Our success is a direct reflection of how well we serve our customers. They are the heart of our business,” Gupta said. “In our ‘Year of the Customer,’ we are sharpening our focus on execution, innovation, and partnership to ensure a CCBA product is always within reach and consistently delivered with excellence. The teams we celebrate this week are the champions of this mission.”
The evening’s top honours, recognising execution and impact in the market, were awarded to several countries. Uganda received the Employer of Choice Award for building an exceptional, high-performance culture and an engaging workplace. Malawi earned multiple recognitions, including the Top Line Acceleration Award for outstanding revenue growth and increased consumption driven by strong commercial execution, the Building Enduring Economic Value Award for strong financial outcomes achieved through disciplined execution and margin improvement, and the overall CEO Award for excellence across financial performance, customer execution, operational delivery, and people leadership.
South Africa received the Customer Obsession Award for consistently delivering a superior customer experience through product availability and execution excellence, while Kenya was recognised with the Corporate Reputation Award for maintaining the highest standards in safety, quality, and sustainability.
The Leadership Conference reinforced CCBA’s commitment to embedding customer-centricity as the primary driver of growth. The event concluded with a strong message: placing the customer at the heart of the business is essential to achieving the company’s ambition of becoming the most admired organisation in Africa.
