Coca-Cola Marks Sign Language Day with Business Skills Training for Hearing-impaired

A group of more than 25 hearing-impaired people from Tororo, Omoro, Iganga, Wakiso, Lira and other parts of Uganda’s central region will receive business skills training from Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda (CCBU) as part of activities to celebrate World Sign Language Day.

The training continues an economic inclusion programme in which CCBU, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, donated fridges to people with disabilities to boost their businesses and support their livelihoods. The beneficiaries were trained on how to take care of the fridges and will also be given business training covering financial management and record keeping, among others, to help them run their businesses successfully. In Uganda, about 1,3 million people live with hearing impairments, most of whom benefit from the Special Grant for Persons with Disabilities.

Sign language has been a remarkable enabler in supporting effective communication among people with hearing impairments. “CCBU has adopted the pillars of employability and entrepreneurship as a framework for its economic inclusion strategy. Our aim is to boost income, provide sustainable earning potential, and improve skills and business knowledge for people with disabilities, resulting in them accessing better opportunities,” said Kirunda Magoola, CCBU Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Director, at the start of the training.

In the first year of CCBU’s focus on people with disabilities as a target group, the company has aligned its programmes with Uganda’s national goals and identified opportunities for economic inclusion of people with disabilities. Recently, CCBU, in partnership with the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda, after several months of hard work, launched a reusable sanitary towels project following the training of women with disabilities to make sanitary towels. The project, representing an investment by CCBU of over Shs10 million, sought to empower women with disabilities in the districts of Mukono and Buikwe.

“We want our business and the communities we serve to benefit from greater shared opportunity. This is about more than the bottom line because opportunity is not measured by money alone. Opportunity means a better future for people across the African continent,” Kirunda said. “Profitability is important, but so is doing business the right way by growing with a conscience. People and the planet we call home are at the heart of our values. “By following our values and working for a better-shared future, we create inclusive growth that benefits communities, women, people with disabilities and youth, our customers, our employees, and our shareholders.”