Cover STORY
Spring 2018 / Issue 57
COVER STORY
Spring 2018 / Issue 57
Success is the Result of Strong
Partnerships and Strategic Approach
to Community Investment
G
enuine success is
possible if we share it
with our community.
This seemingly simple
sentence is one of the essen-
tial benchmarks and values
of
the corporate culture of Pivara
Skopje. At the same time, it rep-
resents 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 cor-
porate 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 signif-
icance 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 orga-
nizations. 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
many donations, sponsorships,
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AmCham Macedonia Magazine
Autor:
Lambro Patche,
Public Affairs and
Communications
Manager, Pivara Skopje
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 social 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 develop-
ment of young people; raising awareness for maintaining a clean
environment and protection of water resources; health, safety,
and the importance of active lifestyle; moderate and responsi-
ble consumption of alcohol; and the strengthening of the role of
women in society.
We are proud and happy that through 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 we established the Educational Center two decades
ago, and it is one of the most renowned centers for training and
acquiring additional knowledge and skills in the country. Over
the years, the management and employees of Pivara Skopje,
as well as representatives of our partners and associates, have
been 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 con-
sists 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 young people, we contribute to
increasing the employment and we further develop the entrepre-
neurial culture in the country. We expect the number of young
people who will acquire new skills through trainings to exceed
5,400 in the first five years of the program.
Another area that we are focused on is, of course, the protec-
tion 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 consecu-
tive year, according to the results and commitments for sustain-
ability and environmental protection in the ranking conducted by
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. This 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 treat-
ment, as well as in reducing the weight of plastic (PET) packag-
ing, 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 pub-
lic awareness on the need for select-
ing and recycling waste. Together
with our partners - the company
Pakomak - we organize volunteering
eco-actions featuring a large num-
ber 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 coun-
try. So far, we have organized such
eco-actions to clean the quay of the
river Vardar in the center of Skopje
and Lake Matka, which sent a mes-
sage to the whole community about
how we should all treat the environ-
ment, especially water resources.
At the same time we have contrib-
uted to achieving the national tar-
gets for the collection and recycling
of packaging waste in the country.
Additionally, within this platform,
which is under the motto “Are you
recyclINg!?” we and our partners
joined an educational caravan aimed
at children from the first to the fifth
grade. The goal of this project, which
is realized through an innovative the-
ater play “Green Planet,” and visited
by about 10,000 children in ten cities
over a few months, is motivating the
new generations to act responsibly
toward the environment through
entertainment and thus contribute
towa rds creating a sustainable future
for all.
Since we saw that the combina-
tion of education and entertainment
works best, especially among the
young, we decided that in cooper-
ation with the municipalities we will
implement a program through which
to 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 inter-
esting 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 prop-
erly 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 educa-
tional program this year as well. In
addition, in order to promote active
lifestyle as an effective recipe for a
healthy life, and again in coopera-
tion with local institutions, we con-
structed “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 part-
ners, sent a clear message to the
public about the use of bicycle as an
energy efficient means of transpor-
tation that protects the environment
and health of the people.
We have set 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 mar-
ket 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 moder-
ate and responsible consumption,
in addition to employees, associ-
ates, and partners, we included a
large number of public figures, such
as top athletes, who serve as an
example for other people, especially
for young people, because to their
success and lifestyle. To this end we
utilize all communication channels
of the company, including the web
platform “Glass Full” where, among
other things, we upload regular con-
tents for responsible consumption,
active lifestyle, protection of the
environment and water resources,
health and safety, and other socially
important topics.
These socially responsible plat-
forms and activities show that we
treat the sustainable development
of the company strategically, which
will provide clear benefits for the
community. We endeavor to involve
a large number of partner organiza-
tions, institutions, and individuals,
and of course our employees and
associates, by promoting volunteer-
ing. As part of the team of Pivara that
implements these activities, I can
freely say that we are very 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 to continue to do even better.
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.
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
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