Coca-Cola sales team wins Company Values Challenge

The Coca-Cola Sri Lanka Sales Team became the winners of the ‘I am the Values’ 2007 Challenge, Sri Lanka through their entry, which was an initiative towards sustainable education which benefited the indigenous community of Ratugala.

Coca Cola official told The Sunday Times FT that the results were announced earlier this week and the winning entry in the local leg of the competition will be sent as Coca-Cola Sri Lanka’s entry for the international competition, which will be judged at the Coca-Cola SABCO head quarters in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Explaining the outline of the award winning project Team Leader Ravi Jayawardena, Head of Sales, Coca-Cola Sri Lanka explained that the objective was to uplift the quality of life for the Ratugala indigenous community comprising of 65 families, who live in a village bordering Bibile, 374 km from Colombo.

This initiative involved constructing a school building and teachers quarters for the community, whilst giving the families an incentive to send their children to school by giving all the children breakfast at the new school, he said.

In doing this project the Sales Team had to adhere to the rules of the competition which included that the initiative be sustainable, self-funded and a team effort. Commenting on the idea behind their initiative, Project Leader Nalinda Jayamanne, Regional Manager Coca-Cola Sri Lanka noted that, “We were inspired to take this initiative on through a television report on the impoverished state of the Ratugala indigenous community. Through subsequent research we found that the community was in dire need of a school building as the closest school was over 10 km away. While government funded development projects began, these were subsequently abandoned a year ago and the entire group felt immediately committed to the cause”.

The project team worked very closely with the community of Ratugala and had overwhelming support from the Ministry of Education. In accordance with the rules of the competition, the project cost of Rs. 1.5 million was self-generated through a series of activities, which included musical shows, car washes, and the screening of key World Cup Cricket matches. Apart from raising funds the team faced several other challenges in completing this project. “As the village is situated in thick jungle, we faced some overwhelming challenges in getting the project underway. However, we were able to complete construction two weeks ahead of the three-month deadline,” Jayawardene said adding that the project “taught us very important life lessons and pushed our limits like no other, as we had to work over holidays and weekends, while seeking shelter in the jungle during the construction phase of the project.”

The handing over ceremony of the school together with a donation of food and books by the government is due to take place next month. The government has also undertaken to maintain the school as well as provide constant supply of books and food for the children.

The winning team was congratulated by Basil Gadzios, Country Manager of Coca-Cola Sri Lanka, who added, “They have truly lived the company values which we hold dear to our hearts. The Ratugala village is today transformed and you as a team have made the difference to so many people’s lives through your efforts and hard work.”