Pepsi wins outstanding performance award

Crown Beverages Limited has received special recognition from Pepsi-Co International with a Most Outstanding Performance Award in the region for 2014.

CBL is the registered franchise holder for quality Pepsi brands like Mirinda, Mountain Dew, 7UP, and Evervess. This prestigious award was handed over to the Pepsi Uganda board of directors and executives at Serena Hotel Kampala by the Directors of Pepsi-Co International.

“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Pepsi-Co International for recognising our tireless efforts of flying the Pepsi flag in Uganda for the past 22 years,” said Amos Nzeyi, the chairman of the CBL board of directors.

“This is just the beginning of our journey because we are focused, determined, and committed to delivering set targets and surpassing them,” Nzeyi added.

He added that Pepsi Uganda emerged second overall performance in the African region in 2014.

Nzeyi, however, decried the high taxes that have been a challenging factor facing the soft drink industry in Uganda.

“This achievement was registered under challenges like the high excise tax imposed on our products,” he said, adding: “In East Africa, Uganda has the highest excise tax standing at 13% yet Kenya’s and Tanzania’s stand at 7% and 5% respectively. That means we can’t compete with similar products from other regional countries, in terms of pricing.”

Khaled Shoukry, the Pepsi-Co Franchise director, hailed Pepsi Uganda’s continuous excellent performance despite these challenges and promised Pepsi-Co’s commitment to supporting the brands in Uganda.

Simon Lugoloobi, the CBL chief executive officer, re-echoed the same challenges, saying they have been in consultation with key stakeholders to address it. Lugoloobi added that the Pepsi-Co recognition is of invaluable benefit to his team.

“Winning awards after awards gives us confidence that despite being in a small market, we have what it takes to set world class standards and we owe it to our customers to help us achieve them,” said Lugoloobi.

Last year, CBL scooped three awards to emerge second out of 35 companies in East Africa and the best in Uganda for adopting efficient means to use of water resources and reduce pollution at the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) Awards, which recognize the companies that have excelled in environmental performance and resource productivity, and encourage other companies to adopt cleaner production technologies, in addition to Pepsi attaining Superbrand status.