How Coca-Cola HBC BH Sarajevo empowers young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Curiosity, the will to develop practical skills, take advantage of opportunities and influence personal progress and better opportunities, the willingness to invest time in order to better navigate the labor market – these are just some of the qualities that characterize the thousands of young people who have passed through Coca-Cola’s programs Youth Empowered .
Coke Summership is a summer internship program that Coca-Cola HBC BH Sarajevo offered to young people in 2016. With more than a thousand applications from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the selection process already had educational components, and for those who had the opportunity to work in a real business environment, supported by mentors and the company, the best start for career development.
“For me, Coke Summership was the most important life experience so far, which made me recognize the importance of organization. At the same time, this was a big step for my professional career, because thanks to excellent mentors, I mastered skills important for work. That gave me an advantage over people my age and more importantly, the opportunity to continue my career at Coca-Cola HBC BH Sarajevo. From an intern to my current position, I changed six positions. Through the development of personal and business skills, with the support of the company and the holistic approach of empowering people in the team, I strengthened my advantages and strengths, and by perfecting my strengths I improved my weaker ones. Now, for the eighth year after Coke Summership, I have been working and progressing in Coca-Cola”, says Enis Papić , head of the Coca-Cola HBC BH Sarajevo sales team, emphasizing that he always motivates young people to use all opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills.
Coca-Cola’s support for young people in BiH is a national program of the Coca-Cola HBC BH Sarajevo company, which since 2017 recognizes, develops, empowers and motivates participants to succeed, making them more competitive on the labor market. In the past years, the program included almost 4,000 young people from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although they are primarily intended for young people aged 18 to 35, the modules can be listened to by everyone. The aim of the program is to continue to develop, strengthen and motivate the participants for success, making them more competitive in the labor market.
The program is available with just a few clicks , and consists of three online modules, in which those interested will learn about the topics: time management, mental health, and business negotiation. Topics are presented by experienced lecturers prof. Ph.D. of psychology Ivana Zečević, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Banja Luka and Nikola Kužet, economist, engineer of industrial organization and master manager of the Marketing Management program.
“During Coca-Cola’s support for young people, I acquired the knowledge and skills needed for the presentation of an idea and for a job interview. This was very useful for me later because I realized that I have a gift for public speaking, which I had not paid attention to before. The program helped me to a significant extent when finding my first job, and I still regularly use the knowledge about how to present an idea that I acquired during the training,” says Nermin Topovčić , a young European ambassador in WeBalkans .
Raise the Bar Youth is part of the Raise the Bar project , through which Coca-Cola supports its partners in tourism and hospitality in responding to the challenges they face in the search for trained and qualified personnel, and in increasing their own competitiveness and sustainability. Future chefs, waiters, pastry chefs, catering technicians, culinary technicians at the workshops are introduced to communication skills important for functioning in a team, as well as business skills and self-employment during two school hours. In addition, the aim of the Raise the Bar Youth project is to influence the increase of young people’s interest in staying in the professions in hospitality, through improving the quality of the sector and improving the image and reputation of these professions.
” Raise the Bar is a project with which high school students additionally work on the development of several important competencies for the 21st century. It is about socio-emotional skills, especially communication, as well as entrepreneurial skills. Expertise is not enough for a professional to find a job on the labor market today, let alone survive in it. That is why it is important to work with young people on the development of competencies, which help them in this area. It is also interesting that communication skills are worked on, both from the point of view of psychology and from the point of view of entrepreneurship, and young people get a more complete picture of how important this social competence is. They are taught how to establish and maintain contacts with people, as well as how to effectively resolve conflict situations,” says prof. Dr. Ivana Zečević , one of the lecturers in the project.
World Youth Skills Day has been celebrated for ten years, since the United Nations General Assembly declared July 15 as World Youth Skills Day in 2014 to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship and to address global challenges and promotion of sustainable development.
It is important to remember, especially on World Youth Skills Day, that by empowering young people by providing opportunities for developing their skills, we contribute to a prosperous and sustainable future.
Source: rolify.com
