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Article: Africa's Potential as Trade Partner Attracts Corporate Interest
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 23, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Investing in a continent as vast as Africa sometimes means
thinking small, even for a giant corporation like Coca-Cola.
In 1990, Rubi Hassan operated a hand-cart, selling candy and
an occasional Coca-Cola, chilled on a block of ice, to students at a
nearby school in Nairobi, Kenya. "I started with no money at all,"
said Hassan, who now earns enough along with her husband to put all
her children through high school, to buy a second-hand car and to
invest in a second business.
Coca-Cola Co., seeking to boost sales, had provided Hassan
with the trolley. As business improved, the company added a kiosk, a
double-door electric cooler, tables and umbrellas, a television and
a picket fence. ...