Fabio Colliva: “From a simple idea big projects can be created and evolved”

“From simple ideas, you realize that you can create great things that you never imagined before. This energy and creativity force originate from youth. Therefore, more than anything else, it is important to stimulate their creative spirit to innovate new ideas.” Through this message, the General Director of Coca-Cola Bottling Shqipëria, Fabio Colliva, assessed the importance of supporting young people in exploring potentials and new ideas – through familiarization with the experiences of successful companies. He presented the model of Coca-Cola’s journey in Albania at the Innvest Summit 2022 in Tirana, as one of the best practices and models of sustainable investments, not only in our country but also in the region. The Innvest Summit gathered for two consecutive days in Tirana, corporations, representatives of Business, Tirana Municipality, angel investors, young people and startups from Albania and the region aiming to inspire and encourage ideas that promote sustainable development in the city, community – towards a better future through sustainable investments. In her opening speech, Fabiola Duro, founder of Innvest Summit, appreciated the importance of bringing models and promoting innovative investments that embrace the social life in the community, the environment and the economy, emphasizing that “the goal is that every investment made has an impact through creating a framework for the ecosystem, through the advancement of startups towards technology, better education and innovation”. During the summit, the Deputy-Mayor of Tirana Municipality, Arbjan Mazniku, spoke about the important elements of investments that today develop the city and the economy, intertwined with startups and young people, describing them as “an alternative vision, how the economy of a city can be improved beyond those elements that are today’s visible, related to trade, services, or industrial development”. CCBS General Director, Mr. Colliva said that the commitment for impactful investments is the reason why Coca-Cola was part the Innvest Summit. “For us, this is an important opportunity to present to young Albanians, but also to Albanians in general, what we do concretely: We contribute in Albanian’s development and we are stable. What does this mean? It means, supporting professions, generating new jobs that produce income for families, thus being as close as possible to the Albanian family” stated Colliva. Asked during the Summit proceedings, on the impact of CCBS investments in the environment and sustainable development as a success story in Albania, Colliva said that: “A very large number of activities in the past 10 years have been dedicated to guaranteeing sustainability. Our commitment starts with the treatment of the water, technological processes in our factory etc. We invested in electric vehicles and all our sales fleet in Tirana, Durrës and Kavaja contribute now in CO2 emission reduction. Recently, we have made a huge investment with photovoltaic panels at the premises of CCBS, where about 62% of our electricity needs are covered directly by solar energy. We have also planted trees in Tirana, helped clean the coasts in support of environmental care”. Following the commitment of CCBS, for investments focusing on sustainability, Colliva announced that “As for the future, our challenge is to be the first company in Albania, Carbon Neutral and Zero Emissions company in the country by 2030. It’s a big challenge, but I think we’re taking the right steps!”