PORT ELIZABETH-based soft-drink bottler Coca-Cola-Sabco (CCS) and UK-listed Dimension Data have joined forces to establish a joint-venture technology company in Port Elizabeth to service the IT needs of CCS. The company will also pursue opportunities in the fast moving consumer goods market throughout Africa. The joint-venture company – which has been formed on the strength of a seven-year service contract to CCS worth about R400-million – will become operational on January 1, 2002, says CCS chief executive Martin Jansen. According to Jansen, the joint venture would service the IT needs of CCS while also pursuing other opportunities in the broader Coca-Cola system as well as the African market. Services to CCS, over the initial seven year service period, would involve upgrading of the soft-drink bottling company’s IT infrastructure. This would enable CCS to improve service delivery and efficiency of its information systems, as well as facilitate rapid expansion and growth of business throughout the continent. CCS, a licensed anchor bottler of US-based Coca-Cola Company’s range of soft drinks in the Africa region, has bottling plants in seven African countries including South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. It employs more than 8000 workers across Africa. “We were also encouraged by the opportunity to create a separate business support group that is able to provide information systems and other business services to CSS, other Coca-Cola bottlers, and companies in emerging markets,” says Jansen. Dimension Data has a strong presence in the Eastern Cape.