While most of us living in metropolitan areas have access to WiFi, food, clean water, and electricity, there are parts of the world where such things are considered luxuries, but Coca-Cola is hoping to change that with small shop setups that they are referring to as Ekocenters. These little shops will be opened in developing communities where it will provide residents with WiFi, clean water, power, vaccines, cooked meals, and of course access to Cola-Cola products. The company is hoping that by the end of 2015, they will have been able to set up anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 Ekocenters in 20 countries, covering regions such as Africa, Asia, North America, and Latin America.
The business model of Coca-Cola’s Ekocenters has yet to be finalized so it is unclear if these services will be provided for free, or if there will be some kind of subscription fee or pay-per-use model that will be adopted. However the main goal here is to provide clean water, power, and health supplies, and presumably the other luxuries such as WiFi, cooked food and Coca-Cola products will be charged at an unknown price. Interestingly enough Coca-Cola’s CEO, Muhtar Kent, plans for each Ekocenter to be run by a woman, with the goal being to empower them through entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.
Each Ekocenter will be a repurposed shipping container and is estimated to cost at least $100,000 to build, but it is hoped that prices could be brought down to $2,000 as they plan to build them in volume.
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