The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt hosted a special breakfast on January 22 with guest Neville Isdell, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, who offered an international perspective on the current state of Egypt’s economy. Isdell began his presentation by expressing how impressed he was with the steps that the Egyptian government has taken over the past 18 months to push the economy forward.

“The policies of opening up the Egyptian market have had a tremendous positive impact on the growth of the economy, employment and investment,” he said. “I am equally pleased to see that the government is applying a process of ‘publicization’ of Egypt’s leading businessmen in order to bring them into cabinet.”

Isdell explained that the amount of growth that the Egyptian economy has experienced over the past few months is impressive. However, it’s also true that in order for Egypt’s economy to grow sufficiently to meet the growing demand for employment, more liberalization and more job creation will have to take place. “I see this as great potential not just for us, but also for many other companies that are looking for large markets into which to invest. With such a large consumer base, this market will always be one of the most attractive.”

He referred to the steps that the government has taken in order to improve the overall investment climate in Egypt and pointed in particular to the case of soft drinks, whose tariffs have been reduced by the Egyptian government. “These are all good decisions,” he pointed out. “However, the government needs to continue to consider what would make the business environment in Egypt even more attractive and continue to implement these decisions.”

Following his brief comments, Isdell answered questions posed by members of the audience on topics ranging from the Coca-Cola business model to the company’s international and domestic marketing strategies.

However, perhaps the most entertaining answer was why the Coca-Cola Company doesn’t adopt a similar marketing and product strategy as its famous American competitor, Pepsi-Cola. “Simply put, I don’t really want to adopt any strategy that is similar to that with our other fizzy drink competitor,” he said with a laugh. “Seriously, we feel that our market has tremendous potential for growth and that’s why we do not need to expand our business to become similar to anyone else.”