About 15 years ago, someone noticed that while you could buy a cold Coca-Cola in the most remote corners of Africa, lifesaving medicines that require cold chain logistics were nowhere to be found.

A group approached the company and asked, will you teach us how you manage your supply chain in rural Africa so we can apply those learnings to healthcare? 

Coca-Cola not only said yes, they threw their full support behind the effort that would come to be known as Project Last Mile. The public-private partnership was so impressive and effective that it became the subject of episode 90. 

But that wasn’t to be the end of the story. Project Last Mile heard the episode and contacted Art of Supply and made their leadership team available for an interview.

Next week’s episode of Art of Supply will be Kelly Barner’s interview with Adrian Ristow, Executive Director of Project Last Mile and Project Director for The Coca-Cola Company, and David Canarutto, Private Sector Relationship Manager at The Global Fund, one of Project Last Mile’s most important partners.

This week, we revisit the original episode in appreciation of the effort that has been made to date, the remarkable benefits it has generated, and the power of Coca-Cola’s decision to say yes.

Links:

• Coke’s Supply Chain is the Real Thing
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement