Paris Nikolopoulos, General Manager at Coca-Cola Romania, discussed about business sustainability on the launch event for Sustainable Futures.

"Sustainability became part of our lives", as individuals and also as a company. Also, "it is a great responsibility to understand the impact that we have in people's lives", he added.

Starting yesterday, March 2nd, and up to December, Social Innovation Solution will bring together 500 business leaders, among others.

The first live discussion talked about the Objective of Durable Development 8 - Decent work and economic growth.

Paris Nikolopoulos, General Manager at Coca-Cola Romania answered questions regarding sustainability and the company's objectives regarding negative environmental impact.

Sustainability in Romania can be promoted with the help of "the government, foundations, for example and we have to create an impact and do the strategy."

As far as sustainability in general goes, Paris mentioned the fact that "it is part of our individual life, but it is related to businesses and companies. We hope that, at some point, it will become a culture, which means that it will become a way of thinking and acting, without being imposed."

The cost of implementing sustainability was also brought into discussion.

Coca-Cola has strategies to reduce negative impact and "the thing that helps us the most is the fact that we see sustainability as a long term thing. If you manage a business just with short term goals, you won't make the necessary investments to counter negative impact in some areas. The sustainable way of thinking is the one that helps companies finding solutions in a number of institutions, whether they are academics, startups or even the Government."

The purpose of Coca-Cola is to "refresh the world, which for us is understandable giving the products that we sell and through which we reach people", mentioned Paris.

He also mentioned the way Coca-Cola fulfills its goals. "In our companies, the way we fulfill our goals is on pillars, one of which is sustainability, with clear targets in some areas of the business and the initiatives that we have to take in order to reach the results that we expect in a year, for example", said the General Manager of Coca-Cola Romania.

Paris was born in Greece, but thanks to his career he was able to encounter multiple cultures, which helped him notice business models and how leaders of big companies go through crisis situations.

Paris is General Manager at Coca-Cola Romania since 2019 and claims that this country is filled with unexplored opportunities. "I fell in love with everything that was going on and I didn't know about the country, the startup ecosystem and the strong will of young entrepreneurs to have a positive impact in their businesses that I've met through Future Makers in 2019. Young talents represent one of Romania's stronger assets, the one that will change the future."