In a major push to deepen climate and environmental awareness among youths, Seven-Up Bottling Company (SBC) recently concluded a dynamic training programme, equipping students with hands-on skills to champion sustainable practices. The initiative, a highlight of the company’s 2025 Sustainability Week, aimed to transform awareness into real-world action, nurturing a generation of young climate-conscious leaders across Nigeria.
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Turning awareness into action
At the heart of the programme was the 2025 Green Skills Bootcamp, hosted at SBC’s headquarters in Ijora, Lagos. During the event, students, teachers, environmental advocates and government representatives came together to explore practical solutions for plastic pollution, waste management, recycling and upcycling.
According to SBC’s Head of Sustainability, Lovelyn Okoye, the bootcamp was carefully designed to go beyond classroom learning. It sought to provide students with tangible “tools” to understand climate challenges, adopt recycling behaviours, conserve water and recognise sustainability as a pathway to future opportunities. “We are equipping students with practical tools to understand climate issues … and see sustainability as a pathway to opportunity,” she said.
The events also offered a platform for creativity and innovation. Students showcased items made from recycled materials — evidence of the potential for waste to be turned into value-added products. Participants walked away with recycling toolkits to support their ongoing engagement.
Private sector leading by example
For SBC, the initiative is more than a public relations exercise; it reflects a genuine commitment to social responsibility and environmental stewardship. The company’s Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Nkemdirim Agboti, emphasised the long-term vision behind the investment: raising environmentally conscious youths who will lead sustainability efforts in their communities. “These students are innovators shaping the sustainability landscape,” he said.
Meanwhile, SBC’s Managing Director, Sari El-Khalil, expressed proud optimism when inspecting the students’ recycled creations. “At Seven-Up Bottling Company, we are proud to support young leaders who are daring to imagine a cleaner, greater Nigeria. Keep pushing, keep questioning, and keep creating, because your ideas today can shape a better world tomorrow,” he told the students.
Beyond the bootcamp itself, the effort showed how a corporate entity can play a central role in environmental education and youth empowerment, a path many believe essential for meaningful progress in Nigeria’s sustainable development efforts.
Students as the new green ambassadors
The Green Skills School Challenge and Exhibition, which preceded the bootcamp, identified 18 schools from among hundreds of applicants to feature in this year’s programme. Students from these selected schools seized the opportunity to transform environmental knowledge into practical, sustainable innovations.
Receiving recycling toolkits meant that the learning did not end at the bootcamp; students now have resources to continue practising and promoting sustainable methods long after the event.
This approach resonates with broader trends in Nigeria, where other initiatives such as the FABE Foundation’s EcoSchoolsNG project have also engaged tens of thousands of young Nigerians in environmental education, waste-to-wealth strategies, climate action and conservation efforts.
The significance for Nigeria’s environment and future
As plastic pollution, waste mismanagement and climate risks continue to pose serious threats to health, livelihoods, and the environment across Nigeria, the kind of youth-focused, skills-based interventions shown by SBC are increasingly vital. Such programmes help shift the narrative — from talking about sustainability to doing sustainability.
By fostering recycling, upcycling, environmental stewardship and climate awareness from a young age, Seven-Up’s initiative represents an important investment in building a generation that doesn’t just inherit environmental problems but actively contributes to solving them.
Crucially, the private-public-youth partnership model demonstrated here offers a template for other companies, organisations and stakeholders aspiring to make a meaningful impact. When young Nigerians are empowered, educated and equipped, when ideas meet opportunity, the promise of a cleaner, greener Nigeria becomes more than a dream.
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