Shea Butter: A Beautiful Story of Empowerment
by Nadine Abraham Thompson

African shea butter is a product that promotes a more beautiful life on many levels—

A few years ago, my family and I traveled to Ghana and that’s when I first learned how African women work to support their families by producing shea butter. These women live in mud huts and work very hard to provide for their families. Their situation deeply moved me and I began thinking of how I could partner with these women so they could benefit more from their efforts. My vision of empowering African American women in the United States was becoming a reality and I wondered why we couldn’t extend this empowerment model beyond this country. Global empowerment seemed to be the logical next step for me, and I felt empowering these beautiful, hardworking women would be the perfect way to begin. I was so determined to use these women’s shea butter in our products that I personally financed our alliance with them and it has been a very rewarding experience for my family and me. For my first business venture (Warm Spirit), it was another way the company could be involved in this global effort. And, for my new foundation, Nsoromma, it demonstrates our commitment to “doing well by doing good” globally.

Shea butter is derived from the Karite Nut tree found in the semi-arid savannahs of West and Central Africa. The women of these regions have harvested Karite nuts to make shea butter for centuries. Today, recognized all over the world for remarkable softening, anti-drying, and protective properties, shea butter is used in many lotions, shampoos, butters and soaps.

Shea butter is a wonderful product that takes an enormous amount of work to produce. The Karite Nut trees are often located miles from the women’s villages. The nuts are brought back to the villages and the pits removed from the fruit of the nut. They are then boiled, sun-dried and, finally, roasted. Once the pits are dehydrated, they are hand-crushed. It takes about twenty (20) hours to produce 2.2 pounds of shea butter.

I am proud to partner with Women’s Cooperatives in Northern Ghana, the Thompson Foundation for Africa and our friends at Rain Shadow Labs in Oregon, USA. It is an alliance that provides companies with shea butter for many products while providing much-needed income to these women. The women use the income earned from exporting shea butter to support health and educational initiatives in their communities. Together, we are making a difference in people’s lives both here in the United States and across the world in Northern Ghana. For me, that is the essence of Nsoromma—helping women realize their potential as entrepreneurs and as beautiful, confident, and empowered individuals—wherever and however they may live.