Beiersdorf and AAK extend partnership to empower women in Ghana’s shea industry
Both companies reaffirm their commitment to sustainable sourcing, women’s empowerment, ecosystem protection, and climate action across the shea value chain.
GHANA – Beiersdorf, a leading personal care firm, and AAK, a Swedish supplier, have deepened their collaboration to strengthen support for women in Ghana’s shea sector through targeted sustainability initiatives.
This expansion introduces practical training and infrastructure improvements to enhance livelihoods and environmental health in local communities.
Beiersdor and Sweden-based AAK are advancing their joint efforts to aid women involved in Ghana’s shea production.
The updated program features training on sustainable parkland management for 3,750 women, with each participant responsible for nurturing at least two seedlings to promote long-term ecosystem preservation.
Furthermore, the initiative provides 75 efficient shelling machines to streamline processing and create income streams for young women, and renovates 20 boreholes to ensure reliable, clean water access for surrounding communities.
Known as “women’s gold” across Africa, shea butter serves as a vital ingredient in skincare and haircare items like moisturizers, shampoos, and conditioners, particularly in Beiersdorf’s body and lip products.
Extraction remains highly labour-intensive, involving manual collection of karite fruit across the “shea belt” from Senegal to Uganda. Women constitute about 96.2% of the shea processors in this chain.
Dorle Bahr, Beiersdorf’s head of sustainability strategy and reporting, stated, “Seeing the success of this holistic project makes me incredibly proud.”
“It supports several focus areas of our Care Beyond Skin Sustainability Agenda and shows what’s possible when strong collaboration meets a clear purpose — creating sustainable change not only in our industry, but also in the lives of thousands of women across the shea regions.”
This builds on AAK’s “Kolo Nafaso” direct-sourcing initiative in Ghana and Burkina Faso, with a focus on sustained benefits for participants, their communities, and the broader shea supply network.
The collaboration began in January 2020 and has already reached more than 10,500 shea gatherers.
Phase one established Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to support economic empowerment, distributed tree seedlings, and deployed energy-efficient cookstoves to improve food safety.
Results include financial literacy for 7,320 women, 20,425 shea trees planted by nearly 8,000 women to combat desertification and reduce emissions, and over 12,000 upgraded stoves that reduce wood use and supply chain emissions.
Nima Alhassan from Ghana’s Dijo community shared: “We didn’t save much money before, but now we meet every week. For loans, we can borrow money from the box, and then we pay it back.”
“When we hold our annual share out, some use their savings to farm, some use it for business. Through these measures, we generate profit and save more. All are benefits we didn’t have before the project started.”
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