How Shea Nut Collectives Are Empowering African Women
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The vast majority of shea nut producers are women. But most don’t reap the benefits.
A lot of shea butter, which can be found in moisturizers and chocolate, originates from West and East Africa. According to the Global Shea Alliance, shea exports from African countries increased about 600 percent in the first two decades of this century.
Most shea nut collectors are rural women. So this should be great news for them. But because of the way the shea nut supply chain operates, most women are at the bottom of the power structure, oftentimes squeezed out by middlemen.
On this episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO), reporter Nelly Kalu visits a Nigerian nonprofit called Initiative for Gender Empowerment and Creativity. The initiative has innovated the shea nut business to enable women to earn more as shea nut producers.
Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Sybil Chidiac, a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Chidiac focuses on women’s economic empowerment initiatives in Africa and shares her thoughts on this program and others to Ninan. (For transparency, HERO is funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)
About The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO): Could empowering women in the workplace be the simplest way to boost the global economy? Host Reena Ninan talks to women around the world changing the status quo in surprising ways to improve their lives, their families, and ultimately, the world. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HER♀) is a Foreign Policy podcast supported in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. HER♀ listeners can learn more about these topics by signing up for special access to an FP Analytics policy brief on gender equality. Sign up by clicking here. See All Episodes
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