The Story of Traditional African Black Soap
16 Million Women
Food Sovereignty
Food Systems
Biodiversity
Product Information
Material Name: African Black Soap INCI breakdown: Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Cocos Nucifera Oil, Elaeis Guineensis Kernel Oil, Plant (Theobroma Cacao Husk) Ash CAS / EINECS Number: Not allocated REACH: Exempted Shelf Life: 24 months from date of manufacture
Our Direct Sourcing Model
Reserved Collection Areas
We source only from demarcated and reserved collection areas, where shea trees and surrounding forests are intentionally protected. These zones are not only harvesting grounds, but living ecosystems that support food systems, biodiversity, and climate stability. By anchoring our sourcing in reserved zones, we embed traceability from the very first step. Every nut can be traced back to a healthy tree in a protected forest. This structure also prevents land grabs and ecological degradation, while reinforcing the rights of communities to govern their own resources.
Women Cooperatives
At the heart of our model are women-led cooperatives. For centuries, women have sustained the shea economy gathering, processing, and transmitting knowledge across generations. But too often, they have been treated as labor without voice or recognition.Through cooperatives, women are positioned as stakeholders with governance power, not just suppliers. They own collective assets, set their own systems of accountability, and negotiate as business entities rather than individuals.
Eco-Friendly Processing Centers
We built community-owned eco-friendly processing centers at both the nut-processing and butter-processing levels. These centers combine traditional knowledge with modern efficiency.
Environmentally, they reduce firewood use by converting shea waste into clean-burning briquettes, cutting deforestation and emissions.
Socially, they lower the physical strain on women, replacing smoke-filled, labor-intensive practices with safer, more efficient technologies.
Economically, they enable communities to produce premium-quality outputs that meet international market standards, increasing their bargaining power.
EU Hub – Refinery & Distribution
From West Africa, the butter moves to our state-of-the-art hub in the Netherlands, an internationally accredited facility where shea is refined, standardized, and distributed.This hub ensures that products enter global markets in Europe, Asia, and North America at the highest standards, while keeping their traceability intact. Unlike extractive models where value leaves the continent entirely, our model ensures that the story of origin, women's labor, protected forests, and community ownership is embedded in every shipment.
Profit Reinvestment & Value Retention – Closing the Loop
We reinvest 10% of our annual profits directly into community development, conservation, and environmental initiatives.We also track, provide support and report on the business growth of the processing centers themselves, beyond what we purchase. This ensures that cooperatives are not locked into dependency on our contracts, but have the capacity to serve local markets and access premium buyers independently.The result: communities with stronger assets, higher autonomy, and resilience against external shocks.