Organic Certification Achieved!

The Solidity Trade team is proud to announce that we have successfully received organic certification of our Shea Butter Village, inspected and issued by the ECOCERT organic inspection company. This excellent news will enable us to bring more opportutnities to the cooperative in Tamale, Northern Ghana. As the financial sponsor of the Shea Butter Village, Solidity Trade is continuing to pursue a strong partnership with SEKAF Ghana, which has been responsible for the supervision of the organic certification and are is now aiming for the next milestone: Fair Trade Certification.

Over the past year, we’ve witnessed a strong call for organic-oriented produce from the market and possessing such a certification will help ensure the quality, transparence, and traceability of our products to our buyers. Unrefined shea butter is a great product that is gaining increased recognition across the globe. This certification will certainly spur the growth of the Shea Butter Village cooperative and enable us to create hundreds more jobs in that region over the course of the next few months.

To download our organic certificate, please click here.

Sourcing New Funds to Refine Shea Products in Africa

Solidity Trade is currently sourcing some new funds in order to optimize its value chain. The aim of this fundraising effort is to increase both the quality and the quantity of shea butter produced. We are working diligently to reinforce the value and efficiency of each of our business in order to facilitate the entire production process.

In lieu of refining shea butter in Europe (a model that most companies have followed), Solidity Trade has decided to refine its products directly in the areas where they are produced. Refining products at the source implies an important investment of both time and energy to make the project a success. By bringing investment to the source, Solidity Trade hopes to create numerous jobs and establish a need for a more qualified workforce. Solidity Trade has also decided not to use hexane nor acetone – chemical solvents used to extract butter from shea nuts and for fractionation. Hence, both the production and the refinement processes will remain completely organic and will not pose a risk to the environment. Solidity Trade values the idea of quality over quantity and strives to adopt the best industry practices to satisfy our customer’s expectation.

Our strategy of value chain optimization is highlighted by the following features: increased market reactivity, the ability to considerably increase or decrease production to respond to demand, adapt our product to the needs of the market, This strategy will not only render our production more efficient and flexible to market demands, but it will also enable us to diversify our product offering. Shea butter is just a beginning and we do hope to be able to produce a variety of oils and butters.

At Solidity Trade, our vision is to be present during every step of the production process, from when shea nuts are harvested from the field, to the time our customers are applying the product to their skin.

Shea 2009 to be held in Burkina Faso

Within 4 years the Shea industry has effectively doubled in size, which is great news for the West African markets. To address this growth, USAID’s West Africa Trade Hub is holding a conference in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso at the end of March to explore investment opportunities and discuss challenges and strategies for this growing market.

To learn more about the Shea 2009 conference, please visit:
www.globalshea.org