August 2009 ASBI Shea Butter Certificate

Last August, some new tests have been conducted with the ASBI to track the quality of the unrefined shea butter we’ve imported from the Shea Butter Village in Tamale. Solidity Trade has been striving to make sure that the quality will improve or remain consistent over time.

The test release shows that the unrefined shea butter that we have imported on our second container has been graded B. Please feel free to click on the following link to take a look at our certification: August 2009 ASBI Shea Butter Certificate

Solidity Trade Partners with Sekaf Ghana LTD

Below is a press release on the partnership between Solidity Trade and Sekaf.

Sekaf Ghana LTD, a Ghanaian company specializing in production of organic and conventional shea butter and manufacturing of the shea product line, Tama, has announced the inception of a long-term business partnership with Solidity Trade. Solidity Trade is a US-based marketing and venture capital firm working with various institutions to secure trade relationships with West African commodities, particularly in the agro-sector. The formal collaboration represents a seamless convergence of the companies’ paralleling missions to address poverty in West Africa with market orientated solutions that develop the creative entrepreneurial capacities of the local people and their economies. While enabling Sekaf to primarily occupy in its core operations, the production of a cosmetic grade shea butter and development of shea based beauty and personal care products, Solidity Trade acts as the effective marketing force needed to give the company its global reach into the most competitive of markets.

Managing director of Sekaf, Senyo Kpelly, started negotiations with Solidity Trade’s CEO, Lam Tran, in 2008 under a mutual recognition of the critical role of the shea industry in bringing about profitable and responsible development to the region. The two met again while presenting at the International Shea Conference held in Ouagadougou earlier this year and finally discussed the formalization of a long term partnership in March 2009. A Memorandum of Understanding was therefor signed in March 2009 signifying a contractual relationship for coordination of their professional efforts. The quantifiable benefits of this partnership are evident, where Sekaf’s shea butter exports have increased threefold in this time.

On the topic of partnership, Sekaf’s Senyo Kpelly says, “This is a strategic move on the part of Sekaf to expand our operations originating at the community level, create more jobs and increase our production capacities to be more competitive in the global marketplace. Working with Solidity Trade is a perfectly complimentary match to realize our future growth. We aim to be an industry leader that can help educate the consumer base on issue of shea quality, a factor we believe is critical in defining the future of Africa’s shea butter industry”.

Mr. Tran of Solidity Trade similarly recognizes the significance of this relationship in the global shea butter industry and the potential impact it can have on west African economies. His statement regarding the partnership with Sekaf is below:

“By linking the international markets with West African producers, SEKAF revealed to be an excellent source in the industry of shea butter and allows Solidity Trade to change the image of the West Africa by providing top notch quality shea butter to the world. The growth over the last year has been tremendous. The skills that we brought to SEKAF was a perfect match with Solidity Trade in terms of cooperation among the decision makers. This match is critical in reshaping the shea butter industry and create more jobs every year and reduce the poverty in the rural areas of West Africa.”

The partnership is indeed an ambitious step forward for Sekaf and Solidity Trade, and a hopeful representation for the forward progression of the larger shea industry itself.

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.

East Asian Developments: A Beginning

During summer 2009, the Solidity Trade team made efforts to establish new business relationships throughout the East Asian region. The aim of this mission was to expand into new markets that have positive growth potential and could help increase our global reach.

In fact, Asian countries such as Korea have their own set of specific requirements and rules which differ significantly from the United States. Nevertheless, Solidity Trade is proud to announce that it has made its first sale in Korea and has started to establish an Asian distribution network in Korea and China and soon a new distribution network aimed at the Japanese market.

Thanks to these new developments, we will be able to distribute and increased amount of unrefined shea butter to these countries by shipping full containers on a regular basis to supply our warehouse in 2010.

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.

ASBI Shea Butter Certification May 2009

Earlier this month, Solidity Trade Co-Founders Lam Tran and Fabien Nervais met with Dr. Hunter from the American Shea Butter Institute (ASBI) in Atlanta to obtain the results of a Shea Butter quality assessment offered by the organization.

During grade analysis, a number of tests are performed to determine the level of important ingredients and various other measures to assess quality. The Shea butter is then graded and scored based on these results. Solidity Trade’s first container of Shea Butter achieved Grade B certification and scored “excellent” in 30 of the 33 metrics used during the testing process. Solidity Trade and its affiliated partners are dedicated to continually improving quality and look forward to further working with ASBI to test and certify our Shea butter. To view and download a copy of the report please click the following link: May 2009 ASBI Certificate

Solidity Trade Introduces New Product: Shea Oil

After working on several months on shea butter, Solidity Trade team has chosen to broaden its product lines for the Northern American market and will be delivering to its customers shea oil for cosmetic purpose.

Cosmetic Shea Oil is a new product of SEKAF GHANA and Solidity Trade partnership. The product will be launched in July 2009 and you can soon order some samples on Solidity Trade website.

Here are more information about shea oil :

Chemical properties :

• High content of Diglycérides
• High content of unsaponifiables
• High content of Triterpen alcool esters (Stérols esters )
• Excellent moisturizer and emollient
• Easy to include in cosmetic formulations
• Lower molecular weight
• High composition in Essential Fatty Acids (EFA)

Shea Oil is an excellent alternative to the semi-solid Shea butter in many types of cosmetic formulation for many types of cosmetic products. Shea Oil helps to protect the epidermis and maintain the integrity of the stratum corneum, thanks to its composition in Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), vitamins and unsaponifiable (7-8%) matters. Shea oil is also has a good moisturizing and skin softening effect generally associated with Shea butter.

Shea Oil can be used as an active carrier for skin care emulsions because of its lower molecular weight. The liquid physical character of Shea Oil makes it easy to formulate with, there is no need for handling solids and heating to melt the ingredient before use. Because Shea Oil is liquid at room temperature, it can be used in cold-process formulations.

Shea Oil is has a good stability versus oxidation. This character helps lower the levels of anti-oxidants contained in the finish products.Shea Oil is also a good emollient for anhydrous products where the high level of bioactive shea unsaponifiables can contribute to skin repair and soothing action.

Applications
Shea Oil is a good emollient and moisturizer in all types of skin care creams and lotions. The liquid character makes it easy to formulate emulsions with no adverse crystallization effects and a high content of the Shea butter unsaponifiables.

Shea Oil can be used in the following application:

• Facial care
• Body care
• Sun-care and sunscreens

Shea Oil can also be used as a liquid emollient in anhydrous products ranging from body butters to lip balms and colour cosmetics. Shea Oil is also a good ingredient for hair care applications where 0.5-1 % addition in a conditioner may help to improve gloss and moisture retention in the hair.

Shea Conference 2009

During the 3 days conference, Solidity Trade had the chance to present its company to the participants in Ouagadougou. The theme of the conference was Optimization of the Value Chain. During the presentation our CEO was demonstrating how Solidity Trade was trying to optimize the value chain to capture more value for the African women in poor rural areas in West Africa.

You can take a look at Solidity Trade presentation and following the presentation at the same time by clicking here : Shea Value Conference Presentation

Shea Global Value Chain

Solidity Trade has been invited to the Shea Global Value Chain this year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso by one of the sponsoring company ECOCERT from the 25th to the 27th of March 2009.

In order to meet the different associations, certification agents and buyers of shea butter, Solidity Trade will assign its CEO. He will be able to answer the questions and meet the representatives of the different companies to improve some partnerships, close deals and discuss about the shea industry and its challenges, especially the economic and social impact of the shea industry on the lives of the women in poor rural areas of West Africa.

Solidity Trade chooses Ecocert as an organic certification partner for the unrefined shea butter

National Organic Program - United States Department of Agriculture

Solidity Trade has recently met the representatives of ECOCERT in France to discuss the opportunity of working together in Ghana to certify that the production of unrefined shea butter in the Shea Butter Village is 100% organic.

Solidity Trade will fully finance the organic certification of the Shea Butter Village in order to comply with the National Organic Program from the United States Department of Agriculture. This label will show the effort of Solidity Trade to support organic agriculture as there is an increasingly demand for organic unrefined shea butter in the US market as well as in the rest of the world. This market-oriented approach in the long run will bring new market opportunities and create more jobs for the women at the Shea Butter Village.

To know more about this company:

ECOCERT is an organic certification organization, founded in France in 1991. It is based in Europe but conducts inspections in over 80 countries, making it one of the largest organic certification organizations in the world.

ECOCERT’s co-founder and CEO is William Vidal. It began as a partnership between European nations, but has gradually expanded to many other nations around the world. The company’s French headquarters are located in L’Isle Jourdain, Gers, France, and its ECOCERT INTERNATIONAL division is based in Northeim, Germany.

ECOCERT primarily certifies food and food products, but also certifies cosmetics, detergents, perfumes, and textiles. The company inspects about 70% of the organic food industry in France and about 30% worldwide.

Source : www.ecocert.com