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 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

Introducing Solidity Trade

Welcome to the official blog of Solidity Trade:

This blog is aimed at keeping you informed on news concerning our company, our work and the progress we are making in developing Africa with a market-oriented approach.

Solidity Trade has the mission to source West African commodities and secure the logistics to build a solid relationship with international buyers. Our purpose is to help West African producers and their communities to market and sell their raw materials while meeting international standards of quality.

In the spirit of this mission, company founders Lam Tran and Fabien Nervais teamed to work on a project aimed at developing a product inherent to the African landscape — Ghanaian unrefined shea butter. Unrefined shea butter is a useful product that has several applications in cooking, hair, and skin care.

Increasingly, international companies are incorporating shea butter into their products such as shampoo, soaps, or lotions. Shea butter has tremendous potential for growth, however, this potential hasn’t adequately been addressed through Africa. The lack of availability in capital and the difficulty to access international markets haven’t allowed local African businesses to grow to their full potential and go beyond their own local market in a profitable way.

Based on this fact, Solidity Trade has developed a new business model that serves a dual purpose:

1. Creating jobs in poor areas to alleviate poverty
2. Lifting up the economic barriers to give access to international markets

For more information on an example company we have helped to market unrefined shea butter in the Northern America, please download the following PDF: Unrefined Shea Butter