Nigeria and Netherlands launch women’s shea training program to boost competition and empowerment

12 Oct 2023 --- The Nigerian government, Shea Women’s Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and CBI (Center for the Promotion of Imports, the Netherlands) have launched a project to help female shea nut collectors in Nigeria. The Train the Trainer project aims to foster greater gender equality and create safer, more sustainable and economically rewarding work. The project works toward helping women become players in the global export market of shea nuts.

Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of shea nuts, located in the “shea belt” south of the Sahara Desert. Due to its high volume, the sector employs many women. However, the CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs says their position in the industry is vulnerable. The training project in the Nigerian shea industry is said to be “opening up a better future” for over 1,000 women. 

Shea butter is often called “women’s gold” because of its rich golden color and provides employment and income for an estimated 2.2 million Nigerian women. These women work as shea nut collectors, processors and exporters for the cosmetics and food industries.

“The best thing about CBI’s Train the Trainer project is its positive impact on the position of women involved in the shea industry in Nigeria,” says Mobola Sagoe, a gender expert.

The CBI underscores an expected increased demand for shea-based cosmetics products, where the Nigerian shea market has the potential to grow to meet this demand. Through its new training program, the CBI ensures the supply chain sustainability of shea and the competitiveness of Nigerian women workers.

Shea butter is commonly used in personal care products (Image credit: CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs).Knowledge sharing community
The women involved in the program continue to pass on their newly acquired skills and knowledge to other women to promote a community of learning. 

Ebenezer Adepoju, one of the trainers involved, views the work as having “remarkable results.” “In the first instance, 128 women were trained. These women went on to train almost 1,000 more women, directly or indirectly. Through this method, 60% of women collectors in these regions have adopted new, modern techniques.”

Many of these women are marginalized and impoverished, according to the CBI. The following gender issues are hindering workers from making a fair living:

• Lack of education.
• Land rights issues limiting women’s access to land.
• The demands of processing shea nuts and the poor returns on the product. It takes a woman approximately 20 hours to produce 1 kg of shea, which sells locally for US$1.70.
• Product quality issues.
• The negative effects of climate change and deforestation on production.
• Cultural, social and legal limitations hindering women in their commercial activities.
• A lack of access to buyers and capital.

The women are also introduced to new ways of managing their finances, including using loans.

“The collaborative work of CBI, SWAN and local governments in the Train the Trainer project empowers women. It gives them more expertise, confidence, opportunities and a better economic standing. This affects whole households because families can afford better shelter, food and clothing [making them] able to send their children to school. This project changes everything,” explains Sagoe. Approximately 2.2 million Nigerian women work in the shea nut industry.

Rising shea demand for cosmetics
The program enables women to realize higher yields and better quality shea nuts. The up-to-date and environmentally sustainable techniques are introduced at the processing stage. Then, the pickers and processors are connected with exporters to efficiently deliver quality products to the EU. 

The CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs says there is an increasing demand for shea butter in the European cosmetics market. The global market value in 2023 is US$2.28 billion and is forecast to be US$3.75 billion by 2030. The ministry calls it a versatile ingredient that has a wide range of applications in the cosmetics industry.

It notes that the main driver for shea butter needs in European cosmetics is the increasing demand for natural and organic cosmetics on the market. The demand for shea butter is expected to continue to rise in Europe.

West African shea butter is used for scars, blemishes, wrinkles and stretch marks because of its high vitamin A content. Some other products using shea butter are hair treatment products for damaged and dry hair, anti-aging and anti-wrinkle creams and face and body moisturizing creams.

Nigeria produces around 400,000 metric tons of shea nuts annually at 53% of global output.

By Sabine Waldeck