Shea Butter Done Better

Dr. Hauschka is a well-known and loved natural and holistic brand of skincare and health remedies. The company, founded in the 1960s, has roots in the philosophy of Biodynamics going back to the beginning of the 20th century. Sustainable agriculture and community involvement are integral to its mission as company.

WALA Heilmittel manufactures the Dr. Hauschka brand, and has been producing ingredients from its own certified Biodynamic gardens for over 60 years. In addition to these gardens, WALA also actively supports sustainable Biodynamic agriculture projects in developing countries. These programs also have the benefit of promoting economic self-sufficiency, such as a shea butter agriculture cooperative in Africa, established and managed entirely by the women of Burkina Faso.

Ralf Kunert, WALA head of global sourcing, shared some background and information about the Burkina Faso project and the women it helps.

Tonic: Tell us about the Burkina Faso project.

Ralf Kunert: WALA Heilmittel has been supporting the shea butter project in Burkina Faso since 2001. In this project, women from several villages collect and produce raw shea butter in the traditional manner — and it's also a certified organic process.

WALA purchases the shea butter from the villages at above-average prices and gives them long-term purchase guarantees. We also provide financial, advisory and organizational assistance with obtaining organic certification.

For many families the sale of shea butter is an important source of income, and this project helps to preserve the village communities.

Tonic: This sounds like micro-financing.

Kunert: It is, but it's more.

The target of micro-finance projects is to enable people with limited financial resources to improve their livelihoods with dignity and self-reliance. The Burkina Faso project supports the raw nut harvest, and also processing the nuts to deliver a certified organic product. The result is an increased value of their commodity in the marketplace. WALA helps find additional markets for their commodities, and to helps improve and ensure for high quality shea butter.

Furthermore, WALA commits to free trade with other cosmetic companies — in other words, the project can sell to other companies as well, so that the enterprise is sustainable and more women benefit from fair prices.

Tonic: Why did WALA and Dr. Hauschka decide to get involved at this level of the ingredients sourcing?

Kunert: The main reason was to ensure the quality of our raw material. Organic shea butter was not available at the market, so WALA sought to find a partner to develop high-quality products. We also saw an opportunity to help this already poor country, dependent mainly on farming, which in the last few years has been heavily hit by drought. Plants which have adapted to the drought periods, the shea tree, for example, help support sustainable livelihoods.

Tonic: How did you pick the location for the collective?

Kunert: The cooperative selected for the shea butter project is in southwest Burkina Faso where shea trees grow well and thrive. The villages of Diarabakkoko, the region in Burkina Faso where the project operates, has no electricity, no telephone, and no traffic. People here live simply from what they are able to grow themselves. Millet is one of the staple foods of their unvaried menu, and meat is rare. To earn money the women and men go — on foot — to the market 15 kilometers away where they sell part of their produce or food they have cooked themselves.

The village women elect all positions in the cooperative, from the president through the treasurer to the secretary. The women are traditionally very independent and have always had their own fields and earned their own money, which they administer themselves.

Tonic: What was important about working with the women of Burkina Faso?

Kunert: Harvesting shea nuts is a traditional activity of the villages in Burkina Faso. Foreign refineries have exploited the oil-rich nuts for a long time, buying them cheaply in the villages.

In the shea butter project in cooperation with WALA, the villages earn several times as much by producing the shea butter themselves: The price of shea butter is seven times higher than the price for the shea nuts.

Some 350 women from two villages currently produce shea butter for WALA. The money earned from selling the shea butter enables the women to meet basic needs, like paying the school fees for all their children instead of just one or two. Currently WALA representatives meet with the women once or twice a year. This continued close contact with the women allows us to better understand their problems and needs.

Tonic: How does WALA/Dr. Hauschka benefit from this arrangement?

Kunert: By guaranteeing a market for fixed amounts of and providing the women with investment aid, we are able to secure the traceable, high quality ingredients we need in the long term.

We started to support the Shea Butter Project 2001. By 2003, the project received organic certification and the amount and quality of shea butter produced was enough to meet WALA's requirements in full.

Tonic: What other projects is the company involved in, similar to this?

Kunert: It is important for WALA to be involved in projects that contribute to communities, not only by paying money for the product itself, but also by supporting the local infrastructure or even by giving the trigger-pulse for the project itself. Thus, WALA began organic peanut-oil production with the same partner in Burkina Faso. WALA also has organic rose oil production projects in Turkey and Bulgaria as well as an organic castor oil production project in India.

For more information about Dr. Hauschka’s history, mission and products, visit the Dr. Hauschka website.