This international women’s day we wanted to celebrate the impressive women that we have come to know, and thought what better way than by showcasing the women of Essan. We asked three of the women who make our Shea butter, a few questions so we could learn more about them and what empowerment means to them.
16 million rural women are involved in the production of Shea butter, this is an incredibly laborious process and we currently employ 50 women to produce the Shea butter and other ingredients that are used in our products. We are proud to support these women and hope our sustained support will continue to benefit them.
Meet Elizabeth
Elizabeth is from the Kingdom of Essan, with three sons. Not only that
she has a masters degree in ‘Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology’ and worked with Niger State Ministry before joining Naturally Tribal as a supervisor.
Elizabeth views female empowerment as improving the lives of women through the reduction of poverty and food whilst increasing security. This can all be achieved sustainably which will allow economic growth for these women. We aim to develop an entrepreneurial mindset that will grow and add value to the community and the lives of all those that live in the Kingdom of Essan.
We asked what the building of this factory meant to the community and Elizabeth felt that it has increased the quality of the Shea butter they make and its market value. Previously the women often carried the Shea butter to the local market and sometimes had to sell ‘for whatever price’. The increase in demand has helped eliminate this, opening up this Kingdom to the international market.
Meet Comfort
To Comfort, female empowerment is about training and equipping women with skills that mean they can be independent. Naturally Tribal is advocating and training the women of Essan to be ‘self-reliant and educated’ which not only has a huge impact on the local area but also on Nigeria's economy. The Naturally Tribal factory within Essan will help not only Comfort, who is a supervisor, but the other 50 women that we employ. Providing employment along with education in modern techniques for producing Shea butter, that will allow us at Naturally Tribal to put this community on the map.
Meet Keturah
Keturah is another one of Naturally Tribal’s five supervisors, developing and training the rest of the women that work within the factory. Female empowerment, to Keturah, means the opportunity to be educated. Enabling women to control and benefit from their resources, assets and income.
This allows these women the ability to manage and improve their well being and economic status. We asked Keturah what she thought Naturally Tribal was doing to help empower the women within Essan and she said that it enabled the ‘economic strength of the Essan women’. This helps to make them independent, rather than relying on their husbands as well as helping to eliminate poverty.
To Keturah, the factory that we are building will help to create employment opportunities as well as the possibility of additional learning and use of modern technology. The technology and machines that are used, help reduce the physicality and strain that the traditional method required, when making Shea butter.
Every purchase you make helps support these incredible women and for that we want to thank you
Share this post and let us know what you think #JoinTheTribe
A fellow Triber
Hannah x
Leave a comment