Mother's Shea

“Collaboration to Bring a Sustainable Impact to Communities.”

Growing up in southern Ghana, Eugenia Akuete made a vow that she would rise above the omnipresent poverty, chauvinistic ideals and segregation, which had permeated her society for generations.

 

The birth of her first daughter served as a poignant moment in Eugenia’s life strengthening her faith that every hardship she’d experienced was a God-given blessing and incentive to show her children a different life.
Elected as the first President of the Global Shea Alliance and serving as a member of Ghana’s National Steering Committee on Shea Eugenia has garnered Naasakle Limited international acclaim as a crusader of both economic and moral principles among her colleagues. “Mother’s Shea” is a nod to Eugenia, our amazing mom.
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“By providing a way for the women to make a living, I know I am not just impacting and empowering them, but also creating a future for their children. I know their children will go to bed fed and not hungry, will have shelter and be able to pay for their medical and educational needs.

This is what I seek to do through providing them with training, counseling, mentoring and job opportunities.” - Eugenia Akuete
Eugenia was determined to lead by example and prove that Ghanaian women are not only capable of running the household but also running their own companies, and liberating themselves from oppressive cultural and social norms. Making a decision to follow her heart, rather than her finances, Eugenia left a corporate position at Goodwill Industries International and started her own trading business in 1999. Investing an initial amount of $20 Eugenia began selling small quantities of shea butter out of her suitcase much to the demand of her Stateside friends. After making a profit of $3,000 in her first year of business Eugenia decided to pursue a full time career in trading and trademarked her company Naasakle Limited in honor of her daughter (“I call her my inspiration; a born leader who gets things done in a quiet way.”)
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Sharing her love for shea butter was almost innate to Eugenia as the product had been a lifelong component of her own beauty routine and held both a cultural and physical significance in Ghanaian society. “My mother introduced me to shea butter just like all mothers and grandmothers in Ghana and as a midwife she would use it on newborn babies before their first bath. In my culture shea butter has always been used for dry skin, massaging fatigued muscles and aching bodies, and to prepare brides before marriage to give them soft, radiant skin.”
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Seeking a higher grade of quality control Eugenia decided to forgo trading with other companies and instead develop her own shea butter formula where she could oversee every step of the process. Under a mission statement radiating female empowerment (“Changing Lives One Woman at a Time”) and an entirely female team, Eugenia set out with the intention of enhancing her employee’s economic status and self-esteem.

Currently overseeing a team of twelve women and an additional hundred independent contractors whom she hires on an as-needed basis, Eugenia
sources shea nuts from select areas in the Northern Region of Ghana that produce the highest quality nuts. The shea butter produced is completely 100% pure, with no chemicals or additives. All of the products undergo rigorous quality testing to ensure that they exceed global standards, as well as Eugenia’s high standards. In the process, Eugenia teaches her employees technical and transferable working skills through hands-on supervision and frequent training courses. Paying her staff wages that are above the government minimum and standard market rate, Eugenia has earned the trust and respect of her peers by creating a community of financially independent women who are, for the first time, reaping the benefits of their labor.

Paying it forward in attempts to enhance Ghana’s economic status as a whole Eugenia makes agreements with her independent contractors that any extra income will be channeled into growing their own shea butter businesses and making themselves financially self-sufficient.