Communities · Six cooperatives, four countries
The cooperatives we source from, by name
Every ingredient we sell traces to one of these six cooperatives. We pay above the prevailing regional gate price, pre-finance the harvest, and audit drying and lab procedures each season.
Chad · Guéra massif
Guéra Women’s Cooperative
47 women, three villages. Produces chebe powder and ambunu leaves, the traditional Chadian hair pairing. Our partnership funded a deep well, school kits, and a grain reserve.
Burkina Faso · Hauts-Bassins
Bobo Shea Producers Union
320 women, 12 village groups around Bobo-Dioulasso. Stone-ground unrefined Grade A shea, with their own free fatty acid lab. We pay 22% above the regional gate price.
Ghana · Northern Region
Tamale Moringa Growers
180 growers across 8 farmer groups around Tamale and Savelugu. Shade-dried moringa from a covered drying hall co-financed with us in 2022.
Chad · Lake Chad
Dihé Cooperative of Bol
~600 Kanembu women across nine villages near Bol. Wild-harvested spirulina, traditional sun-drying, stainless-steel screening line co-financed in 2023.
Burkina Faso & Mali · Sahel
Sahel Bissap Cooperative
240 women growers across Houet province (Burkina Faso) and Sikasso region (Mali). Whole calyx hibiscus, sulphite-free, sun-dried on raised mats.
Ivory Coast · Bondoukou
Bondoukou Cocoa Collective
Small-batch cocoa butter from a fair-trade certified collective near Bondoukou. Stone-pressed, unrefined, paired with our other West African ingredients for soap-makers.
How the partnership works
- Above-market price. We pay 17 to 22 percent above the prevailing regional gate price, set after each season’s first harvest data.
- Pre-financing. 30 to 40 percent of each season is paid up-front so cooperatives can pay collectors and growers at harvest, not at sale.
- Audited drying and lab procedures. Each season we visit (or send a regional auditor) to verify drying conditions, sulphite-free protocols, and lab handling.
- Co-financed infrastructure. Wells, drying halls, screening lines, lab equipment, built into the cooperatives, owned by them.
- Named on every SKU. The cooperative is on the bag, in the schema, and in the certificate of analysis. We never white-label origin away.