Wholesale partnership with West African cooperatives

Wholesale program

Wholesale African ingredients for brands and formulators.

Direct sourcing from West and Central Africa. Phytosanitary certificates. DHL Express from Cotonou. Trusted by Design Essentials since 2022.

For brands, formulators, and resellers

Wholesale pricing is already visible on each product page in our shop catalog — click through and you will see prices for 1 kg, 10 kg, 20 kg, and 100 kg tiers. For volumes above 100 kg, or for recurring purchase arrangements, we work with you directly.

Tell us what you need below. We will respond within two business days with availability, freight options, and a quote.

What makes our wholesale program different

If you are sourcing African ingredients for a haircare brand, a wellness product line, a private-label venture, or a salon chain, you have probably noticed the same thing we did: most “wholesale African ingredient” suppliers are middlemen who buy from middlemen. By the time chebe powder, shea butter, or moringa reaches your warehouse, three to five intermediaries have taken a margin and nobody can tell you the village it actually came from.

Essential Care Plus is structured differently. Our chebe comes directly from women’s cooperatives in the Guéra region of Chad — the same supply chain trusted by McBride Research Laboratories for the Design Essentials African Chebe Growth Collection since 2022. Our raw shea butter comes from women’s cooperatives in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, hand-pressed without hexane. Our raw cocoa butter comes from Côte d’Ivoire. Our hibiscus, moringa, spirulina, ambunu, baobab, nigella, and fenugreek are sourced through direct producer relationships across our pan-African network. Every shipment leaves Cotonou, Benin, with a phytosanitary certificate.

What you get with every wholesale order

Per-batch Certificate of Analysis (CoA) — microbiology, heavy metals, pesticide residue. Issued from accredited West African and European labs. Available before shipment for buyers who require pre-clearance.
Phytosanitary certificate on every export, no exceptions. This is not optional in our process — it is a regulatory requirement we treat as a quality signal.
DHL Express shipping from Cotonou, Benin. Most destinations in 1 to 5 business days. We can also arrange sea freight for orders above 500 kg.
Country-of-origin documentation for every ingredient. We can name the country, the region, and in most cases the cooperative or producer relationship.
Net 30 payment terms available from your fifth completed order, after a standard credit review.
Custom packaging and private-label options for repeat orders above 200 kg per ingredient.

Who we serve

Our wholesale customers fall into four broad groups. If you recognize yourself in one of them, the program is built for you.

Independent natural haircare brands

You are building a textured-hair line, a relaxer-free system, or a heritage haircare brand. Your customers want to know which country, which region, which producer relationship. We give you that traceability and the documentation to prove it. Most independent brands start with our chebe powder, ambunu leaves, and raw shea butter as their core ingredient stack.

Cosmetic formulators and white-label producers

You formulate for multiple brands and need consistent batch quality, valid CoAs for your QA process, and reliable lead times for production planning. We supply chebe, ambunu, raw shea, raw cocoa butter, hibiscus, baobab, and moringa with full audit trail. Repeat orders above 200 kg unlock custom particle size grinding (for chebe powder) and private-label packaging.

Wellness and food supplement brands

Moringa, spirulina, hibiscus, baobab. Food-grade by spec. Sourced through direct producer relationships across the Sahel and West Africa. Pesticide residue and heavy metal panels included. We can ship to your contract manufacturer or directly to your warehouse.

Salons, distributors, and resellers

You buy 10 to 100 kg per ingredient, retail to clients or other businesses, and need a supplier you can trust to ship reliably and respond fast. Tier pricing is automatic, no negotiation needed for orders below 100 kg. Above that, we quote per volume and destination.

How the wholesale process works

Most wholesale relationships go from first contact to first shipment in under three weeks. Here is exactly how it unfolds:

You submit the form below with your ingredient list, target volumes, and delivery destination. We respond within two business days.
We confirm availability and quote. Pricing is per kilogram for the volume you requested. Freight is quoted separately so you can compare against your existing logistics.
You request samples if needed (1 kg per ingredient is standard). Samples ship via DHL Express within 24 to 48 hours of confirmation.
You approve the sample, we issue the proforma invoice. Payment terms are 50% to confirm production, 50% before shipment for first orders.
We pull from cooperative stock, run lab tests, and prepare the order. Lead time is typically 5 to 10 business days for orders under 100 kg, 14 to 21 days for larger orders.
Phytosanitary certificate is issued, the order ships from Cotonou, you receive tracking immediately.
Net 30 unlocks from your fifth completed order, after a standard credit review.

Frequently asked wholesale questions

What is the minimum order?

1 kg per ingredient. There is no upper limit. We have shipped from 1 kg sample orders to multi-ton production runs.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes, worldwide. DHL Express from Cotonou for most orders, with sea freight available for orders above 500 kg or buyers who prefer slower lead times for cost reasons. Standard destinations include the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates.

Can you provide CoA before shipment?

Yes. Per-batch CoA is included on every order at no extra charge. For first-time orders or buyers with strict QA requirements, we can issue the CoA before shipment so your team can pre-clear the batch.

Do you offer private-label packaging?

For repeat orders above 200 kg per ingredient, yes. We can supply unbranded bulk packaging or apply your label artwork. Custom packaging adds 7 to 14 days to lead time on first runs.

How is your sourcing different from “ethically sourced” claims?

“Ethically sourced” is a marketing claim with no standard definition. We name the country, the region, and where possible the producer relationship for every ingredient. Read our story and the public testimonial from McBride Research Laboratories. We also reinvest a portion of every sale into community infrastructure — drinking-water boreholes, school renovations, and healthcare — in the cooperatives we work with.

Prefer email or phone?

Reach us directly at contact@essentialcareplus.com or call us. We answer in English and French, and respond within two business days.