One of my overarching goals as a businesswoman is to do business in a way that not only feeds the market with innovative and high quality products or services on a small scale, but that can also (eventually) generate a positive impact in the world on a larger scale. I admire and closely follow bigger businesses who use their influence for good and was lucky enough to dive a little deeper with one of them recently when The Body Shop celebrated 25 years of its iconic Shea Range and invited some of us to a celebratory interactive workshop.

I have long since been a Body Shop customer and Shea body butter fiend, having been captured by the luscious nourishment and tantalising scents of The Body Shop range way back in my teen years. I wasn’t, however, as aware of their amazing work in the community and, particularly, in female empowerment until attending the workshop and hearing more about their Community Trade Shea partnership, including intimate insights from the lovely Montana Lower who spoke about her inspiring trip to Ghana to visit their Community Trade Partners.

To quickly summarise, the Body Shop have sustainably sourced Community Trade Shea Butter from The Tungteiya Women’s Association in Ghana since 1994, harnessing the expertise of women who have used Shea Butter to intensely nourish dry skin and hair for centuries. In addition to paying a fair price for Shea Butter, they have paid a premium on top to help the Tungteiya’s social fund and The Northern Ghana Community Action Fund invest in community projects like healthcare, sanitation, water and education which benefit 49,000 people every year.

More recently, this iconic partnership has led to the launch of four new products in the Shea range, (thereby extending funding for Tungteiya’s community projects by 30%), including a host of hair care products and the new, multi-purpose, 100% Natural Shea Butter, which we had an absolutely blast playing around with in store. We made a super easy DIY lip scrub by simply adding raw sugar as well as a luxurious hair mask adding coconut oil for dry hair or to style curls and coils. The raw butter is so versatile and love that it’s completely natural, provided natural hydration and head-to-toe nourishment. It’s made of 192 shea nuts and can be applied to body, face, hair and lips – you can find some recipes here or whip up your own to SEIZE THE SHEA!

Find out more at The Body Shop’s website.

 

 

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This