Three communities in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region are relieved from travelling long distances to process their shea nuts into butter for sale. The communities; Tanga ,Adagbira and Tetako have, through the support of MEDA and a private company ,Hope Givers company, acquired Shea butter processing plants valued at GH¢306,308 Ghana.
Addressing separate durbars to inaugurate the projects, the District Coordinating Director, Ahmed Alhassan said the provision of the processing plants will go a long way to reduce labour cost and ease the difficulties that one has to go through in shea butter processing.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hope Givers Company, Madam Linda Atibila said the rationale for establishing the company was to help address the perennial migration of women from the north to the urban centres in search of non-existing jobs .she said it is quite worrying that most of the young ladies, particularly, nursing mothers leave their children mostly in the care of their grandmothers who are physically and financially weak to cater for these young ones. The company which began with 15 women, she noted, can now boast of about 1000 working to earn a living through their effort.
Madam Atibila thanked MEDA for their immeasurable support and appealed to other organizations to emulate their example and come to the aid of women in the Shea business to enable them expand their businesses.
A Business specialist at MEDA, Mr. Charles Addo admonished the women to attached seriousness in the discharge of their work and more importantly cultivate the habit of record keeping since it was one of the surest way to help them know their gains and losses in the business.
One of the women group leaders from Adagbira, Ayabilla Asigimal shared her delight working with Hope Givers Company and commended them for getting a ready market for the Shea butter. She noted that in the initial stages of their work, they had problems with how to process the Shea with the absence of ready market for their produce but the intervention of the company has added value to their daily production.
The Bawku West District Coordinating Director also commended MEDA and Hope Givers Company for the invaluable support to women and urged the beneficiaries to ensure the proper safekeeping of the plants. He pledged the unflinching commitment of the assembly in giving women the needed support they deserve.
