You pay the women you source your shea butter from — the Katariga Women’s Co-op in Tamale, Ghana — more than twice the market value and you also support them in other ways. Can you tell me why that was important for you to foster this kind of relationship with your supplier? 

Abena: When I started HanaHana, I decided to come back to Ghana and actually source directly from the women. It’s been a two-year process of learning from them. I learned about what they do, the lack of pay, how huge this industry, and what the flip in the profit is. I decided if I want to get access to certain things and be accessible just like I would be as a teacher or with my friends or the people that I work with, we should also share that type of relationship. Without those women, one, I wouldn’t have HanaHana Beauty and, two, you would not have shea butter to put on your skin.

Shea butter is used in all beauty products. Brands like L’Oreal… everyone is using shea butter and sourcing from these women. I thought if I’m going to be in that same business, I’m gonna make sure that we’re trading access. Now, we’re able to pay two times the fair trade pricing.

Then, we’ve created the HanaHana Circle which is an initiative that is looking to provide a holistic approach to benefits when working with each other. Healthcare is so important and it’s just being sustainable.

“It’s become more than a beauty skincare line. It’s about community…”

Through interviews with the women, we’ve been able to figure out what we have access to and how we are able to be helpful and grow. Not just that HanaHana grows, but also that the women grow.

Another thing we’re doing is a bi-annual health check day. We’re working with volunteer nurses and doctors to make sure that the women get a checkup. We’re actively raising money for that. When you’re in the States, you get benefits. I’m Ghanaian and I never want to come into try to colonize a country.

I’ve really been taking the time in the past year to have these conversations. Everything that we do with the HanaHana Circle is from what we talk about with the women because at first when I started, a lot of people asked me, “Why don’t you just give 10% back?” and I said, “What does that 10% do?”.

When you just give away your money, it’s not always helpful. After talking with them, they’ve told us they don’t just want money. They want to be able to buy more seeds because the women have to buy the seeds that they process. They’ve also asked for kneading machines which quickens the process of actually creating shea butter. We’ve just been learning through conversations and expanding what we can do and making sure we’re working together so that we are both able to be sustainable in everything that we’re doing.