Apr 12, 2021

GSA-GIZ Invest for Jobs project: Fuji Oil Europe’s eagerness to be a partner in improving women shea collector’s capacity in Ghana

30.000 women are expected to benefit from a new two-year initiative of the Global Shea Alliance supported by Invest for Jobs. This project has been made possible through the public-private partnership between the Global Shea Alliance and the “Invest for Jobs”, an Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.  The objective is to improve the capacity of women shea collectors in Ghana, boost the profitability of the sector and promote investment in the shea value chain.  The special initiative will be focusing on training and job creation and improving working conditions in Ghana, where Fuji Oil Europe was delighted to be part of.

The partnership aims to reach 30.000 women beneficiaries, train 5.000 individuals. 10 new cooperatives will be created and 40 existing cooperatives will be strengthened to support the creation of over 350 new jobs.

An event was held in northern Ghana Tamale, on Tuesday 23rd March 2021, to officially launch the project. In attendance were high-level Government of Ghana representation, private sector firms, women-based shea cooperatives and traditional authorities, as a show of support and endorsement for the project.

Also Fuji Oil Ghana attended this event. Ronny Voorspools,  Technical Director of Fuji Oil Europe and Managing Director of Fuji Oil Ghana was asked by the Global Shea Alliance  to represent the industry. During his speech he highlighted the importance of  the shea activities. The processing of shea kernels into butter and derivates provides income for women and their families. Fuji Oil prides itself on investing in their women collectors, who are core stakeholders in the company. Fuji Oil has demonstrated commitment to develop a scalable women empowerment project model that delivers value and sustainable income to women collectors. To this effect, Fuji will be investing 139.000 Euros in this project for year 1. March 2021, Fuji Oil launched its Shea Sustainability Program Tebma Kandu.

Ronny Voorspools says: “Just as other private sector partners in this project, we are committed to working to improve the income and living conditions of the women collectors. The 6 private sector companies have committed 576.966 Euros in investments into this project to provide warehouses to enable the women to collect and aggregate shea. I commend the GSA and GIZ Invest for Jobs initiative for this collaboration. The private sector commits to a partnership that yields sustainable impacts in the shea value chain.”

Fuji Oil considers this as a win-win opportunity for all stakeholders in the shea industry and encourage every partner to play their role, adding value to society.