The Global Shea Alliance (GSA) supports, an estimated 600,000 women who rely on the shea industry as a major source of income.
As a nonprofit organization, the GSA promotes industry sustainability, quality practices and standards around shea butter. For No7 Beauty Company Liz Earle Beauty is a pioneer in sustainability and naturally active skincare. Shea from GSA is used directly in Liz Earle’s Botanical Shine Shampoo, Botanical Shine Conditioner Dry or Damaged Hair, Cleansing Bar Orange Flower, Cleansing Bar Rosemary and Thyme, and Orange Flower Cleansing Bar.
Since joining the GSA in 2019, No7 Beauty Company owned brand Liz Earle Beauty Co has been able to support the GSA as one of its sustainability partners. Supporting with everything from:
- The formation of a cooperative of female shea harvesters in Ghana
- Legally registering the cooperative
- Electing leaders
- Training more than 800 women in cooperative and business development.
Rosie Akester has worked with the GSA shea butter cooperatives in Ghana since 2012, and when she joined Liz Earle Beauty in 2016 as a senior ingredients buyer, she felt it was a great way to develop the brand’s relationships with shea producers and support the source of shea production.
To help drive this change, Akester established a responsible sourcing strategy for Liz Earle Beauty that began with developing three traceability targets (bronze, silver, gold) in 2017. Through improved reporting, educating suppliers and reformulations, the brand went from a 45 percent bronze baseline in 2017 to 99 percent in 2021 across 75 suppliers.
Liz Earle Beauty’s shea project has also helped to set up the Timtooni Cooperative Shea project, which empowers shea nut pickers and protects the shea ecosystem that they rely on. Now into the second year of this project, the cooperative is getting ready for their first harvest of shea. Support for this project is planned to continue for at least five years, ensuring that the cooperative is self-sustaining.
“GSA is a fantastic organization to work with,” says Akester. “I am often in touch with them and representatives from Timtooni to discuss how the project is progressing, help to unblock any barriers that they may be facing and to engage Timtooni in discussions about what their needs are for the coming year.”
