Wayne and Gifty are a Ghanaian/Canadian wife/husband team that came to shea butter and natural products with passion and a focus on development, but from totally different directions.
Gifty was born in northern Ghana, on the edge of the Sahara and into a community and culture where shea butter had been made and used for millennia for food, cooking, skin care and more. Handmade, using traditional techniques passed down through generations.
In the early 1980s Gifty went to Ottawa, Canada to complete high school and attend university where she completed undergrad and advanced degrees in development and political science. She was shocked to discover that shea butter was virtually unknown and unavailable, and that what was available was often of poor quality and uncertain origins.
This troubled her and as soon as she could, she began making shea butter products for friends, family and select customers, bringing the shea butter from women’s groups near her Ghanaian home and working to maximize impact on women and families.
She was touched by the women constantly asking her to find ways to buy and sell more shea butter. That they didn’t want charity, they just wanted a way to earn money to support their families.
In addition to being a full-time mother, making and selling shea butter products and a very active community volunteer, Gifty has worked in and supported Wayne’s corporate social responsibility and training businesses and activities throughout their 20 years of marriage.
Wayne was born in northern Saskatchewan, literally at the end of the road, growing up farm, fishing, trapping and hunting. Food (and life) was naturally natural and canning, preserving and natural products were a way of life.
Wayne, who holds a Masters from Stanford Business School, worked extensively in development, working worldwide with indigenous peoples, governments, businesses and international organizations, helping them to understand and create value in the space where business meets society.
After Wayne and Gifty saw the way people loved the shea butter products she made, and the impact they could have on people and families who made shea butter, they decide to make a business of it.
Baraka Shea Butter was born with a mission is to make high quality, unrefined and handmade shea butter available to crafters and other shea butter users in North America, do it in a way that has maximum impact for the women and families that make Baraka Shea Butter and build a company culture focused on serving both our suppliers and our customers.
Wayne Dunn will be speaking on Shea Butter: How it's Made / Impact on Family & Community.
