TIEHISUMA SHEA BUTTER PROJECT MAKES STRIDES (PAGE 29, OCT 27)

WOMEN in the shea-nut industry in the Tamale metropolis are making significant strides in the processing and packaging of the produce for export.
Undoubtedly, the shea-nut industry in the metropolis and for that matter northern Ghana, continues to face numerous challenges, including the lack of capacity to engage in exports.
However, the success story of the Tiehisuma Shea-butter Processing Centre located at Gurugu, a suburb of Tamale, cannot be wished away by residents.
The centre, which started as the Tiehisuma Women’s Group in 2002, and founded by Mrs Joana Akonsi Teviu, the President of the women’s group and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the centre, has over the years, expanded to the level where it now exports processed shea-nut to Europe.
One hundred and twenty-two women are engaged in the processing of the produce, with about 15 management staff members, including a manager, a quality supervisor, a logistics, packaging and purchasing officer.
In 2005 and 2006, it got assistance from the United States Ambassadors’ Self Help Project and the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) to set up a grinding mill.
The centre has a mill that includes a miller and a crasher and a shed where the women sit to knead their butter.
There is also a kitchen for boiling the butter and pipe-borne water and four round local rooms with a capacity to store 50 metric tonnes of shea-butter at a time.
Another processing centre located at Kumbuyili has a mill and three round rooms with a capacity to store 35 metric tonnes of shea-butter at a time.
The centre purchases its raw materials from organised shea-nut picking groups located in the Tolon-Kumbungu and Savelugu-Nanton districts.
According to the Production Manager at the centre, Mr Daniel Teviu, the centre had a total production capacity of 45 metric tonnes a week or 1,800 cartons of shea-butter, with each carton weighing 25 kilogrammes.
“We have markets in Europe, in Tamale and Ghana as a whole. We also engage in retailing of our products in the metropolis,” he said.
According to the manager, the centre would, by June next year, pay 50 per cent of the National Health Insurance premiums to be paid by each woman.
Currently, it has assets valued at GH¢15,000.
As the business expanded over the years, its management decided to set up nine women’s groups in nine suburbs of the metropolis.
They are Jisonayili, Kumbuyili, Katariga, Gumo, Napaakyili, Mwodua, Cheshegu, Kalariga and Malshegu. Each of the nine suburbs has a women’s group with membership of 40.
They hold meetings twice in a month to deliberate on issues concerning how to procure raw materials, sales and how best to make contributions into their individual welfare accounts to meet some social needs such as outdoorings, funerals and supporting themselves to further their education.
Mr Teviu, however, stated that in spite of the successes chalked up by the centre, there were some challenges.
These included lack of direct market for the products, inadequate capital to store the nuts during bumper harvests, lack of transport and the need to expand the facilities to cover other suburbs in the metropolis.
According to him, there was the need for government intervention in the area of capacity building programmes for the women to improve on their business and managerial skills.