Accra, April 23, 2018//-Ayisha Fuseini, a nominee of this MTN Heroes of Change is using her shea butter processing business to lift hundreds of women out of poverty in the Northern Region of Ghana.
She has been working with a co-operative of women to produce shea butter for her value-added products for local, national, and international markets.
Impacts
Ms Fuseini who is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Asheba Enterprise, is currently receiving raw shea butter from 10 communities and working with a co-operative of around over 600 women in rural Ghana, who produce the raw shea butter for her enterprise.
She supplies shea butter, which is fatty extract from the kernel of a shea-nut to companies in Europe, U.S, and Asia to use as replacement for cocoa butter to make food products, soaps, medicine and cosmetics due to its moisturizing and healing abilities.
Through her Asheda project, Ms Fuseini was able to lobby for women to be paid well for their labour in the Northern, Upper East and Upper regions of Ghana, where shea butter processing is one of the main occupations of the women.
Ms Fuseini also produces shea pomade and a number of other products which she sells on the local and the national markets.
Previously, shea-nut was only popular in northern Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and other parts of West Africa , where the oil made from it was used to for food and skin protection in the dry season.
A number of women in the 10 communities and the over 600 women in rural Ghana are making lives out of her project.
They said: “We are so grateful to Ayisha for what she has done for us(women). Now we don’t just stay at home because we also provide for our families. We used to produce half bag of shea nut even with a lot of manpower. After production, how to get it sold was also another task.
We eventually made nothing out of it. Now, we can make about five quantity bags of shea butter with an awaiting market. God bless Ayisha”.
Besides providing employment and ready-market for the women, Ms Fuseini is also transferring her knowledge and skills in shea butter processing to them.
In addition to these, she is providing financial literacy training to the young women she works with, and to her peers in her Surogu community in the Northern Region. She is well-respected in the community, the region and the country at large.
Her project’s journey
In 2012, she received funding from “Campaign For Female Education” (CAMFED) under the MasterCard Foundation’s “Enovation Bursary Project to grow the shea butter business idea.
In August 2015, Ms Fuseini was among the 16 women selected by the government of Ghana to receive Youth Enterprise Support (YES). That amount of money was used to expand her shea butter processing business.
Nominated for MTN Heroes of Change
In view of her significant contribution to the reduction of poverty among her people, Ms Fuseini was nominated to participate in this year’s MTN Heroes of Change IV.
It is currently aired on GTV every Sunday at 5:00pm; TV3 on Saturdays at 4:00pm;UTV on Sundays at 3:00pm; Adom TV on Saturdays at 7:30pm; Max TV on Fridays at 7:00pm; and Home Base TV on Saturdays at 3:30pm to highlight the humanitarian activities of Ms Fuseini and the other nine nominees.
The MTN Heroes of Change which is MTN Ghana Foundation flagship project was initiated in July 2013 to recognise and reward persons who have provided significant humanitarian services to their communities through personal sacrifices.
The MTN Ghana Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CRS) arm of MTN Ghana, the leading telecoms services provider in the country.
Ms Fuseini’s unheard project was highlighted recently the TV reality programme. She is looking at expanding the project to other parts of the country but that dream is being hampered by the lack of funds.
Ms Fuseini like the other nominees is seeking to win the GHC 100,000 ultimate prize of the MTN Heroes of Change to enable her fund expand the poverty alleviation project.
Apart from the recognition, the award which is in its fourth year will motivate her to keep transforming lives in Ghana and beyond.
Anyone who wants her to win the coveted prize should vote by texting her short code name (Ayisha) to 1406.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
