Shea butter

Partnership between SEKAF and Solidity Trade for

exporting the production of unrefined shea butter of
women’s cooperative from the village of Kasalgu
Summary
 Introduction
 Presentation
 Roles
 Production Process
 Quality Control Process
 Packaging
Introduction
 Solidity Trade has partnered with SEKAF to export the
production of unrefined shea butter from the Shea
Butter Village.

 Solidity Trade and SEKAF will cooperate together to

increase the sales to generate activity and job creation
for the women of Kasalgu
Presentation

 Solidity Trade has the mission to source West African Commodities and
secure the logistics to build a solid relationship with international buyers.
Its purpose is to help local producers of West Africa to market and sell the
raw materials while meeting the international requirements for quality.
Solidity Trade is willing to contribute to the alleviation of poverty in
developing regions of the world by establishing a system of trade that
allows women’s cooperatives in West African rural areas to gain access to
foreign markets.

 Sekaf Shea Butter Village has the purpose to boost the development in the
northern region of Ghana by empowering women in cooperatives. It is an
opportunity to create jobs by using their natural resources and transform
them, in this case shea nuts into unrefined organic shea butter
 Roles
 Solidity Trade will serve as
the sales platform and main
contact with clients all over
the world
 Clients will be able to send
request for quotation,
order samples, purchase
unrefined shea butter in
bulk and track their order
online
 SEKAF will be responsible
for the production and the
logistics of the unrefined
shea butter
 The client will be able to
see the whole process in
total transparency with a
third party for the quality
control
Production Process
 All the processing steps are completed within 24h. We use a
built-to-order system that allows us to deliver fresh unrefined shea
butter
 Utensils used do not rust or produce any toxic or undesirable
materials that are dangerous to human health
 The current volume of production is 500 – 750 MT annually,
SEKAF and Solidity Trade are working together to increase the
volume and the productivity of the Shea Butter Village
 Production Process
Step 1 : WASHING SHEA NUTS

Microorganism contamination is
reduced by washing the nuts,
before shelling. Washing prevents
After Laboratory test to approve the quality of the Nuts (FFA target: 2% max), all nuts are molds, yeast.
then washed and rinsed several times with clean hot water to get rid of possible surface
mold and possible oxidized oil emitted from bad nuts. (SeKaf’s own Innovation).
 Production Process
Step 2: DRYING SHEA NUTS

The washed and cleaned nuts are sun dried for two hours. This dehydrates the wet nuts
and exposes the bad ones from the lot. (SeKaf’s own Innovation)
 Production Process
Step 3: SHEA NUTS SELECTION

Nuts selection is an extremely

important quality indicator of our
shea butter
Only clean and good nuts are used for our unrefined
butter
 Production Process
Step 4: NUT CRACKING/ CRUSHING

The selected nuts are then broken into smaller portions

by the electrically powered nutcracker and making them
ideal for the roaster.
 Production Process
Step 5: ROASTING CRUSHED NUTS

The crushed nuts are sent to the roaster immediately

after crushing and roasted for 30mins.
 Production Process
Step 6: MILLING ROASTED NUTS

The roasted shea nuts are allowed to cool down between

10 and 30 minutes, before being milled in a milling machine
into a fine paste.
 Production Process
Step 7: COLD WATER MIXING

The warm paste from the mill is churned with fingers in

cold water to give smooth and uniform dough.
 Production Process
Step 7: COLD WATER MIXING

Mixing continues and small amount of cold water added

from time to time to Get a smoother texture.
 Production Process
Step 7: COLD WATER MIXING

This vigorous mixing breaks the emulsion, causing the fat

to beak away from the cake
 Production Process Step
8: HOT WATER MIXING / KNEADING

The amount of time between

crushing and heating is critical to
When the fat begins to break away from the cake (this is indicated by the color of the product quality. We follow the
mixture- from chocolate to milk chocolate), hot water is added to the paste to melt the crushing/grinding immediately with
fat and set it free from the cake. This important step facilitates the separation. the hot water extraction using a
standard protocol
 Production Process Step
8: HOT WATER MIXING / KNEADING

The final kneading or mixing is more vigorous and breaks the emulsion
completely. The warm temperature is necessary to keep the fat half
melted in the mixture and prepare it for the cold-water separation stage.
 Production Process Step
8: HOT WATER MIXING / KNEADING

The kneading is slowed down completely, as the mixture

becomes soft and light.
 Production Process
Step 9: COLD WATER SEPARATION

Large amount of cold water is then poured on the

mixture and stirred continuously causing a grey, oily scum
to rise.
 Production Process
Step 9: COLD WATER SEPARATION

As she continues to stir, more fat is washed and forced to float

on the cold water that separates it from the cake, which now
begins to settle at the bottom of the rubber bowl.
 Production Process
Step 9: COLD WATER SEPARATION

Woman gathers fat from the surface of water.

 Production Process
Step 9: COLD WATER SEPARATION

The solid fat is scooped and sent for melting and boiling
 Production Process Step
10: BOILING/ DEHYDRATION/ PURIFICATION

Solid fat being scooped into a giant pot on fire

 Production Process Step
10: BOILING/ DEHYDRATION/ PURIFICATION

Boiling dehydrates the fat completely. It also clarifies the

oil/butter as last cake residues are fried and settle under
the pot.
 Production Process Step
11: FILTRATION & SOLIDIFICATION

At SEKAF, we filter the warm liquid fat through a

microfilm into a plastic bowl. (SeKaf’s own Innovation)
 Production Process Step
11: FILTRATION & SOLIDIFICATION

The filtered liquid fat is allowed to cool down and solidify.

 Production Process Step
11: FILTRATION & SOLIDIFICATION

As the butter begins to show signs of solidification, a

wooden ladle is used to stir it into a smooth and uniform
texture.
 Production Process Step
12: PACKAGING & STANDARDIZATION

The butter is then inspected, weighed and sealed with an industrial

vacuum sealer (One of SeKaf’s own Innovations). Shea butter that
does not meet Sekaf’s Quality control is sold in the local market.
 Production Process Step
12: PACKAGING & STANDARDIZATION

The premium quality shea butter is packed for export

 Production Process Step
12: PACKAGING & STANDARDIZATION

Shea butter put into airtight rubber bags. (SeKaf’s own

Innovation)
 Production Process Step
12: PACKAGING & STANDARDIZATION

A standard 25kg Net weight Packaging.

 Production Process
Step 12: SHIPPING

Our Butter is a hot cake. We produce all your orders from

the day of your confirmation and it delivered by truck
from Tamale to Tema.
Quality Control Process
 We use three level of quality control for our unrefined shea
butter to meet the requirements of the clients

 The first level of control quality is done within the company by

an internal control quality staff during the production process in
Tamale

 The second level of control quality is done by the Ghana

Standard Board and University of Development Studies Lab

 The third level of control quality can be done by an international

control quality company such as SGS at the port of Tema
Quality Control Process
 The Ghana Standard Board is making an analysis of our unrefined
shea butter and checks the 5 following properties :

1. Moisture Content
2. FFA
3. Insoluble Impurities
4. Iodine Value
5. Relative Density

The analysis is sent directly on the Solidity Trade interface so the

clients can download it as a pdf file and can check instantly the
results of the shea butter they order.
Packaging
 We use 4 different types of packaging to send our unrefined
shea butter. We can pack according to your specifications. Here are
two different charts where you can see how we can process your
order.
FOR INQUIRIES ABOUT OUR UNREFINED SHEA

BUTTER, PLEASE GO ON WWW.SOLIDITYTRADE.COM

OR EMAIL : CONTACT@SOLIDITYTRADE.COM