An East Village entrepreneur's campaign to help support the shea women of West Africa

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Local resident-entrepreneur Kadidja Kabore-Lamport, who founded a business selling natural skincare products in 2015, has launched a "Supporting Shea Women" campaign to help women in her native West African community. 

"For a long time, I've used my shea products to help women in West Africa by buying shea directly from women's groups there at premium prices," she said in a release announcing the initiative. "Now, I want to work directly with women in my village to expand the small success of my business." 

With her new campaign, Kabore-Lamport, who sells her products at various pop-up events, including 3rd & B'zaar, hopes to raise $25,000 on Indiegogo. She said that she will use the money to work directly with women in her village over the next two years, helping them improve the quality of their shea butter and finding additional buyers for the shea in the United States.

"Women in my village sell shea in the market to help support their families," she said. "They can earn more money if they can reach markets in the U.S. I will introduce new products made with shea from my village, and buyers of these products will know that their purchase is directly benefiting these women and their families."

In January, Kadidja visited her family in Gando Namoni, located in the north of Togo. After meeting the women making shea, they discussed the idea and realized there was an opportunity if they could get organized and improve the quality of their shea butter. 

To learn more about the campaign, you can visit this link.