One Village, Since 2003: The Supply Chain Behind Shea Butter Market

Every Shea Butter Market product starts in one place: Kperisi village, near Wa, in the Upper West Region of Ghana, where the women of the Tapko Widow's Group have made our shea butter by hand since 2003. This is the supply chain behind the brand, told with dates, because a supply chain you can check is worth more than one you have to take on faith.

1999: a kitchen in Mill Bay

Gifty Serbeh-Dunn grew up in Northern Ghana, where shea is what you put on a baby, a burn, a cracked heel and a newborn's scalp. She moved to Canada in 1981 and found that almost nobody here knew what it was. In 1999 she began making shea skincare at her kitchen table in Mill Bay, on Vancouver Island, blending unrefined shea with essential oils and selling it in small brown jars. That kitchen is where Shea Butter Market began.

2003: 1,000 pounds, bought on the spot

In 2003 she travelled to Ghana's Upper West Region looking for shea she could stand behind. Near Wa she met the Tapko Widow's Group, women who had lost their husbands and were supporting their children by making shea butter the traditional way. She bought their first 1,000 pounds on the spot. That purchase became the relationship, and the relationship became the company.

The terms, since then

• Direct. We buy from the group, not from a trader or an aggregator. There is no one between the women who make the butter and the studio that turns it into product.
• A premium. We pay above the market price for shea, because the market price does not pay for the labour described in how shea butter is made.
• Two percent for school. Two percent of our net profit funds education for the widows' children in the community.
• Unrefined, always. The butter ships as the women make it. It is never bleached, deodorized or solvent-refined between Kperisi and Shawnigan Lake.

Why direct matters more in 2026

Shea supply tightened after Nigeria, one of the largest producers, restricted raw shea nut exports in 2025, and demand for unrefined shea is growing faster than for any other grade. In that market, a two-decade relationship with the group that makes the butter is not a heritage story; it is procurement. Brands that manufacture with us inherit that supply line, and makers who buy bulk shea from us get the same butter from the same women. The market numbers are in The Shea Butter Market Report, Canada Edition.

Where it goes from here

The butter arrives at our studio in Shawnigan Lake, on Vancouver Island, where Gifty formulates and our team handcrafts more than sixty Health Canada-compliant products under the Shea Butter Market name, and private label products for other brands. One village, one studio, and a chain short enough to describe in a paragraph. Whatever you buy from us, that paragraph is what you are buying.

Frequently asked

Where does Shea Butter Market's shea come from?

From the Tapko Widow's Group in Kperisi village near Wa, in Ghana's Upper West Region, bought directly since 2003.

Is Shea Butter Market fair trade certified?

We buy direct at a premium and fund education with two percent of net profit, and we describe those terms rather than rely on a label. Ask us for the current season's figures.

Is Shea Butter Market's shea butter organic?

It is wild-harvested from uncultivated trees and hand-processed without solvents. Ask us about certification status for the current season.