In Ghana and Burkina Faso, regenerative shea farming is reshaping luxury beauty through women-led cooperatives.
Rooted in the red earth of West Africa, the shea tree has become an unlikely cornerstone of modern luxury beauty. As demand for clean, ethically sourced ingredients expands, the shea supply chain is being recalibrated. Women-led cooperatives across Ghana and Burkina Faso are now architects of a regenerative sourcing model that luxury brands are increasingly adopting.
And it’s big business. The global shea butter market was valued at roughly $2.7 billion in 2023 and is expected to exceed $3.5 billion by 2028. In Ghana alone, there are an estimated 94 million shea trees, producing about 60,000 tons of shea nuts each year.
The significance for luxury beauty brands is clear: what was once a commodity ingredient has become a high-value, regenerative raw material that delivers more than just smooth skin. For companies like the French-based L’Occitane en Provence and the U.S. SheaMoisture, shea is restructuring an entire value chain built on regeneration, empowerment, and traceability.
The women behind shea
In the field, women’s cooperatives aren’t just collectors of nuts. They oversee drying, processing, quality-grading, and even co-invest in infrastructure. For example, L’Occitane’s “RESIST” programme (Resilience, Ecology, Strengthening, Independence, Structure, Training) was launched in 2018 as a €2 million, three-year initiative to support women’s autonomy, train in organic methods, and protect shea parklands.
L’Occitane’s longstanding partnership in Burkina Faso illustrates the depth of engagement. Since the 1980s, it has sourced shea butter directly from women’s cooperatives in West Africa. By purchasing shea butter directly from these women, Group L’Occitane says it helps them to build sustainable livelihoods and to pass on their skills from generation to generation.
“Autonomy for women is key,” it says. “Our initiatives have been built with them, and we listen to feedback from the field in order to readapt the projects according to specific needs. In addition, we are vigilant to the appropriation of activities by the women to ensure a real sustainability beyond the project.”
In 2016, it became the biggest purchaser of traditional shea butter processed in Burkina Faso, executing multi-year contracts with women’s cooperatives and embedding traceability into its supply chain. By 2023, the company was sourcing fair-trade and organic shea butter from more than 6,000 female collectors across Burkina Faso and Ghana, with its sustainability roadmap now linking shea procurement to the protection of 1,000 hectares of parkland.
“We need more fair representation in the global retail spaces and a stronger supply chain that allows our ingredients to travel globally without losing their essence,” Hadrat Abolade, founder of Amila Naturals, told Vogue.
The Target-darling hair and body care brand SheaMoisture sources from women’s cooperatives in Ghana and Burkina Faso. By applying organic and fair-trade premiums, it has achieved “an 89 percent increase in revenue for the women in the cooperatives.”
Founded by Liberian-Sierra Leonean entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis, SheaMoisture’s story began in his grandmother Sofi Tucker’s small shea-selling stall in Sierra Leone. Today, its sourcing arm works with more than 15,000 women in Ghana through The Savannah Fruits Company, which processes unrefined shea using low-energy methods. Dennis says he was motivated to formalize African women’s labor in the global economy and to make them “shareholders in beauty.”
Liha Beauty, which sources ivory and gold shea butters from cooperatives in Nigeria and Ghana, says these partnerships ensure fair trade and maintain the traditional handcrafting methods that preserve the purity of the shea, co-founder Janita Brock told Vogue. “We’ve been fortunate to work with partners who understand the importance of storytelling,” says Brock, “who are able to translate the product without diluting our heritage.”
These sourcing models hold three interconnected priorities: ecological regeneration, economic uplift for women, and supply-chain transparency.
The allure of shea
The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) grows wild across the so-called “shea belt” — an arc from Senegal through to Sudan — and can take more than a decade to bear fruit. This slow growth means sourcing strategies must account for ecosystem stewardship and long-term livelihoods.
Shea has long been valued by communities for its moisturizing, healing, and protective properties. Shea butter was traded along trans-Saharan routes as early as the 14th century, prized by Egyptian and West African civilizations for skincare, cooking, and medicine. Women in Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria have traditionally used it to protect skin from harsh sun and wind, to soften hair, and as an ointment for newborns.
Modern studies confirm what generations already knew: shea butter is a deeply effective emollient, rich in fatty acids like oleic, stearic, linoleic, and palmitic acids that replenish and protect the skin barrier. It helps prevent transepidermal water loss, leaving skin soft and hydrated without clogging pores. Researchers describe it as a “refattening” agent that’s rapidly absorbed, making it ideal for dry or damaged skin.
Beyond moisture, shea butter carries measurable anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. Laboratory studies have shown it can inhibit inflammatory pathways such as iNOS, COX-2, and NF-κB, reducing cytokine production and calming irritation. In clinical trials, moisturizers containing shea butter improved symptoms of mild to moderate eczema and helped repair barrier function as effectively as ceramide-based products.
Why luxury brands are investing in shea up-front
Data from the Global Shea Alliance shows that more than 16 million women across sub-Saharan Africa depend on shea for income, most of them working in small, community-based cooperatives. Many of these groups are now reimagining their work through regenerative practices: protecting shea parklands from deforestation, intercropping with food crops to enrich soil, and investing in climate resilience. According to the alliance, the shea sector contributes nearly $200 million annually to rural economies across Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Benin — numbers that are steadily rising as global demand for ethical ingredients accelerates.
Economic data underscores the impact on local communities. In one case study in Ghana, for every US $1,000 of shea-nut sales, an additional US $1,580 in economic activity was generated locally through reinvestment and trade spin-offs. Meanwhile, in SheaMoisture’s chain, the company reports having purchased more than $12 million in shea butter over a decade, and has impacted more than 53,000 West African women with fair wages and robust sourcing.
These are not isolated anecdotes. According to trade data compiled by the European Union’s CBI, the European market potential for shea butter credits L’Occitane as “one of the leading French manufacturers” sourcing from Burkina Faso, where more than 10,000 women are now partners. The entire supply chain is being recalibrated: procurement is an investment; agricultural heritage has become a premium raw material; and women’s livelihoods are critical brand-story assets.
But scaling it presents real-world obstacles. Infrastructure in remote rural areas remains poor, certification frameworks vary in consistency, and climate risk looms large for wild-grown trees. In Ghana, a recent report observes that while demand for shea butter is set to double by 2050, much of that growth is still being captured as nuts rather than processed butter — and rural women risk being reduced to low-value collectors.
For luxury brands, the challenge is balancing higher sourcing costs with supply stability. The slow growth of the tree (often taking ten to 15 years before nut-bearing) means long lead-times. The ecosystem functions as both an asset and a vulnerability.
Yet momentum is clear. When you apply a shea-rich cream or body balm today, you may be part of a chain that links women collectors in West Africa with luxury skincare routines in New York, Paris, and Tokyo.
Products to know.
HANAHANA BEAUTY
Shea Body Butter
L’OCCITANE
Pure Shea Butter Balm
SHEAMOISTURE
100 Percent Virgin Shea Butter
SHEA TERRA ORGANICS
Cold-Pressed Virgin Shea Butter
54 THRONES
African Beauty Butter – Intensive Dry Skin Treatment
TRUE MORINGA
Shea & Moringa Balm
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