Gladys Wononuah lived in Kenya for over 10yrs and returned to her motherland Ghana. At the just-ended Ghana Social Enterprise Forum 2022, she shared her story of how far she had come and what her social enterprise entailed.
Madam Gladys Wononuah is the CEO of OLGA Shea Butter and Trading. Madam Wononuah began to make shea butter out of motivation by a desire to meet home demand and pass the time while she was unemployed.
She started processing and raising poultry, mainly Guinea Fowls, often known as Belgium birds which quickly expanded into commercial manufacturing.
She mentioned how she used to get shea butter for friends in Kenya whenever she visited Ghana and at some point, she realized she can make a business out of it by producing the shea butter herself and selling it within Ghana, and also exporting it to Kenya.
She also endeavoured into training women in her community and its surroundings into producing shea butter and starting their businesses. She has created an opportunity for over 125 women in the Upper West Region, Lawra Community of Ghana with her shea butter business.
She further explained her business has extended to the point where she can now prepare more than 500 bags of shea nuts in a month.
When asked about some of her challenges, she explained that Processing shea butter still has potential for improvement, and OLGA SHEA welcomes partnerships, training on capacity building, and any help one can offer. She looks forward to collaborating with others to get improved branding since it seems to be an area she is lacking.
Firewood is one of the essentials used for production, but moving forward she is looking at an eco-friendly way to produce, by getting a customized gas cooker for production which would also help make it easier for the women involved in production as the use of firewood is not only toxic to them but also tedious.
Source: enterprisebureau.org
