26/05/2023
Serious Shea urges European Leaders to enable deforestation-free, zero-carbon, beyond-fair trade value chains as the only sustainable solution for The Sahel and the Great Green Wall communities
Speaking at the European Parliament today, Mr William Kwende, the voice of the African private sector, highlighted that Serious Shea is planting trees along the Great Green Wall Africa, but the only solution to stop the population cutting these trees 'tomorrow' is the implementation of sustainable value chains. It is the deforestation-free, zero-carbon, beyond fair trade value chain which will achieve The Sahel and the Great Green Wall regeneration for communities and for our next generations. The alternative is continued use of wood fuel in kitchens and for processing and a continued rise in mass migration. mostly for those people who can afford to migrate!
Mr Kwende asked European Leaders 'Where is the economic opportunity for communities, investors, other stakeholders such as the European Union, African Union, African Development Bank and others. Who is going to export millions of tonnes of products from the Great Green Wall, for example for the European economy."
Mr Kwende continued to give the example of the multi-billion dollar shea butter industry, stating that 90% of exported shea butter is used in chocolate. Without shea butter, he continued, there is no chocolate. Yet without the local clean energy processing infrastructure in Africa the shea butter exported, for example, to the EU, does not meet import standards.
Mr Kwende explained that the potential ingredients from the Sahel by 2030, shea butter, superfoods such as moringa and baobab, gums, edible oils, dried mangoes and liquid fertilizers and biochars will be worth in the region of € 50 Billion.
Serious Shea has been working on a solution with the support of the African Development Bank and the World Bank and has developed the technologies to process all products from the Sahel and the Great Green Wall without the need for fossil fuel. Serious Shea is connecting the communities who will process their goods with the international markets with a governance structure that is first of its kind. The infrastructure is created for training and for women's groups and communities to process their goods to international standards. Serious Shea as the company takes responsibility for the sustainable outcomes which are delivered to communities through cooperative instruments.
Mr Kwende further commented 'This makes every investment sustainable, this is the only way'
