Shea: Nigeria owns 57% global shares as women dominate market
Mairo said, emphasising on the importance of Shea.
Mrs Rose Akin sells the Shea cream in Nyanya, Abuja. Describing the essence of the cream which she called ‘Ori’, Mrs Akin said many of her customers simply buy the cream and mix it with their hair cream to treat loss of hair.
She also confirmed the efficacy of the cream in soothing and relieving pains. “Ori is very good for massaging and I advise you to get a little and apply it. It is affordable and has no side effect of those who have used it unlike some orthodox drugs,” she said in an attempt to woo our reporter to patronise her.
Faith Ojo, a hairdresser in Kaduna metropolis said she uses the product for treatment of scalp and other hair issues for her customers.
In spite of the popularity of the uses of Shea products, Faith said one cannot quickly pick it overthe-counter in many places.
“You have to either contact the household women who trade in them to supply you. It will be good business if they are well packaged and sold at pharmacies and stores so they can be much more available,” she noted.
For Mrs Akin, she called on the government to make deliberate policies to would help women that are into the production to expand to a large scale form that could supply the export market.
“Most of us now do it just to earn a living; many of the rural women don’t have the capacity yet for exporting the product or producing soaps from it because it is capital intensive. However, I know some few businesses that combine the sales of Shea with other nuts and kernels,” she noted.