‘This is ours’: Somaliland women smell success as frankincense business takes off

Every morning, Luul Siciid Jaamac starts her day with a cup of tea and the burning of frankincense. She says she breathes in the incense to relieve her back and joint aches, hard-earned from a lifetime of sorting frankincense resin in Somaliland.

The woodsy, piney scent is sweet – and lately, so is victory.

Jaamac used to sort frankincense resin for an allegedly exploitative company named Asli Maydi, which supplied frankincense to doTERRA, a major US essential oils company that generates more than $2bn in annual sales.

Today, Jaamac is the chairperson of a new frankincense sorting collective called Beeyo Maal, which empowers about 280 women to run their own business in the male-dominated frankincense industry. “Now, we are in charge and we have got the freedom to run our business,” said Jaamac, who is also one of the founding members.

Before, Jaamac and several other female sorters – workers who divide frankincense resin by color, grade and quality – were subject to the whims of leaders like the owner of Asli Maydi, Barkhad Hassan and they were excluded from decision-making, many of the women say.

Since its founding in 2008, doTERRA has built its brand on a promise of ethical sourcing. But a twoyear investigation by the Fuller Projectfound women working for the company’s frankincense supplier Asli Maydi were underpaid and required to work in harsh conditions. Multiple women accused Asli Maydi’s politically powerful owner Hassan of sexual harassment and assault. The Fuller Project article led doTERRA to suspend operations with Asli Maydi; several weeks later the women registered their collective.

Fatima and Nimco in the sorting house of Beeyo Maal, which means ‘milkers of frankincense’. Photograph: Courtesy Beeyo Maal Cooperative

Courtesy Beeyo Maal Cooperative Luul Siciid Jaamac, the chair of Beeyo Maal cooperative. Photograph: Elsar Media/