 | Impact, special achievements & commitments |  |  | En/Fr Real Raw Shea (RRS) was founded by two Ghanaian-Americans in 2017 who were interested in shea butter and the desire to promote sustainability among marginalized women who produce shea butter. Further, RRS's co-founder Aisha's family hails from the Savannah Region where the Karite Tree is plentiful, and the cooperatives RRS works with are from there. Real Raw Shea is completely committed to supporting underserved women, which is echoed in both our mission and vision statement. RRS has founded and supported Bewulonso Women Shea Processing Cooperative. Additionally, while the Bewulonso Cooperative serves as contractors to RRS, they are completely free to work with other buyers as well. Annually, we also donate a portion of our profits to the communities we parter with. Funds can be used for grants, education, special projects, etc. To further enforce our commitment to the women RRS works with, we are applying for our FFL and FL Certification. Currently, the women we work with are paid rates oftentimes above the Fair Trade Rate. Obtaining our FFL and FL Certification will help RRS and their contractors all around. Buyers are willing to pay a premium for FFL and FL certificatied suppliers. In turn, we can command higher revenues which will also positively affect the women we source our nuts from and produce our shea butter. While we are in year 2 of our certification application, we are committed to obtaining certifications for Y3, and Y4. |