Pets Help Support African Village
Ugandan community combats poverty through harvesting pet product ingredients
by David Litwak
“It Takes a Village,” is a popular saying these days and
sometimes the adage is true. It does take a village to help produce the main ingredient in a line of popular pet coat
and skin care products. More than just producing cleaner dogs and cats in the US, the labor has resulted in a significant
improvement in the standard of living for a whole village in Uganda. So, it may take a village to make a bottle of pet
shampoo but it also takes a bottle of that shampoo to help save the village.
Shea Pet’s line of dog and cat shampoo, conditioner and moisturizers are blended with Shea Butter, which comes from the
Shea nut. Hair and skin care products for humans blended with Shea Butter have also become very popular in the beauty
care industry over the past few years.
The connection between the dog shampoo and the African village is that Shea Pet, whose products are manufactured in
the US, gets its essential Shea Butter directly from a women-owned co-op of growers in the Ugandan village. The co-op
supports about 2,000 families in and around the village. The members of the co-op harvest the raw ingredients, process
the nuts to extract the butter and ship it to Shea Pet. The co-op has other customers as well with the pet manufacturer
accounting for 5 to 10 percent of the village’s annual production. Even though the company buys the Shea Butter directly
from the harvester, the coop members are still paid the prevailing world market rate. This brings each family in the
co-op a significant income in a country whose median annual family income is only about $100.
The women’s co-op was established in 1990 under the auspices of the United Nations as a way to foster investment in
the economic advancement of families in the area and as a model of sustainable farming. The co-op was developed by
Eliot Masters and Alisa Keesey. Alisa Keesey was also the founder and former owner of Shea Pet, Inc., which was sold to
Earthwhile Endeavors, Inc. last year.
“Because of the direct link to the Ugandan women’s co-op, when you purchase Shea Pet brand products you are directly
assisting people who might otherwise be starving,” says Shea Pet’s president Paul Armstrong. “We are joined at the hip with
these people, helping to put food on the table and assisting them to climb the economic ladder.”
The sale of Shea Butter to Shea Pet and other manufacturers doesn’t only help the families that belong to the co-op.
The funds brought into the village by the co-op are spread to other area businesses as the members of the co-op have more
money to spend. There is a great deal of reinvestment into other projects in the area.
Love that coat
The Shea Butter coming from the Ugandan co-op is certified organic and is cold processed using natural water instead
of chemicals. The healing properties of Shea Butter have been well documented. Described as a “supercharged Aloe-Vera,”
Shea Butter is a powerful emollient that is used as an antibacterial, antifungal skin tonic. Shea Pet’s blends the Shea
Butter with essential oils and is highly concentrated, without any DEA or artificial colors.
According to Armstrong, pet skin products containing Shea Butter, especially the Shea Pet brand products, keep the pet’s
skin properly moisturized, help solve skin issues and prevent new ones from arising. Shea Butter skin care is a win-win for
both the pets that use them as well as for the people of one village in Uganda.
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