What does it mean when the ingredients in your skin care products include shea butter that is sourced from women’s co-ops in Africa? For me the words that come to mind are natural and healing, and I think I'm supporting African women. But when I talked to Magatte Wade, the founder & CEO of Tiossan, a high-end skin care company based on indigenous Senegalese recipes and ingredients (including shea butter), I learned that although my thoughts are correct, companies including Tiossan can do even more to empower women in Africa and the developing world. Magatte has a plan to fix this and she's taking action.
Magatte Wade, Founder & CEO Tiossan. Photo Courtesy of Tiossan
Denise Restauri: What needs to be fixed in the world?
Magatte Wade: Throughout my entire life, Senegalese people have been taking small fishing boats across the Atlantic in an attempt to get to Spain and have a better life. There are dramas on Senegalese television in which part of the plot line is that some of the young people are planning such a voyage, and often they die, just as they do in real life.
At the same time, Senegalese culture is very slowly dying. Senegalese elites who have "made it" are eager to show their status by means of purchasing foreign brands and products. Thus it becomes low status to maintain a connection with traditional culture. Meanwhile most young people are eager to consume Western culture which they see constantly on TV and social media.
This phenomenon of economic migrants and traditional cultures disappearing is not specific to Senegal, unfortunately, but is a common problem in most of Africa and the rest of the developing world.
Restauri: What are you doing to fix it?
Wade: I create and promote high-quality consumer brands based on indigenous Senegalese culture. They have a two-fold impact: They create jobs in Senegal and they create respect for Senegalese culture both in the Western world and, more importantly, back in Senegal.
Tiossan, my current company, is a high-end skin care company based on indigenous Senegalese recipes and ingredients. We are currently sold through Nordstrom, Ahalife and other select retailers. While we have been supporting jobs in Africa through sourcing ingredients there, we are now adding the second very important ingredient – we are moving some of our operations to Senegal to create our first production facility and an entrepreneurial school in Senegal, to foster the next generation of conscious entrepreneurs, tomorrow’s job creators.
While it is certainly beneficial to support jobs in developing nations through purchasing handcrafts and artisanal products, ultimately economic development always comes through scalable manufacturing and services.
In recent years, most of Africa’s growth has come through resource extraction and agricultural commodities. But no nation has created a middle class by means of jobs in mining and farming alone. While impact sourcing (i.e. sourcing raw materials such as shea butter from women's co-ops, such as Tiossan is doing now) has been a good start, it will not get us to the finish line.
To get to the finish line, we need to help women (and men) in the developing world move up the value chain of production. We need to train people to create high quality products so they can earn higher wages. We are working to develop skills not only in production and quality control, but also in branding, packaging, and graphic design.
Our goal is not simply to alleviate poverty, but also foster prosperity for all. We don't want to be regarded as people whose highest capability is collecting shea nuts or cocoa beans. We know more than that and can do more than that.
Additionally, the best way that our people will respect our culture is when they see it respected in the West. They will realize that we are part of the global conversation in any interesting, relevant manner.
To get to the finish line, Africans must create scalable businesses based on African culture, businesses that produce high quality products that enlightened American consumers want and need. And that’s what I’m doing.
