business backgrounder | industry
— studied English and earned a degree in organizational theory .
Then they borrowed $ 50,000 and went back to Togo where they started the company that has become Alaffia .
The business model is unique . Alaffia takes raw ingredients from Togo , including coconut oil and shea butter from shea nuts , ships them to the U . S . and uses them to make soaps , oils , lotions and shampoos .
Doing this allows them to employ about 750 people in Africa and another 11,000 contractors who supply shea nuts , grass and baskets . The U . S . operation employs another 120 people .
As a sign of its commitment to fair trade , Alaffia pays 15-25 percent above market prices for shea nuts and it pays members of its cooperative four times the average family income in Togo .
In addition to providing jobs , the company has numerous humanitarian and environmental projects , including :
• A maternal health project , which pays for full pre- and post-delivery care for women in rural Togo . Since it started in 2007 , Alaffia product sales have paid for the birth of more than 4,000 babies . A second element of the maternal health project is aimed at eradicating female genital mutilation .
• Education projects , which provide bicycles from the U . S . to school children in Togo , primarily girls , who use them to get to school and back . The program has sent more than 7,100 bikes to Togo , where more than 90 percent of the students who received a bike stayed in school and graduated .
• A reforestation project , which funds the planting of trees by Togolese farmers to help mitigate soil erosion and improve food security .
• An eyeglass project , which takes donated glasses from the U . S . and gives them to people in Togo where they can cost as much as one month ’ s wage .
grow here
For Alaffia , the whirlwind year started with filming commercial spots for AWB ’ s Grow Here campaign . The company was one of three featured in the 2017 version of AWB ’ s multi-year advertising campaign aimed at improving the image of employers by highlighting the positive ways employers are improving communities and building lives .
“ Private enterprise alleviates poverty ,” Tchala said in the 30-second spot that aired in heavy rotation this spring on broadcast and cable television statewide .
A few months later , after the ambassador visit to Olympia and after the AGOA summit in August , Tchala and Hyde joined AWB members at the annual Policy Summit in September , bookending the year . Tchala was part of a panel that recounted the Grow Here effort , and both Tchala and Hyde gave a presentation about how and why businesses can invest in social responsibility .
Market research shows that 64 percent of American consumers made socially responsible purchase decisions in the last year and 26 percent chose not to purchase a product or service because a business was not socially responsible , said moderator Stephen Daniels-Brown .
“ It ’ s not about taking your profit and giving it away ,” Tchala said . “ It ’ s not about that . It ’ s about simply looking to your community and seeing what support you can provide .”
Tchala and Hyde have done that from the very beginning , when their “ community ” was the village of Kaboli in Togo and the state of Washington .
Just like their business , their community has grown over the years to include the nation of Togo , the United States — and 25 women leaders from Washington employers .
44 association of washington business