Baraka Coconut Oil: The Origin Story!

Community sourced, fair trade, organic, raw, virgin coconut oil. Direct from Ghana to you.

IT’S THE RELATIONSHIP, NOT THE TRANSACTION

For years I have been asked why we don’t carry other products. I didn’t really think about it before, but now that we are carrying coconut oil I realize what was holding me back.

I didn’t know how to organize production of any other products and I wasn’t interested in carrying more products just to do transactions. I wanted products where the transaction was part of a continuum of relationships, that connected the origin of the product to the making of the soap or cosmetic and on to the end user.

I wasn’t interested in simply buying a product at a price that would let me sell it at a profit. That just seemed boring. For Baraka to take on another product it had to bring a compelling story along with a high-quality product and great people to work with. There is enough bland products and transactions in the world – I had no desire to bring along another one. It would be boring and I would lose interest fast.

Then, I met Kojo Nunoo, the founder of Ava Virgin Coconut Oil and, after vising his processing centre and spending time with him, I realized Baraka Coconut Oil was born! What is especially interesting is that I met him when he attended an Executive Program on Sustainability Partnerships that I developed and ran last year through the CSR Training Institute. Watch this video as Kojo discusses some of the sustainability strategy he has woven into Ava. (the video is a Facebook Livestream and you will have to turn your head to watch it! I didn’t realize you weren’t supposed to do Facebook live with the phone turned horizontal 😊).

You can see more livestream video from my time with Ava this week (shot with the camera oriented properly!). They are on our Facebook page here. There are more videos and posts coming and we will be weaving Baraka Coconut Oil into the Baraka website and sharing more of the story.

For now, here are some of the highlights. The coconuts are grown by smallhold family farms. I have visited them and they are very happy with how they are working with Ava. Ava is working to avoid waste, using the husks and all other parts of the coconut. Ava’s production facility is very well run with high quality standards. There are videos on these and other topics posted to our Facebook Page – and more to come.

You can order direct from https://barakasheabutter.com/

And, we are working on relationships that will let us carry community sourced Palm Oil and Cocoa Butter – stay tuned!