With the humongous wealth potentials hidden in the shea industry, more Nigerian women are beginning to buy into the shea tree farming, as a means of escape from poverty. However, there are challenges to be surmounted. Yetunde Oladeinde of The Nation, who interacted with stakeholders, explores.
Shea butter is a popular moisturiser among women. A source of beauty for cosmetics as well as a huge income earner for rural women.
According to experts, over 16 million women are involved in the processing of shea butter across the sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 1.84 billion shea trees.
Despite the health hazards and cumbersome conditions under which the women work to export over 500,000 tonnes per year, revenue and export in the past 13 years has tripled.
Experts have however, also noted that there is a lot more to be explored. The big question is: could this be because it is mostly driven by women.
Mobola Sagoe, CEO, Shea Origins goes down memory lane to talk about the challenges, opportunities and some of the interventions carried out.
“The focus should be, how we can move forward in the Shea sector using technology to achieve success, especially in the export market. As a manufacturer of Shea butter, we have a group of women who are moving in the same direction when it comes to export. Over the years, we have seen the different challenges and till date there are still quite a few challenges, knowing very well that we have so many products in Nigeria”.
A woman displaying Shea Butter
Sagoe goes on to talk about branding and packaging for the products. “Most of the brands are as good as global brands but the problems is packaging. We need to move to the next level using technology. Not just the machines but the different apps that you can also use to generate income.”
Technology, she opines, is the way to go. “If you don’t get into it, then you can’t take your products far. Tech is to educate you about the opportunities, it is the tool needed to move forward. The project that we have done in the past few months have helped to transform lives, especially in the rural areas. The rural women can be your only source of supply and if they are not trained, nothing is going to happen. We have gotten to the level now where we can work with what we have and sell on the platforms.”
Their capacity, Sagoe added, has also witnessed tremendous improvement and growth. “We have moved those women used to producing say 10 tonnes to producing up to 200 tonnes as a cluster.”
In addition, Sagoe and her team have been able to get them to team up as organisations, and give them proper training on the job.
Women processing Shea Butter
“This project has really taken a lot of rural women to the next level and we the manufacturers of the finished products now have access to quality butters. Technology is important to enhance the work of the rural women. We don’t see their challenges. You don’t know the different things that they go through on a daily basis”.
Sagoe added: “When we started, very few people knew about Shea but the quality of the butter was not good enough. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) partnered with us and set up centres in Taraba, Kebbi, Niger, Oyo and Kwara state. This processing centres have transformed shea butter production. But we still have a long way to go. As long as we keep moving, technology would take us to the next level where we can compete favourably with international brands”.
Sagoe continued: “They do not have knowledge at all. If they know what has been done, they would have taken it to another level a long time ago. Today, there is so much going on in Nigeria and people don’t know which one to hold onto. So for that reason, I cannot blame the government. What I can blame them for is that they need to seek knowledge about the quality of what we have in Nigeria”.
This, she stressed, is important not only in shea but every single commodity because of export.
“How can you talk about export, when you have so many things that you can import here in Africa. Then you don’t know the volume, you don’t even know the capacity”.
The employment opportunities in the sector have not been explored. “To be honest with you, I cannot give you a specific figure. What I know for sure is that if we have 21 states producing shea butter and we have trees in these states, then you can begin to imagine the multiplier effects. You can imagine if all those states are empowered by mini factories, production centers in the different villages or different local government. That alone can generate a lot of income and remove poverty from that environment”.
She added that making use of solar energy and other tools had helped to improve the capacity of the women in different ways. “Recently, we started talking about putting solar system for electricity in Shaki, Oyo State, because we have major issues when it comes to electricity. We were not able to access the generator, and while it continues to pollute the environment, we started looking for solutions via solar”.
In 2016, Sagoe and her team introduced a cook stove to the women. “This cook stove is regenerating technique, where you are able to reduce emission of free radicals. We are able to reduce the firewood that they use for cooking. You are able to reduce that smoke that causes cancer. So, you eliminate that with the cook stove. We were able to give out these cook stoves to a thousand women at the time and we still do it once in a while”.
To buttress her point, Sagoe explained that they usually want the women that they have worked with to understand that it is not just about you giving back to the society, they must also contribute their quota.
“We also want these women to understand that it is not about having free gifts. Now, it is no more free but we are still not charging. What we do is that when you have done something that we are able to say thank you, we use that as an opportunity to give it as a gift”.
Next, she talked about financial support using the cooperative society. “We have the cooperative that has moved from where they used to be to a better level by pushing and also taking the training to another level”.
Shea as substitute for chemical products
One thing that Sagoe is also passionate about is the need to use natural products like shea for beauty instead of chemicals which comes with a number of side effects. “For someone who has also been in the beauty sector for 38 years, I don’t believe in those things. I believe in all natural and at the same time why they do those things is that everybody wants to look good. But nobody wants to walk the walk. So, fast track is what they like. But at the end of the day, you crash land. When something is supposed to live a lifespan of 10 decades and then you want it to do 20 immediately.
“Definitely, there is going to be some damage somewhere. This is where cancer comes in for some people. You g for things like regenerating your skin. Or you can decide to cut part of your skin to do this and that. It has to come out somewhere else. God created you to be in a particular way, He has also made all things available. We heard that Cleopatra, one of the most beautiful women used shea butter. She didn’t go out looking for hydroquinone or whatever. They have been using all these natural products since the olden days. So, why are we not following that?”.
For Patrick Gouka, an expert from the Netherlands, who has been with CBI since 2006, it is important to encourage the stakeholders to maximise the opportunities in the sector.
“What we do is to support local SME supporters to get credit to do business in European markets. We do that in potential export sectors and one of this sectors is the shea sector. We noticed that there is an increase in demand for this ingredient used for cosmetics in the European market”.
Gouka goes on to talk about the opportunities in the cosmetics industry. “We are already working with 12 selected exporting companies and we have helped majority of them to European markets”.
Now you want to know how much Nigeria can get yearly in terms of foreign investment and how it can be properly harnessed.
“I don’t know that by heart but we think it is quite considerable. Up till now, Nigeria cannot supply the quantity that is demanded in the European market.”.
Next Gouka talked about some of the challenges encountered. “These include quality and what is required for European markets. It is not just about delivery of the products but doing it in a sustainable way. Sustainable issues are high on the agenda of European clients, gender, employment and drawing attention to climate issues. We try to focus on youths as a target group so that they can find employment in the sector.
Gouka believes that things would get better when all hands are on deck in the sector. “I think one of the main points in the shea sector is getting the public and private sectors working together; create opportunities and trust each other. We have been working on branding as well. It is also important to link up with the buyers, understand the local, financial and legal requirements for the European markets “.
And now Peter Hurst who has worked on different projects for Africa takes you into the focus and the supporting agencies. “What spurred me is the potential. It is a product which is wanted everywhere. Sadly, Nigeria is not performing. Nigeria has the largest crops of sheanuts in the 21 countries. We are focused on export development “.
What exactly is the problem you ask?
“There hasn’t been enough investment in processing. That is why we are going to Ghana. In so many ways, Ghana has taken the lead justifiably in foreign investments. We need to take our place and maximise the potentials available “.
Who should invest and how?
Hurst responds this way: “It should be both the public and private sector; particularly some of the large buyers. They have been a bit reluctant to invest in Nigeria and they have got investment in Ghana. We are in a process of transformation and over the next years, we will be measuring the impact of what we are doing “.
Hurst continued: “There are 21 countries below the Sahara where shea is grown and 16 million women are involved in that process. The women are dominant. But they get the worst benefits because they are not rewarded for their efforts”.
Managing Director of SecureID, Kofo Akingkugbe, believes that a collaborative approach will help to strengthen the projects and bring about the required changes. “Every entrepreneur’s journey starts with a dream. There are four pillars that have defined my entrepreneurship journey. Entrepreneurship, the spirit of enterprise, is required to ensure that the industry becomes the desired industry. I have a dream and that dream has taken roots today. The dream was to substitute import and to actually produce this smart cards locally. That dream is now a huge factory in Isolo with staff strength of over 500 people and exported to 21 countries across Africa”.
Cornelius Karkraba of the Global Shea Alliance, which was established in 2011 also gave an overview of the shea sector.
“Our focus includes industry promotion, sustainability and maintaining standards. We have 1.84 billion she trees existing currently. Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso are the largest producers and it boast of 85 per cent cocoa butter equivalent. There has been $125 million sustainability investment pumped in from 2018 till date”.
He added: “The alliance and USAID works with 12 partners in Nigeria. There are 43 warehouses and 34,541 women reached distributing about 17,500 shea seedlings in the past two years. There is a resilient agro forestry shea farm model and three francophone countries have adopted the model based on the success stories”.
Transporting the product is also a big challenge with bad roads and poor infrastructure. Mrs. Elizabeth Olowofila, Managing Director of Think Bikes takes you through the options available on how to improve mobility in the sector.
“The opportunities are many but we need to network, improve quality control as well as data decision via analysis. The present limitations are linked to infrastructure and it is important to give this the attention required”.
She stressed that Think Bikes has helped to reduce the challenges for the women. “We are exploring innovative solutions that are affordable. The bikes enhance mobility and logistics in shea processing. It is electric, eco-friendly, efficient and enhance profitability. It is faster for delivery and there is a 95 per cent reduction on maintenance. We target waste recyclers and small farm holders.” (NATION)
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals following a major security breach reportedly involving about $6.3 billion in digital assets.
The exchange said its preliminary investigation indicated that an attacker may have gained unauthorised access to its systems through a compromised laptop belonging to an engineer.
In a statement released on Thursday, Binance disclosed that it was working with blockchain intelligence firms, cryptocurrency issuers and law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident and recover the affected assets.
“The estimated total impact sits at around $6.3B. We have worked with blockchain partners to freeze affected assets, with $3 billion frozen on-chain so far,” the company said.
Binance explained that its initial findings suggested the attacker had compromised a DevOps engineer’s laptop, potentially enabling access to a service container through which unauthorised withdrawal transactions were submitted.
However, the exchange said it had found no evidence that private keys, which provide access to cryptocurrency wallets, had been exposed.
The company subsequently suspended deposits and withdrawals while its security team conducted checks and worked to contain the incident.
“Our teams are aware of reports of a potential security issue and are actively investigating. User funds are completely safe,” Binance said in a post on X.
North Korean Hackers Suspected
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has linked the incident to TraderTraitor, a cybercrime operation associated with North Korean hackers.
If the reported losses are confirmed, the incident would rank as the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, surpassing the $1.5 billion cryptocurrency theft from the Bybit exchange in 2025, which was attributed to North Korean hackers.
However, investigations into the Binance incident are ongoing, and the full circumstances surrounding the attack have yet to be conclusively established.
The incident has renewed concerns about the vulnerability of cryptocurrency platforms to cyberattacks, particularly those involving compromised employee devices and unauthorised access to internal systems.
Tether, Circle Freeze Funds
Major cryptocurrency companies have moved to limit the potential losses by freezing digital assets believed to be connected to the incident.
Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino said the company had frozen approximately $1.5 billion in USDT, its dollar-linked stablecoin.
Circle, the issuer of another major stablecoin, also reportedly froze about $800 million in assets amid reports of a potential security breach at Binance.
Binance said the amount of frozen funds could increase as investigators and industry partners continue tracing transactions across different blockchain networks.
The exchange is working with relevant stakeholders to identify the movement of the affected assets and prevent further transfers where possible.
Bitcoin, BNB Prices Fall
The reported security breach triggered a negative reaction in the cryptocurrency market, with major digital assets recording significant declines.
Bitcoin fell by approximately four per cent to $77,229 in the hours following reports of the incident.
BNB, the native token of the blockchain ecosystem developed by Binance, also dropped by about 7.5 per cent.
The price movements reflect investor concerns about the potential consequences of a major security incident at a leading cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance, which was established in 2017, reportedly holds approximately $140 billion in digital assets, making its security arrangements and ability to protect customer funds significant to the wider cryptocurrency industry.
CZ Says Customer Funds Should Be Covered
Binance co-founder and former chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, also commented on the incident.
Although he stepped down from management of the exchange in 2023 following a settlement with United States authorities over anti-money-laundering compliance failures, Zhao said he expected customer funds to be protected.
As a shareholder, he expressed confidence that users would not ultimately bear the financial losses associated with the incident.
Binance has also indicated that it would cover eligible customer losses using its own resources, including its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), an emergency fund established to provide an additional layer of protection for customers.
The company’s final assessment of the losses and the extent of customer exposure will depend on the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
Polymarket Reports Separate Security Incident
The Binance incident emerged just hours after Polymarket, a popular prediction market, reported a separate security issue involving one of its third-party service providers.
Polymarket temporarily suspended trading after discovering that the provider had been compromised, potentially exposing some users to unauthorised activity involving their accounts.
The platform said it had referred the matter to law enforcement and promised to compensate affected users.
The two incidents have raised fresh questions about the security of cryptocurrency trading platforms and the risks associated with third-party technology providers.
In recent years, cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralised finance platforms have repeatedly been targeted by hackers seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in software, digital wallets and internal security systems.
Crypto Industry Faces Growing Security Threats
The reported Binance breach comes amid continuing concerns over cryptocurrency theft and the growing sophistication of cybercriminal operations.
According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, North Korean-linked hackers stole approximately $2 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, representing a 50 per cent increase from the previous year.
In another major incident, hackers reportedly stole about $280 million from the Drift cryptocurrency exchange in April.
The latest developments have highlighted the importance of stronger cybersecurity controls, effective monitoring of employee devices, rapid detection of suspicious transactions and cooperation between cryptocurrency companies and law enforcement agencies.
For Binance, the immediate priority remains containing the incident, tracing the affected funds and establishing the full extent of the losses.
The company is expected to release a detailed technical report after completing its investigation and verifying the facts surrounding the breach.
The Nigerian naira is trading at different rates against the United States dollar across the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and the parallel market on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
The latest available data show that the naira strengthened to N1,327.78 per dollar at the NFEM on Tuesday, from N1,329.80 recorded on Monday.
The latest movement represents a N2.02 appreciation by the naira against the dollar on a day-to-day basis.
In the parallel market, the dollar was quoted at about N1,389 on Tuesday, down from N1,390 recorded the previous day.
The parallel-market rate puts the gap between the official NFEM rate and the street-market selling rate at about N61.22 per dollar.
At the parallel market rate of N1,389, customers buying $100 would need approximately N138,900, while $1,000 would cost about N1.389 million.
The exchange rate available to individuals and businesses may vary depending on the dealer, location, transaction size and prevailing market conditions.
The naira’s recent performance has come amid developments in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market, including changes in dollar liquidity and monetary policy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to monitor conditions in the foreign exchange market as the naira trades around the N1,300-per-dollar level at the official market. Reuters also reported in September that the naira had remained relatively stable, supported by central bank dollar sales and subdued import demand.
For Wednesday, September 23, the latest confirmed figures put the dollar at N1,327.78 at the NFEM and around N1,389 in the parallel market.
The rates could change during the day as demand and supply conditions shift across both markets.
Enugu Air has announced the launch of its new official website, enuguairlines.ng, as part of efforts to provide passengers and customers with a better, safer and more convenient digital experience.
The airline said the migration to the new website is designed to improve how passengers connect with Enugu Air and access its services online, including flight bookings, schedules and the latest updates.
Announcing the development, the airline said: “We’ve moved! We’re innovating! We’ve migrated to a better, safer and convenient website to connect you to the world.”
Passengers can now access Enugu Air’s online services through its new web address, enuguairlines.ng, which the airline described as its new digital home.
The airline urged passengers and prospective travellers to save the new web address and use it for flight bookings, checking schedules and obtaining the latest information about its operations.
“Same Enugu Air. New web address,” the airline stated, emphasising that the change represents an improvement in its digital platform while retaining the Enugu Air brand and services.
The airline further encouraged customers to visit, www.enuguairlines.ng for all flight-related information and online services.
It further stated that the old website, enuguairlines•com has been discarded and no longer in use.
