Company:
Forested
Year:
2024
Duration:
2 years
Overview
Okere City (via Forested) | Commercializing Shea for Global Beauty Brands
Okere City is a collective of shea producers based in Northern Uganda. Through Forested, I worked closely with this group to help commercialize their raw shea butter for export, enabling it to be integrated into formulations across multiple beauty brands (under NDA).
What I Led
I acted as the operational and relational bridge between the Okere producers, Forested's logistics team, and our U.S./UK-based brand clients. This included ingredient validation, export documentation, alignment with co-manufacturer requirements, and navigating the often fragmented communications between field producers, buying teams, and formulators.
What Shifted
The shea butter was successfully integrated intro multiple clean beauty product lines - while preserving producer visibility, fair compensation, and origin integrity. The work required nuanced diplomacy, operational rigor, and the ability to hold both ends of the supply chain: raw and refined, farm and shelf.
