Presenter: Rahama Wright, Founder and CEO, Shea Yeleen Health and Beauty
What is the value chain?
Let’s start with a definition. A value chain is the full range of activities that businesses employ to bring a product or service to market. For example, with my business, I work with women at the beginning of the value chain to transform shea seeds to shea butter. It starts with harvesting the fruit, extracting the nuts, removing the seeds, and then a traditional handmade process that the women use to extract the oil from the seeds. Turning seeds to shea butter allows us to link products to foreign markets, and it’s an example of adding value that provides higher income for the women. In short, a value chain is a useful way to understand producing, buying and selling. Every product has a unique value chain, and within the African agriculture sector, opportunities exist to improve and add more value for increased benefit to all stakeholders.
What are the points along the agriculture value chain?
If we consider a value chain like a spectrum, on one end are producers and the opposite are consumers. Between producers and consumers are a variety of intermediaries that can enhance and improve the value chain. These intermediaries can include suppliers, brokers, transporters, wholesalers, manufacturers, packagers, sellers, policymakers and researchers.
