Webinar: Shea butter in Europe - Tapping into the food ingredient market

The rising demand for plant-based and sustainable ingredients highlights the potential of shea butter as a food ingredient. This exotic fat is commonly used as an alternative in products such as chocolate, confectionery, baked goods, spreads, and infant formula.

This webinar is aimed at shea butter exporters looking to enter the European food market. Industry experts will give a brief market overview, its opportunities and the importance of a sustainable supply chain. They will also highlight the steps that exporters can take to position their shea butter in the European market.

European shea butter food ingredient market 

During this webinar, we will address the following key questions: 

•  What are the current trends driving the demand for shea butter in Europe’s food industry? 
•  What processing, refining, and packaging methods are appropriate for shea butter to meet the quality standards and demands of the European food ingredients sector?  
• What approaches are buyers implementing to establish and verify sustainable supply chains for shea kernels and butter? Also, what challenges do they face in this process? 
• What strategies can exporters use to effectively promote and market shea butter as a food ingredient to European buyers?
• Which are the recommended food ingredient tradeshows to attend and showcase shea butter products for the European food market?

For whom? 

This webinar is for producers, processors, exporters, and business support organisations active in the shea butter sector. It is also for all international companies active in the natural food additives sector.

Agenda

• 15:00 – 15:10:  Introduction to CBI and its support to the shea butter sector (Edouard van der Haas).
• 15:10 – 15:40:  Overview of shea production and supply chains, and drivers and trends in the European food sector (Peter Lovett).
• 15:40 – 16:00: Interview with guest speaker Ronny Voorpools from the private shea sector.
• 16:00 – 16:30: Q&A.

Presenters

Edouard van der Haas will host this webinar.  Edouard is programme manager for Market Intelligence at CBI. Our presenters are: 

Peter Lovett, independent consultant and executive director of Eco Restore Ltd.

Peter Lovett has over 3 decades of research and business development experience with commodity, environmental, and production challenges. He has focused on environmental sustainability, economic empowerment, and gender development in the shea chain. Peter also has an extensive network in 12 East, West, and Central African nations. He is now an independent consultant and an executive director of Eco Restore Ltd, a firm focused on landscape restoration of woodlands and agroforestry parklands across sub-Saharan Africa. Peter also mentored the development of multi-million dollar shea businesses and industry associations. He works with Profound – Advisers In Development, the current supplier for CBI market studies in the natural ingredients for natural food additives.
 

Ronny Voorspools, managing director at Fuji Oil Ghana

Ronny Voorspools is a chemical engineer with a career in operations in the vegetable oils and fats processing industry. He was a Plant Manager and Technical Director in France. Ronny is now managing director for Fuji Oil Ghana in Belgium. Here, he is responsible for introducing sustainability in shea kernel procurement and building long-term partnerships to support operations. Ronny favours the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) approach towards staff, neighbours, authorities and partners.

More information

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