Aduna is driving social and economic development in Africa by building demand for the continent’s natural capital. It is reaching beyond FairTrade to create a community-owned supply chain where benefits flow back to the places where they are most needed.
It has developed a business model to sell the baobab fruit as a superfood, with plans to diversify into other unusual products. These include moringa, which the company already markets, fonio, a west African super-grain, and hoodia, a cactus with appetite-suppressant qualities.
Aduna hopes that its aspirational brand celebrating the vitality of Africa, will have a positive impact on how other natural products from the continent are perceived. The business focuses on natural products that have little or no value in African countries. It describes its model as a virtuous circle of positive impact.
It has helped 12 communities in Ghana access international markets by building a sustainable baobab supply chain and is now building capacity through partnerships.
One is focused on providing community-level training and the infrastructure for harvesting the boabab fruit; another is homing in on microfinance and mobile banking, working with the microfinance organisations, Kiva and The Whole Planet Foundation.
Aduna argues that aid has failed and rural Africa is littered with agri-projects made redundant by an uncommercial approach. Yet the same landscape has indigenous products with huge potential in the global wellbeing industry. Aduna says the baobab could generate sustainable income for 8-10m rural households.
The company is investing heavily in marketing, PR and communications to drive demand for ingredients among consumers and trade buyers.
Where the supply chain is concerned, Aduna is actively directing the newly created demand for products to the places where it will have most social impact, working with communities to harvest, process and export their natural products, and ensuring any added value stays within the community.