Vice-President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang
The Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, will be the Special Guest of Honour at the 2026 World Shea Expo, scheduled to take place in Tamale in the Northern Region from September 15 to 17, 2026.
The expo is being held on the theme: “From Local Commodity to Global Brand: Accelerating Women and Youth-Led Value Addition in Shea.”
President John Dramani Mahama has fully endorsed the World Shea Expo, which is being organised by Savannah Golden Tree Limited (SCTL) and the Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture and Agribusiness (PIAA) at the Office of the President.
Ahead of the commencement of the event, the Vice-President will tour a 32-acre piece of land secured for the planting of shea trees in the Nanton District of the Northern Region.
The expo is expected to bring together more than 8,000 participants from across the shea value chain, ranging from women harvesters to global investors.
It will feature exhibitions, high-level panel discussions, an investment forum, entrepreneurial workshops and policy dialogues, among other activities.
Addressing journalists at a press conference in Tamale, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Director of the West African Centre for Shea Innovation and Research (WACSIR) of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Prof. Abukari Alhassan, said the 2026 World Shea Expo must be more than an exhibition.
He said it should serve as a platform for investment, business partnerships, technology transfer, research collaboration, market access and policy dialogue.
“It should connect women entrepreneurs to investors, connect young innovators to industry, connect researchers to businesses and connect rural producers to global markets. It should create opportunities for African shea brands to tell their stories to the world,” he noted.
He called on investors, financial institutions, development partners and industry leaders to look beyond the traditional shea business model.
“For generations, shea has been central to the livelihoods, food systems and economies of communities across West Africa. For millions of women, particularly in rural communities, shea provides income, employment, household support and resilience,” he said.
According to him, despite the enormous value of shea, much of the highest-value activity, including product development, formulation, packaging, branding, certification and access to premium international markets, continues to take place far from the communities where the resource originates.
“We must change this situation. We should not be satisfied with being primarily suppliers of raw materials. West Africa must increasingly become a producer of finished products, a developer of innovative technologies and an owner of globally recognised shea brands.
“The future of shea is therefore not simply about exporting more kernels or butter. It is about creating more value from shea and ensuring that a greater share of that value reaches the people who sustain the resource,” he stated.
Prof. Alhassan indicated that women had sustained the industry for generations, while young people brought ideas, energy and technological capabilities to the sector.
He said researchers were also developing new scientific frontiers, while global markets were increasingly interested in natural, sustainable and responsibly produced products.
“What we need now is bold investment, coordinated action and a deliberate commitment to value creation.
“At WACSIR and the University for Development Studies, we are committed to working with government, industry, communities, development partners and the global shea community to build a shea sector that is productive, innovative, inclusive, sustainable and globally competitive,” he disclosed.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale