Developing a Financial Resilience Program with a Corporate Foundation

Introduction 

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) worked with BSR to pilot, develop, and scale a bespoke financial literacy program to equip women shea nut collectors and processors across the Ghanaian shea supply chain with the tools needed to better manage their finances. Over a five-year period, this program yielded significant positive impacts for the women and communities, as well as participating companies.  

Background 

The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. (ELC) is a major global manufacturer of cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, and haircare products. With gender equality at the core of its values, ELC is committed to supporting the next generation of leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Through ELCCF’s global partnerships, the company helps connect women and girls with education, skills training, leadership development, and career placements. 

The Challenge 

An integral ingredient in many ELC products, shea butter is derived from the nuts of shea trees that grow almost exclusively across sub-Saharan Africa’s “shea belt,” with Ghana among the leading producing countries. Women working in the shea sector occupy a critical position within the global shea supply chain, but they have been unable to gain financial security through their work. Their labor is essential: women perform the majority of all shea nut collection and shea butter processing in the value chain, yet their access to economic opportunities and financial services is limited.  

The sector is characterized by informality, limited access to capacity-building opportunities, a seasonal income cycle subject to global market volatility, and difficulties in finding other income sources during the off-season. Even during the shea collection season, market fluctuations leave women collectors and processors exposed to agricultural and financial shocks, which are further exacerbated as changes in biodiversity and climate affect the yield of shea trees and the amount of nuts that can be collected from these trees each year. These dynamics drive the need for secondary income activities to smooth earnings, both during the season and particularly during the off-season. 

Altogether, these factors create financial precarity for women workers, impeding their ability to engage in formal markets, build financial assets, and navigate periods of economic stress. 

Shea is an important raw material in the cosmetics industry, so empowering women working in this sector presented an ideal opportunity to advance ELCCF’s commitment to women’s development with action on a key material. Since identifying this opportunity, ELCCF and BSR have worked together for four years to develop and implement financial resilience training programs for women working in the shea sector in Ghana.  

BSR’s Approach 

BSR’s work on this program first started in January 2021. The pilot phase took place over two years and started with an in-depth scoping study conducted with local stakeholders. This identified key needs of women shea workers, specifically that financial resilience was both a critical need and enabler of empowerment for these women, helping to shape a program that would be tailored to women’s lived realities. Consequently, BSR developed and piloted a training-based approach in two shea cooperatives, focused on building financial literacy through modules on savings, budgeting, and financial planning, as well as talking about finances with trainees’ families.  

Following the pilot, BSR partnered with ELCCF to expand the program to both existing and new partners, reaching additional cooperatives and communities. To maximize reach and impact, BSR worked with our implementation partner, Pure Trust Social Investors Foundation, and two Ghana-based shea suppliers, Global Shea Alliance (GSA) and Savannah Fruits Company (SFC), to trial different training and engagement models, while also partnering with a local microloan service to embed gender and savings information into trainings delivered during loan disbursements. Key messages were further amplified through a local radio station to engage women in remote areas. BSR is now building the business case for financial resilience by developing a data collection approach to capture tangible benefits for participating brands and suppliers. Through 2025, the program will continue to advance uptake by working with and training additional partners. 

Recognizing the need for improved financial resilience across the sector, BSR launched a practical guidance toolkit for organizations interested in replicating the trainings to maximize reach and scale. BSR encourages buyers, suppliers, and NGOs operating in the shea sector to use the toolkit to boost the financial resilience of women workers. 

Impact 

“Since 2006, our primary commitment has been to position women at source as co-creators, not beneficiaries. This project with BSR and ELCCF exposes financial resilience as a vital component for achieving this goal: it builds women's abilities to more confidently negotiate and to better navigate debt cycles and ongoing financial burden. We plan on continuing this training to further reinforce our commitment to building ethical sourcing relationships.”

- Raphael Gonzalez, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Savannah Fruits Company (SFC)

To date, the program has engaged more than 8,000 women shea nut collectors and processors in more than 90 shea cooperatives and communities. Surveys delivered both before and after the trainings revealed significant improvement in core financial management practices among women workers, including increased savings (an average of 96% of interviewed women now save every month), more consistent budgeting (an average of 75% of women interviewed now track both their income and expenses, compared to 21% at baseline), greater willingness to engage in financial dialogue at the family level, and better preparedness for income fluctuations and unforeseen expenses.  

Additionally, women described increased self-confidence and accountability, higher participation in household financial decisions, and strengthened investments in their shea work as well as supplementary business and income streams. Perhaps most striking were the broader ripple effects: increased collective investments in community infrastructure, such as water pipelines, and intergenerational change, as children began practicing some of the financial behaviors learned by their mothers via these trainings. In addition, many women participants have either established new businesses or expanded existing income-generating activities, applying the financial planning and resilience strategies gained through the training to entrepreneurial ventures. 

These outcomes highlight the program’s role in fostering not just individual empowerment, but also more resilient and economically vibrant communities. Community benefits have included growth in entrepreneurial activities, investments in community infrastructure improvements, and an increase in local savings groups that help members pool resources for emergencies and invest in small businesses.  

"This program demonstrates the impact that is possible when we align the expertise of partners like BSR with the commitment of local communities. What began as a pilot in Ghana is now becoming a blueprint for embedding financial resilience in ingredient supply chains. By centering women’s voices and needs, we are not only strengthening the shea sector but also helping to shape more equitable and sustainable practices across the industry."

- Mindi DeLeary, Vice President, Responsible Sourcing, Sustainability, and Upstream Procurement, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

The program illustrates the value of investing in upstream supply chain actors. Financially resilient workers are better positioned to sustain their livelihoods and express higher job satisfaction, thereby enhancing productivity and contributing to long-term sourcing stability. 

Conclusion 

Integrating contextual and gender-responsive approaches into supply chain sustainability strategies can help address barriers women face with tailored solutions, and also help to meet tangible business outcomes, such as improved productivity and retention, as well as more consistent and reliable supply. By investing in women’s financial resilience, companies can contribute to more inclusive and equitable value chains while reinforcing the operational resilience of key sourcing geographies. 

BSR encourages all stakeholders operating in the shea sector, including buyers, suppliers, and development actors, to leverage the financial resilience toolkit and join us in scaling proven approaches that support women’s economic empowerment and responsible sourcing outcomes. For more information on improving financial resilience within your value chains, please contact BSR’s Supply Chain Sustainability team.