Have you heard of Northshea? They are a black-owned company out of RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) founded and ran by Charity Dinko.
Charity, started her shea butter business four years ago as a way to liberate women from poverty in her home country, Ghana.
Her mission is absolutely amazing because her company is not only positioned to provide economic stability to her home country, but they make amazing products for us here and all over the world.
Sadly according to NBC News, Northshea was robbed of $70K worth of product and Charity needs help Now, help to find out who’s responsible. Read more below:
For the past three weeks, Dinko has been trying to pick up the pieces of the dream she had since leaving Ghana a decade ago.
“I started the company Northshea. We produce incredible Shea butter that we also use in making our body butter, and we sell wholesale and retail to other businesses that make soap as well,” Dinko said.
That dream gave opportunities to the village she left behind.
“The people there are extremely hardworking, especially the women, and there is extreme poverty to the point where most of them don’t even have food to feed their kids daily,” Dinko said.
Dinko’s business quite literally is the lifeline for countless people in her village.
“Usually if they go out to sell these things themselves, they sell them for about 25 cents a pound,” Dinko said, “so we are able to market this over here, pay them living wages, so they can have a much more comfortable life.”
Dinko said there is “no reason” why women making shea butter — which is used in soaps, lotions and chocolate — are living in extreme poverty.
But on July 2, all of that was put on hold.
Dinko got a call from the storage managers. The unit where she kept the raw product was unlocked.
“I came back in the evening around 5:45, open this space up, just to realize they were right. Everything was gone,” Dinko said. “Almost 70 thousand dollars worth of items and sweat and all the work we put in over the past couple of years was wiped away.”
According to Henrico police, two suspects are responsible for stealing nearly 2,000 pounds of shea butter from the storage unit on the 800 block of Staples Mill Road. They are asking for the public’s help finding them.
“I think I’m really still shocked about how they knew there was so much product in here, who did it specifically and also why they did that to a company that is trying to liberate women from poverty,” Dinko said.
A crowd fundraiser has been started to keep Dinko’s dream of helping those in need, but she says what she wants most is closure.
“To produce 2,000 pounds of shea butter took about 30 days for us… and to go back and tell them that all of their hard work is gone is completely unbelievable,” Dinko said. “They don’t even understand who did it and why.”
Northshea Gofundme
From the “Save NorthShea” Go Fund Me page:
Charity Malia Dinko began her work in social entrepreneurship after realizing that women who made shea butter in Ghana were often underpaid–despite the increased revenue in the international market.
Her company, Northshea, provides women with liveable wages in rural Ghana while also creating high-quality shea butter products for consumers. By providing liveable wages, Northshea helps to liberate hardworking women from poverty in Ghana.
The Northshea warehouse was looted and vandalized on July 2, 2020. Over 2000 lbs of products were stolen. This means that not only will Northshea have to cease shipments, but they will also have to process refunds as they work to restock.
As a community, we can work together to get Northshea back up and running. If you have any information about this incident, call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000. Follow Northshea here and on their website to keep up with the details of the investigation as they rebuild.
