our story
shea, honestly.
from Mali.
shea butter has been used across west and central africa for centuries. as a skin treatment, a cooking fat, and a medicine. and is now known as a global skincare ingredient. naa exists to bring the real thing to you: unrefined, traceable, and honestly priced.
the producer
the women of Kebeni, Mali
naa sources directly from the women of Kebeni, a village in southern Mali. the shea nuts are hand-collected after they fall, then traditionally processed and cold-pressed. no hexane, no bleaching, no deodorising. every batch is traceable to a specific harvest. the price we paid is published with the product.
the founder
maïmouna kanté
shea was always in our house. everyone used it, especially my grandmother. my curiosity for african plants and supply chains led me to look more closely at the shea supply chain. i couldn't find a single brand that provided high quality unrefined shea butter and published what they paid their producers. naa is my attempt to change that.
why Mali
"Vitellaria paradoxa — the shea tree — grows across the Sahel. it takes up to 20 years to fruit. the trees are not planted."
the shea belt runs across the Sudano-Sahelian zone from Senegal to Ethiopia. Mali sits at its heart. shea trees grow in parkland, protected within fields and managed by farming communities for generations. the harvest has always been women's work. the nuts fall to the ground, are hand-collected, sun-dried, and shelled. the kernels are then roasted, ground into a paste, kneaded by hand with water, and slowly boiled until the fat rises to the surface and is skimmed off as butter. it is slow, physical work. naa is built to make sure it is paid for honestly.
01
the shea itself
unrefined, cold-pressed, soft enough to melt in your hands. a mild, natural scent that fades on skin. no bleaching, no deodorising, no additives. the kind of quality that's hard to find once it leaves West Africa.
02
transparent pay
we pay 2.5× the local market rate for raw shea. not a certification. not a label. a number, on the page, with every batch.