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Subsaharan Africa • Burkina Faso

“L’Occitane au Burkina Faso”: More than just business with shea butter producers

Prepared by • Yarri Kamara Sector • Consumer Goods, Agriculture and Forestry Enterprise Class • Foreign MNC

Table of contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 Context and Genesis of L’Occitane ........................................................................................... 4 Business Model ......................................................................................................................... 7 The Business and its Relationships ......................................................................................... 11 Constraints and solutions strategies......................................................................................... 14 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 18 References ............................................................................................................................... 19 Annex : Shea butter extraction method ................................................................................... 20

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Executive Summary

L’Occitane en Provence is a highly successful French multinational cosmetics firm recognized worldwide for its luxury products based on natural ingredients. For decades, one of the firm’s signature ingredients has been shea butter sourced from Burkina Faso. Shea butter is produced from nuts of the shea tree, a tree indigenous to the African Sahel belt. The...