The Ayeya company is poised to operationalize a shea butter processing factory known as ‘Ayeya Village’ in the Sherigu community in March this year. It could be recalled that on February 17, 2021, the chief of Sherigu Traditional Area, Naba Aluman Thomas Apasinaba II handed over a site to the Chief Executive Officer of Ayeya Company, Olowo-n’djo Tchala for the construction of the factory.
It was expected that the factory would be completed and commissioned in 5 months after the site was provided. But two years after the groundbreaking activity, the CEO of Ayeya Company, in an interview with A1 Radio’s Joshua Asaah, said the construction of the factory has been completed and will be commissioned in March.
“It’s been hard work but a blessing. I can tell you for the first time publicly that the construction has been completed, and that will provide employment for the community beyond what we can imagine. The commissioning of the place will begin hopefully in March, but we have begun the work of doing trials on making shea butter as of last week”, Mr. Olowo-n’djo stated.
This was made known after the CEO commissioned a borehole for the people of the Atampuure community in Sumbrungu.
The facility promises to not only transform the local economy but also create opportunities for women in the community who are traditionally involved in sheanuts picking and processing.
Until the much-anticipated commissioning of the factory, the company has already formed shea nut cooperatives whose role is to collect the nuts for sale to the factory – Ayeya Village.
Coleman Atubila, Managing Partner of the Ayeya Company, disclosed that over 600 women would be employed directly, with an estimated number of indirect jobs to cover over 3000 people.
“This project is a blessing that has come to the Sherigu community because we have been operating the Sgerigu community for more than 15 years now in the area of basket production. This is another area that has come to add to the basket production. We are anticipating that it is going to have a great impact on the community in the near future”, he stated.
Mr. Atubila revealed that a decision was made to avoid heavy machinery that might employ only a few individuals but instead prioritize labor-intensive methods to provide jobs for a larger segment of the people of Sherigu.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|Joshua Asaah|Sumbrungu|Ghana
