Lulu Life - Global Hand

What’s Happening at Lulu Works Trust, LTD in 2011 January 2011, page 1
2011 A Make-or-Break Year for Lulu Life Products
Since 2000, MEDIC, a small NGO working in Southern Sudan providing
water, health and sanitation services, has been actively fundraising to
subsidise the production of Lulu - Sudanese shea butter. It’s true. Lulu
Works Trust, LTD a women-owned cooperative is not yet a sustainable
business. Even the price at which LWT sells Lulu Life products is
subsidised and does not cover production costs. This has worked until
the grants ran out at the beginning of 2010. This is our wake-up call.
We’re looking for one last grant to build capacity over the next couple of
years. We’re making some major changes in the way we do things and
we’ll need your help to keep the Lulu flowing around the world...Read on.
Lulu Life
A new kind of Fair Trade
Our aim is to increase Sudanese women’s direct sales to
consumers, complemented with the efforts of socially
responsible business partners including retailers. We’ll be
consolidating distribution, signing contracts, and focusing
on increased profits for our members. Time to get
serious about profit making for the ladies.
Finally Lululife-Sheabutter.com!
The butter, the cooperative, the products, our retailers.
We hope to start a blog with regular updates on
Southern Sudan, the lives of the women members,
testimonials of Lulu users and much more. Become a
friend, fan or follower of Lulu Works Trust Facebook page
and Lulu Life Products on Twitter!
Watch out L’Occitane!
Time for a more modern container that can withstand
changing temperatures and won’t leak. A reusable
recyclable container that reminds users every day to use
Lulu Life Products – even when empty. And a label that
out-classes even the most sought after shea butters.
Inside the pot, they don’t really compare with Lulu.
For more information on all of these topics and more, please request to be a friend or fan of Lulu Works Trust Facebook page. For personal
comments and inquiries please contact Lulu Works Trust at luluworkstrust@gmail.com. We welcome feedback on the website, advice on
marketing, questions on pricing policies, and any other ideas you have for the women of LWT.

...Lulu Works Trust, LTD in 2011 January 2011, page 2
Lulu Life
What makes Nilotica and LW special....
Gordon Wagner talks to USAID about shea butter in Sudan:
Real fair trade: The Sudanese women who are the caretakers of the Nilotica tree
not only sell their nuts, they sell their oil, they sell the body butter and soap that
they make, and in 2011 they’ll receive a dividend from their ownership in the
business.
A new model: The only export from the newest country in the world – torn by
conflict but amazingly resilient and proud. “We won’t sell our nuts” : these
women refuse to become another Burkina Faso where nuts are purchased by the
ton and shea butter is mass-produced by multi-national companies.
Quality control and traceability: The nuts are ground by funduk, not by diesel
grinder, therefore no contamination by petrol products. Each litre of shea butter
can be traced back to the production site, date produced, chemical profile and
the income distribution to the women who participated along the way.
Visiting Southern Sudan before the Referendum
Kristina Belknap, long time manager-volunteer for LWT and founding member of
MEDIC, visited Eunice in Juba, Alice in Kaji Keji and Millie in Mundri in December
2010. Much to be learned from the ladies but sales going well to Oxfam (soap)
and locally in Juba; more nuts to buy in Mapel but the harvest was poor in Kaji
Keji. The ladies are doing an amazing job managing grants and loans from the
Sudanese Government. But LWT still dependent on outside help to keep the
‘presses oiled’. 2011 a make-or-break year for consolidating the cooperative,
making profits and sharing dividends with the ladies. Thanks to Kristina for her
endless energy, insight and commitment to LWT.
For more information on all of these topics and more, please request to be a friend or fan of Lulu Works Trust Facebook page. For personal
comments and inquiries please contact Lulu Works Trust at luluworkstrust@gmail.com. We welcome feedback on the website, advice on
marketing, questions on pricing policies, and any other ideas you have for the women of LWT.