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WOMEN IN PLANT OIL PRODUCTION
Upskilling female farmers to cultivate jojoba and commercialize its oil. From farming techniques to business, marketing and management skills, the process aims to turn small-scale farmers into entrepreneurs with connections to international clients within the cosmetic industry.
-21.423310514713, 15.280727865938
OUTPUT
20 hectares of land each were provided to 12 farmers for 99 years; a sustainable model has been developed turning desert land into valuable jojoba plantations.
OUTCOME
The farmers have been trained in farming and entrepreneurial skills, scaled up their plantation and today they provide employment improving the prospects of the local community.
HIGHLIGHT
After only 4 years, Jojoba for Namibia has already developed a small line of jojoba oil based cosmetic products dedicated to the European market.
The wealth gap in Namibia keeps growing and you can’t just keep pointing fingers forever. Instead, you can take a stance and start working with the opportunities in your vicinity.
Our Commitment
The Julius Baer Foundation's partnership with Namib Desert Jojoba Oil Producers (NDJ)
- enables marginalised communities and individuals to grow jojoba and become independent jojoba farmers.
- upskills the farmers with business, marketing and management skills to establish them as direct suppliers to the European cosmetics industry.
- develops a sustainable model to ensure that farmers can build a livelihood and climb the ladder in society through gaining more opportunities as an integral part of the jojoba oil supply chain.
JOJOBA for NAMIBIA is a farming initiative that teaches women in the Namib desert how to cultivate jojoba and other resilient plants, process the seeds into high-quality oils, and market them internationally.
The Julius Baer Foundation has entered a supporting partnership of three years to build the JOJOBA for NAMIBIA project.
- The training provided pertains to the cultivation of jojoba crops as well as business skills, such as bookkeeping, marketing, management and eco-certification.
- The initiative strives to reassign unallocated public desert land to individual families for them to build their own jojoba plantation.
- The project has since complemented the jojoba cultivation with other commercial, desert-thriving produce such as Kalahari melon oil, marula oil, !Nara melon oil and mongongo oil.
The Namibian Jojoba Oil
is especially sought-after in the cosmetics industry for its emollient properties. It is praised for its extraordinary quality due to the unique mineral content of the Namib desert soil, as well as the harvesting and processing by hand
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From small scale farmers...
Women with limited access to land or skills failed to identify new income-generating opportunities that would enable them to turn subsistence farming into a sustainable, profitable business.
... to sustainable entrepreneurs
The trained farmers are now connected with and supplying their Jojoba to the privileged purchaser of their raw material in Europe, as well as to international clients within the cosmetic industry.
Become a Changemaker
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Are you interested in the JOJOBA for NAMIBIA initiative as a philanthropist, entrepreneur or academic? Do you wish to contribute or just to know more?
