Gurunaka Team in Uganda

Organic shea butter Nilotica - Uganda

Nilotica shea nut trees are growing wild. They are only found in the north and east of Uganda and in southern Sudan. These are the only two Nilotica regions worldwide. The Nilotica shea nuts are harvested in wild collections. The women live in the immediate vicinity of the shea trees. Once a year the nuts are collected and immediately processed to achieve a high quality butter.
The area where the shea nuts for our Nilotica shea butter are harvested and processed has suffered greatly from the LRA (Lord Resistant Army) rebellion under the extremely cruel leader Joseph Konythat which ended 15 years ago. Thousands of people were killed, with houses burned down, children abducted from schools and forced to join the rebels. Girls were forced to become the wives of these soldiers, many were raped and murdered.
Already in 1998 GURUNANAK OIL MILLS LTD was founded as the first professional company in Uganda and East Africa to produce the precious Nilotica shea butter. Since that time Gurunanak has been supporting mainly women affected by the Kony war, so that people could rebuild their houses and their children can go back to school Furthermore, local health centres are supported and the collection of shea nuts with harvesting tools is promoted through agricultural training.

Gurunanak is one of the development partners of the Ugandan National Environment Authority: NEMA. In 2019, they received the highest award from the Prime Minister for their commitment to biodiversity, environmental protection and the preservation of wild shea nut trees.
These trees are often felled out of economic necessity in order to use them as fuel or to produce charcoal. Gurunanak has approached the Ugandan Parliament and presented the draft law for the protection of the Shea trees. The law had been adopted but not implemented. Gurunanak therefore personally addressed the President of Uganda and explained the problem to him, whereupon the same day the President instructed the law enforcement authorities to stop the felling of the shea nut trees. Thanks to this action felling is now illegal.

In order to preserve the healing ingredients of the precious Nilotica shea butter in the best possible way, Gurunanak has developed a modern and gentle production process:
The shea nuts are processed by the women as swiftly as possible . The nuts are not boiled, but washed with clean water and immediately dried in the sun. They are heated exclusively with steam in a multi-stage process. The nuts are pressed in a mechanical screw/expeller press, the parts which come into contact with the product are made of stainless steel.
Afterwards, the product is micro-filtered and packed into buckets.

Shea nut shell and fruit in hand
Shea nuts Nilotica from Guru Nanak
Women sorting shea nuts in Uganda
Women wear shea butter in Uganda
Make a special request now