Alaffia: A Black-Owned Business on a Mission to Empower African Women

Alaffia founder and CEO Olowo-n’djo Tchala and his wife Prairie Rose Hyde

How it Began

In 1996, a young man from Togo, West Africa, Olowo-n’djo Tchala, met a young woman serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Prairie Rose Hyde, and they fell in love. Hyde was from rural Washington State and in 1998 Tchala moved to the United States with Hyde. Once in the US, Tchala had the opportunity to continue his education, which had only gone to the sixth grade in Togo. He earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Davis. Soon after graduating Tchala set out to make a difference.

He determined that communities in West Africa did not need handouts to rise out of poverty, they needed to be compensated a fair price for their resources and knowledge. Women like his mother who could not read or write still deserved the opportunity to participate in the economic process, and had vast traditional handcrafting knowledge that was consistently undervalued in the economy. With that conviction Tchala founded Alaffia as means to empower communities and alleviate poverty in one of the poorest countries in Africa. In 2003 the first Shea Butter Cooperative was formed in Togo, West Africa and in 2004 Alaffia’s US headquarters was officially established in Olympia, Washington. Alaffia’s products, like unrefined shea butter and African black soap, are handcrafted by women’s cooperatives in Africa using traditional methods before being finished at Alaffia’s US headquarters in Olympia, WA. Once the products are sold, the proceeds are immediately returned to Togo to help fund their empowerment projects.

A Business with a Mission

Alaffia was founded to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality, and ultimately protect women — not as a marketing strategy to sell products.  They prioritize indigenous ingredients that value the traditional handcrafting knowledge of West African women, celebrate cultural diversity, and promote gender equality by sourcing through women-led cooperatives and collectives that pay fair wages and help communities rise out of poverty.

Alaffia’s Empowerment Projects:

Empowerment Projects are Alaffia’s mission in action, funded by the sale of their products. The Alaffia Foundation (TAF) is a 501(c)3 organization. TAF’s mission is to empower African communities through the advancement of Fair Trade, education, sustainable living, and gender equality.

  • Maternal Health Project – Started in 2006, this project follows the World Health Organization’s recommendations for reducing maternal death rates and has two parts: working with the Togolese Health Clinic to fund full pre-and postnatal care (including special and urgent needs) and providing trainings on women’s health issues.
  • Education – With a focus on eliminating the barriers to obtaining an education, TAF collects school supplies, builds and repairs schools, donates desks, and provides bicycles for students to use as transportation to and from school. Used bicycles are collected from communities in Washington and Oregon with the help of retailers, volunteers, and Alaffia staff. The bikes are repaired, shipped, distributed, and maintained through this initiative that not only prevents something useful from ending up in a landfill — it makes it easier for a Togolese student to get to school.
  • Environmental Sustainability – Climate Change and deforestation has a huge impact on West African farming communities. Alaffia provides trees for Togolese farmers to plant that mitigate soil erosion and improve food security, provides training to reduce deforestation, and they are investigating sustainable fuel alternatives to implement that would reduce the demand for wood and charcoal.
  • Eyeglasses – In Togo, it can be extremely difficult for a visually impaired person to see an optometrist and obtain glasses. Alaffia works to eliminate this barrier by collecting used glasses and employing an optometrist in Togo to correctly fit and distribute them. A pair of eyeglasses is life-changing for a child struggling in school, the elderly with failing vision, and adults who have never been able to see clearly.

Alaffia Items You’ll Find at GreenStar:

Everyday Coconut & Everyday Shea Body Washes, Shampoos & Conditioners, and Body Lotions, Pure Unrefined Coconut Oil, Authentic African Black Soap, and Charcoal Deodorants. 

Interested in trying some Togolese recipes?


These recipes were passed down from Olowo-n’djo Tchala’s mother, Ina:
-Black Eyed Peas in Red Palm Oil
-Togolese Melon Seed Sauce (you can substitute pumpkin seeds)
-West African Peanut Stew
-Wachi & Red Sauce

Find them on Tchala’s blog here: https://www.alaffia.com/blogs/news/togolese-cuisine