A fund-raising soap from L'OCCITANE to support women's entrepreneurship in burkina faso

WOMEN’S DAY

Every year, to mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, L’OCCITANE creates a Solidarity Soap to pay tribute to the women of Burkina Faso.

It was in Burkina Faso, in the early 1980s, that Olivier Baussan first discovered shea butter – an exceptionally talented ingredient that nourishes and protects the skin. Since then, over 25 years of shared history have created a bond between L’OCCITANE and the women of Burkina Faso. To keep this bond strong, and because these women such an important role in their communities and local economy, the L’OCCITANE foundation has focused its actions on their economic emancipation. To help these women gain more autonomy, the Foundation supports lietracy and microcredit programmes in Burkina Faso.

A FUND-RAISING SOAP TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN BURKINA FASO

The milk-scented shea butter soap is an emlematic product of L’OCCITANE. For this year’s Women’s Day, it has been given a special design that evokes the joy of women. With the support of the L’OCCITANE Foundation. 100% of profits* from the sale of the L’OCCITANE Solidarity Soap are donated to organizations that promote women’s entrepreneurship through literacy programmes and training to develop income-generating activities.

Today, over 830 women have had access to literacy programmes and received training in the management of income-generating activities in the 14 centres that we have built and equipped. This ambitious project needs ongoing support, every year. We must ensure its continued viability by making existing centres more autonomous and evaluating the effectiveness of the programme run since 2010.