Ele Agbe Company LTD
Background
Ele Agbe Company Limited, was founded in Ghana West Africa in 1993 by Comfort Adjahoe-‐Jennings. The company specializes in the production and export of Handicrafts, Recycled glass beads jewelry, and manufacturing of Shea products. (Ele Agbe means ‘God is Alive’ in the Ewe language of Ghana.)
History and Development
It all started with the story of a young lady who was searching for a job to earn a living to fend for herself and her ward, and found a temporary employment arranging beads. Once that job was over she used the skills she gained to go from house to house with a pair of scissors, string and pliers to offer to fix or redesign broken necklaces or bracelets or a fee. Money gathered from fixing and redesigning beads became the start-‐up capital for the birthing of Ele Agbe.
In 1996 Ele Agbe was registered legally as a sole proprietorship enterprise. In the early years it was a very small scale enterprise with sales limited to friends and local exhibitions. However, full operations started in 1998 and in 1999 Ele Agbe got its first breakthrough with an export order to send a twenty-‐foot container of handicraft products to the United States of America. Since then Ele Agbe started exporting to Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Australia among others. In 2001 Ele Agbe became a Limited Liability Company.
Products and Branding
Initially, Ele Agbe’s core business was beads jewelry production and handicrafts, the company designs and produces recycled glass beads jewelry and other beads products and offers training in beads designs to individuals as well as schools. Ele Agbe Company Limited has made its name in ornamental beads, original jewelry designs and hand-‐made home decor and Shea butter products. Ele Agbe artisans use traditional methods to achieve quality products.
In 2004 the company added Shea butter cosmetics under the brand name of Nasheaba. Ele Agbe produces Shea butter products in a variety of body butters, essential oils, lip balms, body balms, body oils and soaps. In line with this focus on Shea butter products and in solidarity with to the women who supply Ele Agbe with its raw products in 2011 we branded our factory as the ‘Shea Shop and rebranded our products with new packaging. All of the Nasheaba products have approval from both the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority.
Achievements
Ele Agbe has trained and employed over hundreds of young people, both school leavers and jobseekers. Our employees include the suppliers of our raw materials. We have been working across the country with beads producers, artisans into handicraft, basket weavers, Shea nut pickers, Shea butter processors and women who process raw coconut oil.
Social Responsibility
Ele Agbe is a social enterprise that believes in giving back to society, therefore it
organizes with other partners yearly medical missions to the rural areas of Ghana. The company organises solo exhibitions and participates in several local and international exhibitions.
Phone: 233744152263
E-mail: eleagbe@yahoo.com
Website: www.eleagbe.com