THE CURRENT
PROBLEM
For a long time, the majority of the world has come to rely on a small number of food and cosmetic ingredients. These ingredients don't provide us with all the nutrients that we need and the lack of variety and nutritional content in our diets negatively impacts on our health. Increasingly, we have been forced to subsidise the nutrients with non-natural resources.
THAT'S WHERE
SAWA COMES IN
SAWA bridges the gap between what we lack and what we need and connects us right to the source of nutritionally rich African ingredients!
Traditional crops are nutrient dense and support a well-balanced diet. Safeguarding our agriculture by offering more options to grow a greater number of crops. Climate resilient crops that and can survive floods, droughts, and conditions other crops can't. This helps improve the livelihood of small holder farmers and local producers.
WHY WE DO
WHAT WE DO
Here at SAWA we are determined to bring highly nutritional African ingredients to our consumers across the world and provide them with healthier options, which we guarantee are straight from the source. We aim to maximise the profits and improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers through providing them with access to an international market.
THE VALUES
THAT DRIVE US
We are guided by our values, a vital element of our brand's DNA. They determine our path forward, shape how we conduct business, and encompass our approach to working with our customers, employees, partners, and communities.
We embody an entrepreneurial spirit that moves our brand forward in innovative ways through our core values:
Health & Wellness
Our customers’ health and wellness are at the core of our business. We are committed to bringing nutritional products from the source that will make people feel good both inside and out.
Accountability
We are building a brand for the future by conducting ourselves with integrity and showing respect for both the planet and the farmers in our value chain.
Honesty & Trust
We pride ourselves on our honesty in the information we provide on our products and the health benefits we want our customers to enjoy.
OUR STORY
Scientists have estimated that there are 300,000 edible species of plants for human consumption. Yet, we are only cultivating 170 crops on a commercially significant scale. Even more surprising, 75% of our food supply comes from only 12 plants and five animal species. More than 40% of our daily calories and proteins are derived from rice, wheat and maize.
While this approach is providing us with sufficient calories, studies have shown that consuming nutrient-dense foods is associated with reducing the risk of overeating and diet-related diseases such as diabetes. However, our current agriculture system is still producing foods that are rich in calories but nutrient deficient.
The continent of Africa is full of amazing nutritional ingredients that can nurture the world. These ingredients can bring wellness and optimal health to consumers in need of a well-balanced diet.
Imagine consuming nutrients right from the source, feet planted in the richest soil picking the most beautiful fruit and herbs that are yielded by the earth you stand on, sun kissed and meticulously cared for. This is SAWA; a brand that brings Africa’s best ingredients to the lives of its consumers.
Out of the thousands of plants that we neglect and underutilize, many have the potential to supply us with better nutrients. These neglected crops are indigenous or traditional crops that thrive in specific regions of the world. Africa is full of these amazing nutritional ingredients that can benefit the world. They can help to increase the diversification of food production, add new ingredients to our consumption patterns, and supply us with nutrients such as essential amino acids, fibre and proteins.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Pharmacist Ateh Atabong understands the impact Africa’s nutritional plants have on health and wellness, and shares his interest and passion with his good friend Dede Koesah. Dede grew up watching her Mom, a herbalist and entrepreneur, using herbs and natural alternative ingredients from her native Ghana and Togo. She learned as a child of the amazing benefits nature provides for our wellbeing, and having moved to Europe early in her life, greatly missed the ingredients of Africa which were not easy to find.
Ateh and Dede have both experienced the powerfully life changing effects of the natural ingredients of Africa and it fuels their passion for others to benefit from this source. Their mission is to share Africa with the world in a way that connects us all to its beauty, power, and earthly gifts we call Super Foods.
Ateh and Dede’s hearts long to see a world healed by nutrition and to give consumers the best the earth has to offer, while drastically improving the economic status of the farmers who honour these products with their lives.
They are determined to see the influential impact SAWA products will have on its consumers, farmers, and the planet.
MEET THE TEAM
Dede Koesah
COO & Head of Business Development
Ateh Atabong
CEO & Head of Regulatory and Product Development
Shewit Ocbab
Accounting Coordinator