"From Passion to Profit: How Afram Stone Became a Shea Butter and Fashion Company"

Afram Stone was founded in June of 2014 by my mother, Mavis Asare. My family is originally from Accra, Ghana in West Africa. One of the staple products of Ghana is Shea Butter, which is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There are many benefits of Shea Butter; see Shea Butter for more details. Growing up, everywhere we went my mother would get compliments on her smooth, beautiful skin. They'd ask, "what's your secret!?", and my mom would simply laugh and say "Shea Butter".

Ghana has more to offer than just Shea Butter too. There are hundreds of beautiful African textiles each with a unique pattern and story. Of course, when my mom would wear her favourite top or headwrap, everyone always wanted to know how they could get their hands on that fabric!

Enter, my mother's company, Afram Stone. The Afram River is located in Ghana, near my mother's home. In 2014, she had the idea to import Shea Butter, African Black Soap, and textile fabrics from Ghana to the US. For the Shea Butter, she would whip the raw form and blend it with essential oils such as Tea Tree, Jojoba Oil, Grapeseed Oil - add a fragrance and package the products to sell.

Enter, me: the designer. At 14 years old, not only did I name each collection, I took it upon myself to design the labels, research the best bottles, and promote Afram Stone on social media. My mom likes to say I was "born for the brand", because each step came so naturally. I learned to use Adobe Photoshop, frequently made calls to wholesale packaging companies, and of course, made raved about each product. You could call it word-of-mouth marketing, but I was just proud to be part of the process.

At first, the products were only Shea Butter and Afram Black Soap. But over the years, Afram Stone has added Shea Butter Sugar Scrubs, Soy Candles, Lip Balms, and a clothing line. Within the clothing line there are dresses and skirts for women, shirts and bowties for men, and accessories that purses, scarves, and jewelry.

Since launching in 2014, Afram Stone has been featured in trunk shows, events for skincare and fashion, and products are sold on Etsy. Moving forward, we are planning to expand and build our own website, where featured products are available. What started as an idea, has turned into a great success!