President John Dramani Mahama has positioned the Sheapark Resource Hub Project as a flagship pillar of Ghana’s renewed drive to move beyond raw material exports toward value added agro industrial production.
Launching the project at the Wa Naa’s Palace in Wa on Saturday, January 31, 2026, the President described the Sheapark Hub as a world class, phased agro industrial ecosystem designed to transform the shea industry through sustainability, innovation and inclusion.
At full operational capacity, the hub is expected to empower more than 7,000 women in the Upper West Region while creating thousands of additional employment opportunities for young people.
The facility will host modern shea processing plants producing inputs for cosmetics, food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. It will also include quality control laboratories, training centres, warehousing, logistics infrastructure, cooperative aggregation systems and export facilitation services.
Renewable energy solutions, water treatment and recycling plants, business incubation centres and direct market access platforms will form part of the integrated operation. President Mahama said the hub would serve as a processing anchor not only for shea but also for related commodities such as groundnuts, soya beans, sorghum, dawadawa, cotton and honey, expanding income opportunities across the region.
The initiative is being driven by Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin and development economist Professor Kwame Addo. Speaker Bagbin said the project took 17 months of preparation and is guided by a detailed development blueprint titled “Revealing Potential Pathways for Socio Economic Development, 2025 and Beyond.”
The blueprint, developed through consultations with experts, traditional leaders, government officials and ordinary citizens, identifies shea as a major growth driver, supported by allied products such as dawadawa, neem, baobab, cotton, legumes, cereals and livestock.
President Mahama noted that women, who have sustained the shea industry for generations, remain trapped at the lowest end of the value chain despite Ghana’s position as one of the world’s leading shea nut producers. He stressed that women are central to the project’s design and long term success.
The President said local women sell shea nuts cheaply, but when the same shea is processed into lotions and ointments abroad, the value increases many times. He emphasized the need to bring full value home through domestic processing.
The Sheapark initiative aligns with the government’s Reset Agenda, which prioritizes domestic value addition before export. According to the President, similar value addition strategies will be applied nationwide to commodities including cashew, cassava, oil palm, cotton and even minerals.
President Mahama said the hub will operate across shifts in processing, logistics, quality control, packaging and distribution, creating round the clock employment opportunities under the government’s 24 Hour Economy Initiative.
The President said government has already distributed 3,000 pairs of Wellington boots and 3,200 gloves to women shea pickers in the Upper West Region to protect them from snake and scorpion bites, one of the main dangers during shea nut harvesting.
Wa Naa Alhaji Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo VI, who chaired the launch, declared that the felling of shea nut trees should be criminalized and enforced by assemblies and security agencies. President Mahama supported the declaration and appealed to charcoal makers to avoid cutting down shea trees.
Speaker Bagbin cautioned chiefs, landowners and residents against disputes over land allocation, warning that such disagreements could derail the project’s success. He described the launch as historic, noting that the hub offers hope for jobs, growth and inclusive development if all stakeholders prioritize collective regional interest.
The President said the hub is grounded in climate smart agriculture, sustainable land use, renewable energy integration, waste valorization and recycling systems, environmental stewardship and biodiversity protection.
By combining processing infrastructure with targeted financing through the planned Women’s Bank, government aims to convert traditional livelihoods into scalable, export ready industries capable of delivering inclusive growth. The initiative represents a shift from viewing women solely as beneficiaries to recognizing them as key economic actors whose labour can drive sectoral transformation.
The launch attracted dignitaries including the Wa Naa, the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, regional ministers, Municipal and District Chief Executives, and parliamentary and presidential officials from within and outside the region.
