During my first year at Burn Design Lab, I have had the chance to solve many problems. So far, I have contributed to charcoal stove designs for Kenya and plancha stove designs for Guatemala, and conceived different stove ideas for the Philippines. My understanding of the problems in these countries grew out of reports conveyed to me in writing and by word of mouth, but which I never experienced first-hand. Then BDL executive director Paul Means asked me to go to Ghana with him to scope a completely new project: improving the shea roasting process. I had never heard of shea in my life, let alone how it is processed, and that made the prospect of actually going to Ghana to learn about it even more exciting. 

 Shea is a fruit which grows on trees scattered across the landscape and whose nut is processed into shea butter—the primary ingredient in many soaps, creams, and other cosmetic applications, and a substitute for cocoa butter. Shea is processed across Africa in a region known as the “shea belt” which runs through northern Ghana. 

Women are the primary harvesters and processors of shea. The specific step of the process Paul and I were looking into was the roasting step. The crushed shea nuts are roasted in large cylindrical drums over an open fire. The first processor we visited was located in Tamale, where three women were roasting shea during our visit. The women were roasting it within 10 feet of one another, so the smoke from one fire was blowing right into the other’s faces, and their children were lying on blankets enveloped by the smoke of the three roasters. If that sight alone did not make me aware of the issues, I became very aware when I began to measure the temperature of the equipment they were using. It was extremely uncomfortable to be within one foot of the roasters for more than a few seconds, as the heat and smoke quickly irritated my eyes and lungs. The women rotate these drums by hand for one to eight hours per day. 

Over the next six days, we visited several other shea processing facilities, and the problems became more apparent at each stop. Women spoke of terrible lower back, elbow, wrist, and shoulder pain in addition to the issues of smoke inhalation and heat exposure. At the end of the 10-day trip, it was obvious to me that a solution to these problems is desperately needed — a con­clu­sion that was all the more visceral because I had experi­enced the situation first-hand.

BDL is amazing because it allows for user-centered design to take place within a small team. To be able to visit and meet with the people who will benefit from an improved shea roaster is that much more moti­vating because I saw how they live and heard directly from them what they need. I am very grateful to have had the oppor­tunity to experience Ghanaian culture, and I am very excited to develop an improved technology that can have a significant impact on these people's lives.

— Brian Gylland

Burn Design Lab’s scoping work with Ghanaian shea butter pro­ces­sors was funded by a small grant from TechnoServe. Devel­oping and testing a new design for a shea roaster and setting up to manufacture it in West Africa will cost about $250,000. We have a good prospect for a grant that will cover half of that cost, but which requires a 50:50 match. If you are moved to support this endeavor, you can earmark your donation to this project in particular.