The West Africa Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP), a programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in collaboration with the Global Shea Alliance (GSA) has trained 50 SMEs in cosmetic product formulation to promote industry sustainability, quality practices, and standards in Accra at weekend.
The training is part of activities implemented under the WACOMP–Ghana Sub-Contracting Matching Scheme being implemented by GSA to provide technical assistance to SMEs in the Cosmetic and Personal Care Value Chain to strengthen their competitiveness.
Participants were taken through ways of exploring the various functions of ingredients for a consumer, and how to leverage it to create products that are desirable by customers particularly formulation for Shea-base lotions.
The cosmetics producers were also given information on different ingredient suppliers that cosmetic companies have access to in Ghana and took part in B2B sessions to exchange contacts with ingredient suppliers.
Mr. Aaron Adu, the Managing Director of Global Shea Alliance in his opening remarks said the training in collaboration with WACOMP has provided technical assistance to SMEs in the cosmetic and personal care products value chain.
“At the end of the training, you will be able to develop your unique cosmetic formulae with practical demonstration skills on skin lotion formulation,” he assured.
Mr. Charles Kwame Sackey, the Chief Technical Advisor of WACOMP-Ghana recounted the various training since the collaborative effort between Global Shea Alliance and WACOMP while stressing the importance of the formulation training.
“Since September 2020, 150 SMEs in the cosmetic and personal care value chain’s capacity have been built on branding and marketing, packaging, labelling and standard compliance to enhance their ability to produce cosmetic products that can compete internationally,” he revealed.
“The last in the series of capacity building which focuses on product formulation training seeks to equip SMEs with the functionality of different ingredients in formulations in line with customer expectations and to sustain best practices in the cosmetic and personal care products value chain,” he explained.
He advised the SMEs to adopt the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMPs) and relevant product standards from Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to enhance their compliance to standards in the production of quality cosmetic products.
