Ghana's Vitara Agritech Raises $2M to Trace Shea Supply Chains

Mawuse Christina Gyisun (Co-founder & COO) and JohnCarl Dunyo (CEO)

Vitara Agritech (formerly Sommalife) has secured a $2 million (€1.8 million) equity investment from the EU-funded AgriFI Ghana Country Window, Acumen, and angel investors.

The capital is earmarked to scale TreeSyt, its proprietary digital traceability platform targeting the fragmented Ghanaian shea supply chain.

By digitizing farmer records, sourcing, and payments via MTN Ghana APIs, Vitara aims to aggregate supply from 47,000 active female smallholders to meet European manufacturers' procurement standards.

Vitara Agritech, a Ghanaian agri-tech company formerly known as Sommalife, has secured USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million) in equity investment from the European Union-funded AgriFI Ghana Country Window, impact investor Acumen and angel investors. The funding will help the company expand its digital traceability platform, strengthen sourcing from smallholder farmers and build a more sustainable shea supply chain.

The investment marks the first direct equity investment through the AgriFI Ghana Country Window, managed by EDFI Management Company. The initiative supports private-sector businesses and financial institutions that improve smallholder livelihoods across Ghana’s five northern regions.

Founded in 2020, Vitara connects shea producers with international manufacturers through its proprietary digital platform, TreeSyt. By digitising farmer records, sourcing, training and tree monitoring, the company aims to improve supply-chain transparency while creating more reliable market access for producers, particularly women.

Why Did Vitara Agritech Raise USD 2 Million?

Vitara will use the investment to expand its work with women shea producers, strengthen its technology solutions and grow its sourcing network in Ghana.

The funding brings together development finance, impact investment and angel capital. AgriFI’s involvement also reflects an emphasis on commercially viable businesses that can improve agricultural livelihoods while supporting sustainable resource management.

The AgriFI Ghana Country Window is a EUR 10 million investment mechanism managed by EDFI Management Company. It targets agricultural enterprises and financial institutions operating across Ghana’s five northern regions, with a focus on value chains including shea, soy, vegetables and beekeeping.

The investment is intended to support Vitara’s continued growth and its efforts to connect smallholder farmers with international markets. The company’s approach combines digital infrastructure with on-the-ground sourcing and community relationships, aiming to make a fragmented agricultural supply chain more transparent and commercially accessible.

Ilona Gruenewald, programme manager for agriculture and energy at the European Union Delegation to Ghana, said the investment could strengthen agricultural value chains, create economic opportunities for women and support the sustainable use of natural resources in northern Ghana.

Rodrigo Madrazo, CEO of EDFI Management Company, described Vitara’s model as commercially strong, with benefits for smallholder producers and the landscapes on which the shea sector depends.

How Does Vitara Agritech’s TreeSyt Platform Work?

Vitara uses TreeSyt to digitise key stages of the shea supply chain, from farmer registration and commodity sourcing to training and tree monitoring.

Shea is extracted from the nuts of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). Its fat is used in cocoa butter equivalents for chocolate and confectionery, as well as in products for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Despite its international demand, Ghana’s shea sector remains fragmented, with producers often facing limited access to finance, inconsistent market access and inadequate infrastructure. Informal intermediaries can also make it harder to trace produce back to its origin.

TreeSyt is designed to address these challenges by creating digital records of farmers and sourcing activity. The platform helps Vitara aggregate shea directly from farming communities and provide buyers with more verifiable supply-chain information.

Its main functions include:

• Farmer profiling: Digitising producer information to improve visibility across the sourcing network.
• Commodity sourcing: Supporting the aggregation and tracking of shea from farming communities to buyers.
• Training: Helping deliver information and support to participating farmers.
• Tree monitoring: Tracking shea trees and supporting conservation-related activities.
• Digital payments: A partnership with MTN Ghana has integrated mobile money APIs to facilitate farmer payments, including in areas with limited internet access.

Together, these capabilities support Vitara’s effort to build a more traceable supply chain that meets the sourcing requirements of international manufacturers.

The company has also reported that its fair pricing and payment terms have increased farmer incomes by 20%. This is a company-reported outcome rather than an independently established sector-wide result.

How Many Farmers Does Vitara Agritech Support?

Vitara’s network is predominantly female, reflecting the central role women play in Ghana’s shea economy.

The company reported working with approximately 47,000 women farmers during the latest shea season referenced in its investment announcement. Separately, as of late 2025, it reported that 150,000 farmers were registered on TreeSyt, including 40,000 actively participating in sourcing programmes.

Metric	Reported figure	Significance
Share of farmers in Vitara’s network who are women	91%	Highlights the company’s focus on women producers
Women farmers engaged during the latest referenced shea season	Approximately 47,000	Indicates the reach of its sourcing activities
Farmers registered on TreeSyt, as of late 2025	150,000	Shows the scale of its digital network
Farmers actively participating in sourcing programmes, as of late 2025	40,000	Distinguishes active sourcing participation from registration
Farmer reach ambition by 2030	1 million	Sets out the company’s longer-term scaling target

Source: Vitara Agritech’s investment announcement and company-reported figures included in the supplied draft. Reporting periods differ across metrics.

Vitara’s longer-term ambition is to reach one million farmers by 2030. Achieving that target would require the company to expand its community agent network, sustain sourcing relationships and maintain reliable data and payment systems as its reach grows.

For women who depend on shea harvesting and processing for household income, more predictable market access could help improve earnings stability. However, the extent of the impact will depend on the prices farmers receive, the consistency of purchasing arrangements and the costs involved in participating in the supply chain.

Why Is Ghana’s Shea Supply Chain Important to Vitara’s Growth?

Vitara’s commercial opportunity is closely tied to demand from international manufacturers, particularly European companies specialising in plant-based oils and fats.

Ghana produces an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 metric tonnes of shea nuts annually, according to the figures supplied in the draft. The global shea market is projected to exceed USD 3 billion by 2030, creating potential opportunities for businesses that can connect producers with buyers and meet traceability requirements.

Shea is used in cocoa butter equivalents for chocolate and confectionery, alongside applications in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Manufacturers need dependable sourcing relationships and increasingly detailed information about where agricultural commodities originate and how they are produced.

Vitara’s main clients include European companies specialising in plant-based oils and fats. This existing connection to international buyers gives the company a commercial incentive to improve traceability and aggregate supply from smallholder communities.

Its business model seeks to connect three parts of the value chain:

• Producers: Smallholder farmers supply shea and gain access to sourcing relationships.
• Vitara: The company aggregates produce and uses TreeSyt to support sourcing, traceability and farmer engagement.
• International buyers: Manufacturers gain access to more traceable shea supplies that can support their procurement requirements.

The model creates an opportunity to combine commercial growth with farmer inclusion and environmental stewardship. Its success, however, depends on whether Vitara can maintain competitive sourcing, reliable quality and consistent supply while ensuring that the benefits reach participating producers.

What Are Vitara’s Environmental and Social Goals?

Alongside its farmer network, Vitara reports conservation activities aimed at protecting shea parklands, which are important natural resources for rural communities and the wider shea supply chain.

The company reports that it has supported the protection of more than 1,500 acres of shea parklands and entered into conservation agreements with 59 communities.

These activities are relevant to a sector that depends on the long-term health of shea trees and the landscapes in which they grow. Monitoring trees through TreeSyt may also help Vitara improve the visibility of its conservation activities as the business expands.

The investment aligns with AgriFI’s broader objective of supporting agricultural businesses that combine commercial viability with inclusive rural development. For Vitara, the challenge is to sustain these environmental and social commitments while growing its sourcing operations.

What Do the Investors See in Vitara Agritech?

The investment brings together development finance and impact-oriented capital around a business targeting both supply-chain inefficiencies and rural livelihoods.

Chris Maranga, Africa director at Acumen, said women who harvest and process shea have historically been excluded from reliable markets. He highlighted Vitara’s potential to improve access to more stable incomes through its growing farmer and community agent network.

Acumen invests in businesses serving underserved markets, using patient capital to support enterprises addressing social and economic challenges. Its participation alongside AgriFI reflects interest in business models that can pursue commercial growth while addressing gaps in agricultural markets.

Mawuse Gyisun, COO and co-founder of Vitara Agritech, said the investment from AgriFI, Acumen and the company’s angel investors would help expand its work with women producers, strengthen its solutions and build a more transparent and sustainable shea supply chain.

For the investors, the opportunity is not simply to digitise agricultural transactions. It is to support a business that can connect dispersed producers to international demand while improving visibility across a traditionally fragmented supply chain.

What Challenges Could Limit Vitara Agritech’s Expansion?

Vitara’s growth prospects depend on its ability to convert a large registered farmer network into consistent sourcing activity while maintaining the commercial and environmental standards expected by buyers and investors.

Several challenges will shape that expansion:

• Operational complexity: Aggregating produce from thousands of geographically dispersed farmers requires effective community agents, logistics and quality controls.
• Farmer participation: Registration on TreeSyt does not necessarily translate into active sourcing or regular income. The company will need to sustain meaningful participation as its network grows.
• Buyer concentration and market exposure: Its links to European manufacturers create commercial opportunities but also expose the business to demand fluctuations and regulatory changes in those markets.
• Infrastructure constraints: Limited access to finance, inadequate infrastructure and weak market systems remain broader challenges across Ghana’s shea sector.
• Environmental accountability: Conservation claims will become more important to substantiate as the company scales its sourcing and parkland protection activities.

The reported farmer-income outcomes also need to be considered in context. The supplied draft cites a 20% income increase attributed to Vitara’s pricing and payment terms. Separately, Rabo Foundation reported that during the 2024/25 shea season, Vitara supported 13,450 women, whose average income reportedly rose by 92% to GHS 3,800 (reported as EUR 298 in the cited source). These figures refer to different reported measures and periods and should not be treated as directly comparable without further methodological detail.

The USD 2 million investment provides additional capital for Vitara to expand its model, but it cannot resolve the structural weaknesses of the shea sector on its own. Sustained progress will depend on operational execution, reliable demand and demonstrable improvements in farmer livelihoods.

What Does the Investment Mean for Ghana’s Shea Industry?

Vitara Agritech’s USD 2 million equity investment signals continued investor interest in agricultural businesses that combine digital infrastructure with inclusive sourcing and sustainability objectives.

The company is seeking to build a stronger link between Ghana’s smallholder shea producers and international manufacturers. TreeSyt provides the digital infrastructure for that strategy, while its farmer and community agent network supports sourcing on the ground.

Its next challenge is to translate its registered farmer base into sustained commercial participation, expand access to reliable markets and demonstrate that its approach can deliver lasting economic and environmental benefits.

With a stated ambition to reach one million farmers by 2030, Vitara’s progress will offer an indication of whether technology-enabled sourcing can help formalise a fragmented agricultural value chain while creating a scalable business.