Mara Innovations Centre Limited initially known as Scelus Innovations Limited is a consulting firm that was incorporated in December 2021 as company limited by shares. The company’s mission is to build bridges for entrepreneurs through skilling, innovation and research. As such, it drives impact through offering business development services in the form of: capacity building, financial inclusion, business model co-creation, strategy development, organizational support on governance, coaching and mentorship. The company also produces and markets raw unrefined Shea butter for cosmetic use.
Mara Innovations Centre Limited presents a strong, results-oriented offer to provide business management, financial inclusion and business development services to clients. Our services are customized and designed to strengthen enterprise performance, improve financial discipline and management, accelerate growth, and enhance investment readiness for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s), agribusinesses, and growth oriented entrepreneurs.
With four years’ experience in enterprise development, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship training, coaching, mentorship, and project management, the company brings deep practical expertise in working with MSME’s, farmer organizations, youth-and women-led enterprises, Green businesses, inclusive business and high-growth startups across Uganda and the wider region.
Our approach combines practical business tools, tailored advisory, coaching and performance tracking to ensure measurable outcomes aligned with our clients specific objectives.
About our Shea Butter Business
Mara Innovations Centre Limited also produces and markets raw unrefined Shea Butter for cosmetic use. Our Shea butter, Shea Nilotica, is a derivative from the Vitellaria Nilotica tree which is native to East Africa. Shea Nilotica offers superior cosmetic properties compared to the West African Shea Butter.
Mara currently markets its Shea butter to the affluent class within Uganda, who desire more natural and healthy skin care products for themselves and their families. However, the company hopes to start exporting its Shea butter following the growing demand for Shea butter globally. Until recently, the only Shea butter availability on the international market was Shea Paradoxa, the West African Shea butter, which is more suitable for the food industry. Shea Nilotica and its more cosmetic friendly nature is capturing the global imagination especially in an era where people are more conscious of self-care and are preferring natural products to the other synthetic options which are more popular.
At Mara, our mission for this particular business is to create meaningful impact by generating opportunities for communities engaged in Shea nut collection. We intend to achieve this by sourcing our nuts ethically and sustainably from local communities across the Shea belt, ensuring that both the people and the environment benefit.
Mara transforms raw shea nuts into value-added products, most notably Mara Organics, our premium unrefined shea butter. With this product, we aspire to introduce the rich potential of shea Nilotica to international markets, while simultaneously improving livelihoods in the communities from where our journey begins.
About our Shea butter and its benefits on your skin and hair
Globally, there are two different varieties of Shea nuts, from two different regions of Africa, East and West Africa. The West African Shea nuts is scientifically known as Shea Vitellaria Paradoxa, while the East African Shea nuts is scientifically Shea Vitellaria Nilotica. The two varieties are differentiated by their location of origin as well as their chemical composition.
Mara, being an East African company deals in the East African Nilotica variety of Shea nuts. The Uniqueness of our Shea butter compared to the more widely known Shea vitellaria Paradoxa is that Shea Nilotica is a luxurious and highly moisturizing butter known for its rich texture and numerous skin benefits. It has 20% more oleic acid than shea paradoxa, contains vitamin K and allantoin. Vitamin K improves skin healing, fades decoloration and strengthens fragile blood vessels while Allantoin helps to promote cell regeneration and gently exfoliates dead skin cells making it ideal for sensitive or irritated skin.
According to Nilotica Shea butter brand, the shea butter that we process and market; “Shea butter (Vitellaria nilotica) is an excellent moisturizer that absorbs quickly into the skin and is non-comedogenic (doesn’t clog pores). It has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiseptic and skin healing properties, and nourishes skin and hair with Vitamins A, E and F. All shea butter is not the same, shea nilotica (The East African Shea) is rarer and has a milder scent, lower melting point (77-86 degrees F) and has a higher percentage (50-60% for nilotica vs. 30-45% for paradoxa) of the skin penetration enhancer, oleic acid. Practically, this means nilotica is more easily incorporated into cosmetic formulations without further processing, has a softer, smoother quality at room temperature, melts when applied to the body and is more readily absorbed by skin and hair.”