Creating Sustainable Trade Between the Global North and the Global South

An Experience-Based Story of an African Community from a Spiral Dynamics Perspective

How can a rural community in northern Ghana turn a story of extraction into one of empowerment?
How can transformation emerge from within, when global systems of trade and aid are misaligned with local realities?

This salon invites you into a living story of human dignity, systemic change, and evolution in action, a real-world example of transformation viewed through the lens of Spiral Dynamics.

It is a story about trust and betrayal, failure and perseverance, fear and love. It is a story about evolutionary change from a Second Tier perspective and healthy Red action in contexts dominated by unhealthy expressions of Red, Blue, Orange, and Green.

At the center of this journey is Alain Volz, MSc, who studied Business Administration and Organizational Psychology. While working as a Senior Consultant in Human Talent & Change Management, Alain met Dr. Don Beck and became deeply involved with the Center for Human Emergence (CHE) in the Netherlands, serving on its executive board and as co-director of its consulting firm, Synnervate.

Alain’s professional path took a pivotal turn when representatives of the Dagomba tribe in Ghana invited him to collaborate on creating sustainable solutions for issues in the rural communities that are rooted in exploitative international trade and misguided development aid.

Together with the local community leader Mr. Umar Mohammed, Alain began working with Dipaliya, a women’s group producing shea butter — a natural fat used in cosmetics and food. Despite an international shea market exceeding $6 billion and growing 10% annually, the women behind the industry continue to earn below the poverty line.

In response, Alain founded the Dipaliya Foundation in the Netherlands and developed a transformative business model for global trade called Return on Extraction (RoE). Through its consumer brand Dipaliya Raw, the Foundation empowers consumers in the Global North to become catalysts for equitable and sustainable trade with the Global South.

In recognition of his work, the Dagomba tribe honored Alain with a Chieftaincy title, a rare distinction within the tribe.