While addressing journalists in Akure, the Ondo State capital, the Group Managing Director of Johnvent Industries Nigeria Limited, Mr. John Alamu disclosed that the company has invested N3bn to boost cocoa business in Ondo State. And Nigeria as a whole.
Alamu stated that the firm came into the cocoa industry to make a difference. He also disclosed that the company would be officially inaugurated by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, next week.
He said, “We acquired the factory from Olam. Olam was the last tenant here and the factory belongs to Coop Cocoa. The nature of acquisition is this: the building belongs to Coop Cocoa while we had 100 percent acquisition of all the equipment of the factory.
“We came in, in the month of April and since we came in, we have invested over N3bn in revamping the entire factory. This investment has been in the area of upgrade of some machineries and complete overhaul of some machineries. There is a whole lot of development; this is not what this place used to be months ago. We have also invested a lot of money into procurement of cocoa beans.”
According to Alamu, Ondo State is the largest cocoa producing state in Nigeria and the by-products of the company would be for export.
He said, “The biggest challenge for a factory like this is always raw material. But then because we are sited in Ondo State and we have in our procurement strategy plans to do backward integration to support farmers, that would eventually lead to guarantee the supply of our raw materials.”
Alamu also revealed that the company had signed agreements with some countries. He added that the company is however not willing to sell the powder abroad because there is a local demand for it.
