Nigeria TV Info — CapitalSage Founder Urges Shift from Raw Cocoa Export to Value-Added Products

Lagos, Nigeria — The Founder and Group Managing Director of CapitalSage Holdings, Mr. John Alamu, has called for an urgent transformation of Nigeria’s cocoa industry, urging the shift from exporting unprocessed cocoa beans to producing and exporting finished products such as chocolate, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder.

Speaking on the growth of his business empire, which began in 2014 with just ₦100,000, Alamu stressed that value addition is the golden key to transforming Nigeria’s economy. He noted that the country’s heavy dependence on raw cocoa exports has cost billions in lost revenue.

“An exporter of raw cocoa makes about $8,000 per tonne, but by processing the same into finished products like chocolate, the value rises to as much as 30 times more,” Alamu explained. He emphasized that this principle has shaped the evolution of CapitalSage Holdings into a multi-sector conglomerate driving Africa’s economic renaissance.

Alamu revealed that CapitalSage’s subsidiaries, including Johnvents Group, have emerged as leading players in the integrated supply chain for sesame, cocoa, legumes, cashew, soya, edible nuts, rice, and rubber, generating millions of dollars in annual revenue.

With ten factories, including Johnvents Industries and Premium Cocoa Products in Ile-Oluji, Ondo State — one of Nigeria’s oldest cocoa processing plants — the group has the capacity to process up to 48,000 metric tonnes of cocoa annually for export to Europe, Asia, and the United States.

“Johnvents Group, CapitalSage Holdings’ agribusiness arm, is building strength across multiple agri-commodities and consumer markets,” Alamu said. He further explained that the cocoa unit anchors global exports of cocoa butter, liquor, cake, and powder, while the sesame and legumes unit supplies premium-grade sesame, soya, and grains sourced from Africa and beyond.

Alamu’s statement underscores the enormous potential of value-added agriculture to boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, create jobs, and position the nation as a global leader in cocoa and agri-processing.