Sunbeth MD joins other global cocoa investors at LSEG, calls for local value adddition

Olasunkanmi Owoyemi, managing director of Sunbeth Global Concepts, has called for deeper local value addition in Africa’s cocoa industry, saying the continent must move beyond exporting raw beans to building globally competitive processing and manufacturing businesses.

Speaking at the Africa Cocoa Finance and Investment Forum held at the London Stock Exchange Group, Owoyemi said African cocoa producers risk remaining on the margins of global value creation if they continue to focus mainly on exports.

“Africa cannot continue to be the source of cocoa and remain absent from the centre of value creation,” he said during a panel session on Africa Cocoa Vision 2050: Opportunities for Regional Growth & Transformation.

“If African cocoa businesses must build companies that last 100 years, then we must stop thinking like exporters alone and start building like institution creators,” he added.

Owoyemi said lasting competitiveness in the sector would require African firms to strengthen control over sourcing systems, logistics infrastructure, processing capacity and sustainability frameworks.

As part of that strategy, he announced plans by Sunbeth to establish a 70,000-metric-tonne cocoa processing plant and an 80,000-metric-tonne cashew processing facility in Sagamu, south-west Nigeria, with commissioning slated for March 2027.

The investment marks the company’s transition from a commodity trading business into integrated agro-processing, as Nigeria and other African countries intensify efforts to retain more value from agricultural exports through local manufacturing.

According to him, the planned facilities are expected to strengthen Nigeria’s role in the global cocoa value chain while creating jobs and expanding domestic processing capacity.

The forum attracted international investors, financiers and industry stakeholders to discuss financing, sustainability and growth opportunities across Africa’s cocoa industry.