Nigerian agro-commodity firm Sunbeth Global Concepts has unveiled plans to commission a 70,000-metric tonne cocoa processing plant by March 2027, alongside an 80,000-metric tonne cashew processing facility, in what is shaping up to be one of the most consequential private-sector agro-industrial investments in Nigeria’s recent history.

The announcement drew fresh attention after it was amplified by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on social media, signalling government awareness of the development.

Managing Director Olasunkanmi Owoyemi made the disclosure at the Africa Cocoa Finance and Investment Forum held at the London Stock Exchange, where he outlined the company’s shift from a trading-focused enterprise into a fully integrated agro-processor. Both facilities are currently under construction, with the March 2027 commissioning date firmly on the company’s calendar.

Owoyemi was direct about the philosophy underpinning the investment. A processing plant of that scale, he noted, is only as viable as the supply chain behind it, making vertical integration not optional but foundational.

To that end, Sunbeth says it will invest in backward integration cultivating the raw crops needed to feed its own plants while simultaneously empowering farmers across its sourcing network with training, technology, financing, and improved logistics.

Through its Orange Cocoa Sustainability Framework, the company has committed to training 100,000 farmers in good agricultural practices by 2040 and distributing one million hybrid cocoa seedlings across its regions, with over 60,000 seedlings already earmarked for distribution in 2026 alone.

The cocoa plant is intended to deepen Nigeria’s footprint in the global processing landscape, moving the country beyond its long-established role as a bulk exporter of raw beans. The cashew facility, meanwhile, is designed to serve growing demand across West Africa while targeting premium export markets in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Together, the two projects represent a deliberate bet on value retention keeping more of the economic upside of Nigeria and Africa’s agricultural wealth on the continent rather than exporting it raw for others to process.

Founded in 2017, Sunbeth has grown rapidly from a domestic trading operation into one of Nigeria’s largest cocoa exporters, commanding an estimated 15 to 16 percent of the country’s cocoa export market and annually moving more than 200,000 metric tonnes of commodities.

The company currently operates across Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon, and maintains international offices in London, Dubai, and New York to support trade finance and global market access.

Looking further ahead, Sunbeth’s leadership has articulated a vision for Africa that by 2050 not only produces the majority of the world’s cocoa and cashew but also processes, trades, and derives the full economic benefit from those commodities a vision that the twin plant investment is clearly designed to advance, one factory at a time.