• John Alamu, GMD Johnvents.
As a young monitoring-and-evaluation specialist in Nigeria, John Alamu spent his days conducting research, writing reports, and delivering the same recommendations—again and again.
The repetition, he said, wore on him. “I was getting bored seeing the same problems,” Alamu recalled. “Farmers lacked access to finance. They lacked access to markets.
The solutions were always the same, but nothing changed.”
Restless for a new challenge and determined to make a more tangible impact, Alamu invested his savings in a shuttered cocoa factory. It was a risky move, particularly for a sector long considered volatile, but for Alamu, the motivation was simple: “All of this started with the dream of helping farmers.”
That decision, made less than a decade ago, has since given rise to Johnvents Group, one of Nigeria’s leading processing and manufacturing companies, accounting for more than 35% of the country’s processed cocoa products.
Today, Johnvents employs more than 3,000 people across its value chain, helping to sustain thousands of families in cocoa growing communities.
In 2024, with support from the GAFSP Private Sector Window and the International Development Association (IDA) Private Sector Window, IFC provided a financing package to support the expansion of Johnvents’s cocoa processing plant in Ondo State, in Nigeria’s southwestern region— using . patient capital to de-risk investment and catalyze broader sector growth.
“Local financing for agriculture is extremely expensive, and cocoa is seen as risky,” explained Alamu, Group Managing Director for Johnvents. “IFC offered patient capital, which was critical to our expansion goals.”
How is local cocoa processing creating jobs in Nigeria?
Before IFC’s investment, the factory processed about 8,000 metric tons of cocoa each year. It now processes more than double that—16,600 metric tons annually—and newly installed machinery is expected to increase the plant’s processing capacity to 24,000 metric tons once it is fully operational.
The IFC investment also supported the installation of a cocoa-drying facility, the acquisition of additional commercial trucks, and a shift to cleaner, more efficient energy sources, which has significantly reduced emissions .
Unlocking local value addition
Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and one of the continent’s largest cocoa producers. With more than 70% of its population under the age of 30, the pressure to create jobs is intensifying.
Agriculture, which generates nearly a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs more than a third of its population, offers one of the most promising pathways to economic opportunity.
Cocoa is one of Nigeria’s most significant agricultural commodities and a leading non-oil export.
According to World Bank estimates, Nigeria exported more than $1.6 billion in raw cocoa bean in 2024 alone, underscoring cocoa’s critical role in boosting rural livelihoods. Yet historically, most of the beans’ value has left the country:
Nigeria exports roughly 80% of its cocoa beans unprocessed instead of as value-added goods, which generate larger profit margins and export earnings and contribute to the creation of higher-skilled, better-paying jobs.
The IFC investment has been critical in enabling Johnvents to begin to reverse this trend. Johnvents now manufactures cocoa butter, cake, and powder—inputs used in chocolates, confectionery, beverages, and health products—which means more value is captured in Nigeria before products are exported to global markets.
Trading is the first step, but the goal has always been to build factories, add value in Africa, and export finished products—not just raw beans,” said Alamu.
Raising incomes—and expectations—at the farm level
As part of the partnership, IFC, with GAFSP Private Sector Window support, is also providing advisory services to Johnvents to train farmers in climate-smart cocoa production practices that increase yields, improve the efficiency of aggregation through professionalized cooperatives, strengthen sustainability and traceability systems, and expand women’s participation across the workforce and value chain.
Besides training, Johnvents provides financing to farmers to support the harvest and postharvest processes.
It also enters into offtake agreements with farmers that guarantee it will purchase a certain amount of goods, ensuring a more stable and predictable income for the farmers.
For farmers such as Daniel Ibeabuchi Udenoke, the change has been tangible. “I inherited my cocoa plants from my father, but I never learned good agricultural practices until I worked with Johnvents,” he said.
“Now I know when and how to spray, how to care for the plants—and I’m getting the best crops I’ve ever had.” The result, he added, is not just income stability, but a shift away from seeing cocoa as just “old men’s business.”
Indeed, Udenoke and his fellow farmers now view the crop as a source of income and growth for younger Nigerians, including his four children.
Higher yields, higher incomes
According to Johnvents, its efforts have helped farmers to increase their yields and incomes by 10% to 15% annually. The company is supporting farmers to expand production responsibly, replacing aging trees and increasing land productivity without deforestation.
Just as important, Alamu said, is the shift in mindset.
“We’re working to move farmers from seeing agriculture as a way of life to seeing it as a business. Cocoa farming should be a career, like being a banker or a pilot,” he said.
Source: IFC Trend Lines, July 2026
