Business
Why Johnvents is different – John Alamu, Founder & Group Managing Director
By Agbonkhese Oboh
Attention to maintaining quality from origin to finished products, as well as generating impact across the value chain, from the farmers who produce raw materials to the families living in communities around operations, are part of the culture that set Johnvents Group on a higher pedestal in the food manufacturing ecosystem.
John Alamu, Johnvents Founder & Group Managing Director, made these points in an interview with Vanguard during a media tour of Johnvents’ operations in Ondo State.
In his words: “What differentiates us is the journey behind our products. We are building an integrated food business that connects agricultural sourcing and processing with the products consumers enjoy every day.
“Our chocolate drinks and cocoa powders are made with Nigerian cocoa, and our operations span key stages of the value chain from working with farmers and supporting good agricultural practices to processing cocoa in our own facilities in Akure and Ile-Oluji.
“At these facilities, we process cocoa into ingredients such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake, and cocoa powder, which support products including Johnvents 3-in-1 Chocolate, Johnvents Pure Cocoa Powder, Johnvents Choco Pops, Johnvents Choco Cubes, and Oluji Pure Cocoa Powder.
“This connection between sourcing and processing gives us a close understanding of the raw material and the importance of maintaining quality from origin to finished product.”
Speaking on the group’s impact on farmers, communities and consumers, John Alamu said: “For smallholder farmers, we work to make support more accessible through farmer networks, training, seedlings, farm mapping, traceability and stronger links to markets.
“We currently work with more than 40,000 farmer-partners across our sourcing network, and our long-term ambition is to support 150,000 cocoa farmers by 2030.
“Since 2022, we have distributed more than 300,000 cocoa seedlings. We also work with partners to promote climate-smart agriculture and improved farming practices, because farmers need more than a buyer: they need the knowledge, resources, and market connections.”
“For us, meaningful impact is not about making one-off appearances in communities. It is about listening to people, understanding their needs and supporting interventions whose outcomes can be tracked over time.
“Our community initiatives also extend beyond agriculture. In Owo, our women’s empowerment initiative has provided more than 50 women with soap-making and entrepreneurship training to help them develop income-generating skills.
“We have also supported children in underserved communities through educational outreach. In cocoa-growing communities, our child-labour monitoring and remediation work is designed to help identify risks, protect children and support access to education.
“Our wider community investments include support for schools, solar-powered boreholes, housing and farmer cooperative hubs. Since 2024, our Children’s Day outreach has reached more than 500 children, and the Johnvents Apex League has engaged 320 student-athletes from 16 secondary schools.
“Across our operations, we also provide employment and livelihood opportunities through our workforce and wider value chain.”
History, capacity, products
Johnvents Group, under the CapitalSage Holdings conglomerate, is a multi-national agribusiness and manufacturing group – from production, processing, manufacturing, supply chain to distribution.
From a vision in 2014 to help farmers, both smallholders and commercial growers, maximise their land and connect their harvests to global markets, today Johnvents has 10 factories and nine subsidiaries across Africa, Asia, and the UAE.
They process cocoa, nuts, grains, oils, feed, FMCG and have a logistics arm; they source, process and produce from over 12 origins to export to over 30 countries.
The tour
The tour took newsmen and celebrities through some of the group’s operations, and journey of raw materials from farm to processing and manufacturing. There were engagements with farmers, field teams, and Johnvents’ leadership.
Johnvents currently operates 10 factories, including 48,000 MT annual cocoa-processing capacity; 33,000 MT edible-oil capacity and 30,000 MT animal-feed capacity.
Some of their production estate include Premium Cocoa Products (Ile-Oluji) Limited, PCPIL; Johnvents Industries Factory, Akure; Noble-Eagle Industries, Owo, and Johnvents Foods Factory, Idanre.
Their products are Oluji Pure Cocoa Powder, Johnvents Pure Cocoa Powder, Johnvents 3-in1, Chocolate Drink, Johnvents Choco Pops, Johnvents Choco Cubes, among others.
