SWAgCo Signs N10B Deal with Multinationals to Industrialize Agro in South-West
THECONSCIENCE NG reports that SWAgCo, the agribusiness investment vehicle of Odu’a Investment Company Limited (OICL), has signed ₦10 billion Joint Ventures with strategic partners – Starlink Global & Ideal Limited; PETAGULS Cultivars & Seedling Technologies Ltd; Foodlocker Limited and British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) – in pursuit of its goal to agro-industrialize South-West Nigeria.
SWAgCo entered into Cocoa Plantation Joint Venture with Starlink Global & Ideal Limited and PETAGULS Cultivars & Seedling Technologies Ltd for a 5-year cumulative investment of ₦4.6 billion at either Odu’a Agro-Industrial Hub, Oke-Ako, Ekiti State or Odu’a Agro-Industrial Hub, Akunnu, Ondo State (subject to final land testing and validation). The project will start with 100 hectares pilot in Year 1 and scaling to 1,000 hectares by Year 5.
According to SWAgCo, the cocoa plantation project is expected to provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs, boosting employment and local economic growth. Furthermore, it will improve livelihoods and stimulate community growth. The utilization of the available irrigation water will boost food security, drive infrastructure development, and contribute to sustainable economic progress in the South-West region.
Starlink Global and Ideal Limited is a frontline international Cocoa trading and market development company, with deep knowledge of the African commodity market acquired over 40 years. The company is backed by a team of seasoned professionals drawn from reputable local institutions. Petaguls Cultivars & Seed Technologies Limited is a specialized agricultural consultancy and seedlings supply company with advanced knowledge in cocoa seedling production and multiplication.
SWAgCo also signed a joint venture with Foodlocker Limited for a three-year cumulative investment of ₦5.2 billion in integrated maize, soyabeans, sorghum and beef production at Odu’a Agro-Industrial Hub, Imeko, Ogun State.
The project will start with 200 hectares in Year 1 and scale up to 1,000 hectares by Year 3. It will improve livelihoods and stimulate community growth and utilization of the available irrigation water which will boost food security, drive infrastructure development, and contribute to sustainable economic progress in the South-West region.
Foodlocker Limited was founded in December 2017 by ex-Amazon and ex-Bunnings Warehouse millennials with over 25 years’ experience in Agriculture, Operations Management, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Data Science and Engineering. Foodlocker is backed by Founders Factory Africa, the African Development Bank and local VCs.
They are also the first AgriTech startup to win the diamond prize at the prestigious Impulse Accelerator Program, an initiative driven by OCP Group (the World’s largest Phosphate fertilizer company), OCP Africa, UM6P of Morocco, Mass Challenge
Boston and Mass Challenge Switzerland.
The company is the first African AgriTech/FoodTech startup to have been selected by SVG Ventures in Silicon Valley, San Franscisco.
The venture with BATNF is a ₦65 million maize production program on Fifty hectares at Odu’a Agro-Industrial Hub,Oke-Ako, Ekiti State aimed at providing smallholder farmers with credit, inputs, training on good agricultural practices, cultivation, harvesting, storage services and marketing services.
The project, which includes a 2-year ₦32 million revolving grant from BATNF, is expected to enhance the production capacity, skills development, access to inputs, access to market and increase the income of maize farmers in rural communities.
It will also support at least 100 smallholder farmers in cohesive cooperative groups with each farmer empowered to cultivate a model maize farm of at least half a hectare.
Part of the objectives of BATNF is to empower rural Nigeria for a sustainable future through agribusiness development. Westlink Integrated Agriculture Limited, an operating portfolio company of SWAgCo, will be implementing the Ekiti project.
