People
It is anticipated that up to 900 long-term jobs will be created, with as many as 90 per cent to be held by women.
| Company | GuarantCo |
| Sector | Agriculture-supporting infrastructure |
| Country | Nigeria |
| Total Project Cost | USD 75m |
| PIDG Commitment |
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| Dates of PIDG involvement |
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Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest cashew producers of c. 250-300k tonnes of raw cashew nuts annually, yet currently less than 10 per cent are processed domestically. Most raw nuts are exported unprocessed, forfeiting up to 80 per cent of their potential export value.
This structural gap reflects weak processing capacity, limited access to long-term finance, and low investor confidence in agro-processing infrastructure. Consequently, Nigeria captures only a small fraction of global value in its own cashew supply chain and faces high exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations.
PIDG provided a 100 per cent guarantee to support a USD 75 million debt facility for Robust International to construct a new cashew nut processing plant in Ogun State, Nigeria. This additional plant will more than double Robust’s existing cashew processing capacity from 100 MT per day to 220 MT per day.
The debt facility was provided by a Symbiotics-arranged bond platform, which in turn issued notes with the benefit of the GuarantCo guarantee. These notes have been subscribed to in full by M&G Investments.
It is anticipated that up to 900 long-term jobs will be created, with as many as 90 per cent to be held by women.
The plant will incorporate functionality to convert waste by-products into value-added biomass and biofuel inputs.
The plant will incorporate functionality to convert waste by-products into value-added biomass and biofuel inputs.
Establishing one of Nigeria’s largest modern cashew processing facilities (150 MT per day), will prove the commercial viability of domestic value addition and catalyse new private investments. While enabling frameworks, through structured farmer procurement and traceable supply chains, will introduce higher environmental, social, and quality standards into the industry, aligning it with global processing benchmarks.
Robust is targeting the increase of the share of procurement from women farmers, from 15 per cent to 25 per cent by 2028, as it reaches new regions in Nigeria and extends its ongoing gender-responsive outreach programme for farmers.
