Cardinal Torch: How a 6-Year-Old Nigerian Agribusiness is Rewriting Africa’s Commodity Story
Cardinal Torch Company Limited is betting big on processing. After raising ₦10 billion in the capital market and planning a stock exchange listing, the company says it wants to move Nigeria from exporting raw commodities to producing finished, value-added goods for global markets. Writes MARY NNAH
At an exclusive media parley hosted by Cardinal Torch Company Limited, the management laid out an ambition that sounds simple but is radical for Nigerian agriculture: stop shipping raw beans, cashews, and cocoa abroad and start exporting finished products.
Six years after it was founded in 2020, the company is trading millions of metric tons of commodities, has just debuted in Nigeria’s debt market, and is building four processing plants across Ogun and Lagos.
The goal, executives said, is to create a legacy business that outlives its founders. “We were established in the year 2020, and to date we have done a lot of commodity exports, particularly with cocoa, cashew, sesame and soya. All that we have dealt with in the last six years has been actively exporting raw products,” said Mr. David Oladunjoye Olurin, Managing Director/CEO of Cardinal Torch Company Limited, adding, “We decided that the next phase of the company is to start processing and value addition.”
From Trader to Manufacturer
Cardinal Torch positions itself at the intersection of agriculture, technology, logistics, and trade. Its model is full-cycle: sourcing from cooperatives and farmers across Nigeria’s belts, warehousing, quality testing, logistics, processing, and exporting.
Today it moves 5,000 MT of maize monthly, 3,000 MT of millet, 3,000 MT of husked brown rice, and 300 MT of grain sorghum for export. On the import side, it brings in 45,000 MT of wheat quarterly, 10,000 MT of soybeans monthly, and other industrial inputs.
But trading alone, the company argues, leaves money and jobs on the table. “As the CEO has rightly said, I will speak to the plans of our company as we transition from just being a commodities trading company to an agro processor and eventually a food manufacturing company,” said Emmanuel Mshelia, Chief Technical Officer.
Mshelia detailed four flagship projects. First, a 10-ton-per-day raw cashew nut factory in Ogun State, due for commissioning in Q4 2026. It will yield 2.5 metric tons of white kernels daily, with an annual export capacity of about 600 MT.
“We hear a lot about value addition, and yes, this is the step that we have taken as a company,” Mshelia said. “In adding value from just the raw material to the finished products, we can have increased monetary value to as high as 200%.”
The plant will also extract cashew nut shell liquid for industrial use and burn shells to power boilers – what he called “waste valorisation.”
Nigeria produces 280,000 to 350,000 MT of cashew annually, but “more than 80% goes to India or Vietnam. And so they end up processing these raw materials and getting the entire value of it. So we intend to plug that in.”
Next is a 250 MT per day soybean solvent extraction plant with a 100 MT per day refinery, starting at 50 MT to allow expansion. With national soybean oil consumption at 2.5–2.6 million MT against production of 1.5–1.6 million MT, Mshelia said “that gap creates opportunity, and that opportunity is what we intend to maximise.
The third is a 40-ton cocoa processing plant in Ogun to make liquor, butter, cake and eventually chocolate. “We produce the cocoa, but we intend to import the chocolates at a far higher value than what we have sold to them as raw cocoa beans. So that we also intend to nip it in the bud,” he said.
Finally, a pasta, spaghetti, noodles and flour plant plus carbonated drinks at the Lagos Free Trade Zone.
All facilities, Mshelia added, will be built to BRCGS and ISO standards. “What we are building are world-class plants that will manufacture world-class goods.”
₦10 Billion Debut and a Public Future
To fund the expansion, Cardinal Torch has established a ₦30 billion Commercial Paper Programme. In July 2026, it issued Series 1 – ₦10 billion – arranged by FSDH Capital Limited. Olurin said the issuance was deliberately disciplined. “I sit here to proudly tell you that our Series 1, N10 billion commercial paper was very successful. Were you oversubscribed? Yes, we were oversubscribed, but we did not oversubscribe ourselves. We went into the market for N10 billion, and we came out for N10 billion.”
The reason, he explained, is governance. “When we get oversubscribed, your subscribers are not typically happy… It’s not good for you at the time of redeeming your pledges not to be able to redeem because your plan has been altered.”
The paper is already listed on the Nigerian Exchange, a step toward a larger ambition: a full public listing.
“The tail end of the company is to list on the exchange. Be it Nigerian Stock Exchange, be it New York Stock Exchange, be it London Stock Exchange,” Olurin said. “For every company that survives after the visionaries, it becomes a public company; the interest is well protected by the government, by the promoters. It’s not a one-man business that will die when the one man eventually leaves… What we are creating is a legacy organisation that will live after so many of us.”
Risk, Governance and the Supply Chain
For Ndutimobong Sunday, Head of Business Development & Commercial, the capital market entry means tighter controls.
“This company is six years old. But we have achieved giant strides in the sector in those six years. And that growth is underpinned by our instituting strong governance principles across our operations, Sunday said.
She cited FATF/EFCC compliance, in-house vetting, warehouse insurance, transit monitoring, and price hedging via listing on ICE to manage volatility. “When you are in this type of sector, you get a contract. You need to be sure that you are not just delivering, but you are also staying green in the books.”
Sustainability is also operational. The company is aligning with the EU Deforestation Regulation to maintain market access. “We are also ensuring that our prices are hedged… and sustainably sourcing from organizations that are compliant with regulation.”
Mr. Bamitale Akindele, Executive Director, Operations & Logistics, reframed operations as people, not trucks. “I see us as a supply chain organisation. I see us as a supply chain because we are the heartbeat of everything we buy and produce. 90% of people see… a truck on the highway. But nobody sees the work behind that,” Akindele said.
“The backbone of Cardinal Torch is the people. And I can put my hand on my chest and say that we have a fantastic group of individuals who do fantastic work, which makes the growth that we have achieved in the last six years very efficient and rewarding.”
He stressed that standards start at construction: “When we are just building factories… what we are building are world-class plants that will manufacture world-class goods.”
From Farm to Shelf: Cardinal Treats
Beyond B2B, Cardinal Torch is launching “Cardinal Treats,” a premium ready-to-eat cashew brand for Nigerian retailers, with flavours like Coconut Coated, Pepper Spiced, Salted and Caramel Glazed.
Export plans target the UK, Dubai, Europe and North America. Future consumer lines include Cardinal Drinks, Soya Oil, Rice and Spaghetti.
The company frames this as an impact. For farmers: better pricing and training. For communities: jobs and skills. For the government: non-oil FX earnings. For global buyers: “reliable access to certified, traceable, and sustainably sourced African agricultural commodities.”
“Our purpose is to build a resilient agricultural ecosystem where farmers prosper, industries thrive, communities grow, and global markets gain reliable access to premium African commodities”, Akindele noted.
“We are building sustainable value chain systems that do what? That connects farmers to markets locally and globally, he said. “
That creates quality jobs that align with the government’s agenda for diversification of non-oil revenue. And of course, the United Nations SDG 8 goal of decent jobs and economic growth.
”With processing coming online, a listed commercial paper, and a roadmap to the stock market, Cardinal Torch is betting that Nigeria’s agricultural future will not be in bags of raw nuts at the port, but in branded snacks on shelves from Lagos to London.
“Success, they say, doesn’t hide. It speaks very loud,” Olurin said. “That is where we are as a company. And we have other plans for the future as we evolve”, he noted further.
