Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and an impact investor, announces today a USD 10 million debt facility commitment to Valency International Trading SARL, a Valency International Group company. Valency International Group is a diversified, integrated supply chain manager in agri commodities and agri inputs with subsidiaries in 15 countries.
With the funding provided by Finnfund, the company is setting up a new state of the art cashew processing plant in Côte d’Ivoire and expected to become a leading cashew kernel processor in the country.
The facility is expected to contribute to the development of sustainable cashew production and processing in Côte d’Ivoire. Through this investment, Valency will increase domestic cashew nut processing capacity, create quality jobs particularly for low-skilled workers, especially women, and develop supply chains relying on smallholder cashew producers in the rural areas.
Enhancing sustainability in cashew production
Once operational, the new processing plant is expected to have a processing capacity of 45,000 tons of raw cashew nut per year. With this capacity, the company is expected to generate approximately 2,000 direct jobs and cooperate and provide income for up to 10,000 smallholders. Due to the large capacity of the processing plant, the company is expected to reach up to 5% of the cashew farmers in the country.
Valency is committed to responsible business practices and to developing sustainability and transparency in the cashew supply chain. Valency will, for instance, develop a sustainable cashew supply chain management program, that allows them to work directly with smallholders and reduce the role of the middlemen in the current supply chain, hence provide more income for the smallholders.
Sumit Jain, Chief Executive Officer at Valency International Group, said: “We are very grateful to have a partner like Finnfund to support cashew growers/farmers in the region, enhance sustainability and improve livelihood through our operations in Côte d’Ivoire. The cashew processing plant is line with our shared vision outlined as part of Valency’s Food Ingredients strategy, and commitment to develop a long-term sustainable business model in Africa.”
Markus Pentikäinen, Investment Manager at Finnfund, said: “We are glad to support the growth and development of Valency’s operations in Côte d’Ivoire, and simultaneously, enhance sustainability in cashew production. With the new processing plant, the company will generate jobs and income for thousands of people.”
