John Alamu, Founder and Group Managing Director of CapitalSage Holdings, has called for accelerated investment in value addition and agricultural industrialisation as the defining strategy for Ondo State’s long-term economic transformation.
Speaking at the Ondo Investment Summit 2026, themed “The New Ondo: Forging the Pathway to Prosperity,” Alamu urged investors and policymakers to prioritise large-scale processing, manufacturing, and integrated value chain development as the foundation for sustainable growth.
He noted that while Ondo State possesses the agricultural depth, strategic positioning, and human capital to become a leading industrial hub, real prosperity will depend on the scale of investment committed to transforming agricultural output into higher-value products.
He described value addition as the central lever of sustainable transformation, one that strengthens economic output, creates skilled employment, retains wealth within the state, and deepens Nigeria’s participation in global value chains. Drawing on his own experience reviving moribund factories and building them into production powerhouses, Alamu was unequivocal: large-scale agro-processing is not theoretical. It is proven, and it is scalable.
Through Johnvents Group, a global value chain participant and agro-processing subsidiary of CapitalSage Holdings, the company has revitalised previously dormant industrial assets into fully operational manufacturing hubs. What began as a single distressed cocoa facility in Akure has grown into a network of ten factories across four major towns in Ondo State, including an 18,000 metric tonne cocoa processing facility in Akure, a 30,000 metric tonne Premium Cocoa Products facility in Ile-Oluji, and the Noble-Eagle Industrial Complex in Idanre and Owo, producing cocoa derivatives, edible oils, seasoning cubes, beverages, and animal feed for domestic and international markets.
Today, Johnvents Group employs over 3,000 people directly and indirectly, integrates more than 20,000 farmers into structured supply networks, and supports over 10,000 students through education, vocational training, and sports initiatives.
“What is required now is scale, greater processing capacity, stronger infrastructure, and sustained collaboration between government and private capital,” Alamu said.
He called for continued focus on reliable power supply, regulatory clarity, predictable policy frameworks, and infrastructure expansion. “When government reduces friction and private capital moves decisively, transformation accelerates,” he said.
