Manager, Mighty Kashoo Plant, Foluke Abidoye, (left) and Philip Hermansdofer at the Mighty Kashoo stand during the Expo in Lagos.
By Our Reporter
The cashew processing plant of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, joined leading organisations to showcase its premium brand of processed cashew product, Mighty Kashoo at the just concluded Food and Beverages, FAB West Africa Exhibition 2023 in Lagos. Being refreshingly new to the market and coming from the stable of Nigeria’s acclaimed engineering top brand, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the arrival of Mighty Kashoo elicited business excitement, consumer curiousity and understandable thrills from visitors to the Julius Berger Mighty Kashoo exhibition pavilion.
More than 250 Exhibitors from across the world took part in the exhibition with stakeholders underlining the potentials of the show to deepen the food industry in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
According to the Julius Berger Mighty Kashoo Plant’s Commercial Manager, Funke Abidoye, „visitors are excited to see our Mighty Kashoo product. Some even wondered how Julius Berger Nigeria became linked to Cashew production. By the time they got to know, there was more excitement that the product can be very safely trusted given the trustworthy name, substantive professional integrity and enduring reliability of Julius Berger across the entire spectrum of its business, product and service offerings.
On the product proper, Abidoye said, “…our product is healthy, nice, tasty and milky in the mouth. We are joyful by the fact that many of the visitors to our stand, buyers and consumers, are so genuinely happy to see the Julius Berger Mighty Kashoo now in the market.“ She said Mighty Kashoo’s introduction into the market via the exhibition was a great interface with the business community and the market, adding that, “…very soon, more varieties of the product will be added to the current tasty one.“
The Plant’s Technical Manager, Clinton Kaiser spoke in the same vein, but added that, “…our first innovative, semi automated cashew processing factory in Epe marks the beginning of our journey to achieve the best and healthiest of processed cashew for everyone locally and internationally. With the capacity to process up to 60 tonnes of cashew per day, our factory is operating to be a significant contributor to the local cashew industry. Working in accordance to international best practice, the Mighty Kashoo plant is home to state of the art processing systems.“
He added, Nigeria is amongst the top 10 cashew producers globally, yet only a nominal percentage of its total cashew output is fully processed in the country. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, via its mission led cashew brand, Mighty Kashoo, is filling the processing gap on Nigerian soil through innovation and investment, opening up new horizons that promote a more sustainable processing chain, higher quality standards, a self sufficient industry and greater opportunities for the cashew world, consumers, farmers factory workers, and mother earth.“
The coordinator of the Agro Processing Unit of Mighty Kashoo plant, Philip Hermannsdoffer said that the purpose of the company partaking in the global exhibition was to formally introduce the top grade Mighty Kashoo brand to the market, to get retailers and real contact with other investors. He added that it is also to let people know the benefits of cashew to the body and other helpful and profitable things cashew can be used for.
One customer, a Philipino, after tasting some Mighty Kashoo nuts said, “the Julius Berger cashew is of high quality and the packaging very attractive.“
Amidst the pomp and festive atmosphere that enveloped the Landmark Centre venue of the event, the Mighty Kashoo stand stood out as the most attended by visitors. With about 5000 attendees at the 2023 edition of the exhibition, the event has maintained its matrix as the stimulant of growth in the burgeonning cashew sub-sector of the agro-processing Industry of the Nigeria economy.
Alex Makino Farrel of Forest Foods Ltd, UK enthused at the Julius Berger Mighty Kashoo pavilion: “Nigeria is our biggest market, we invest several millions of British pounds a year , and we consider that to be a massive growth opportunity. We hope to meet new customers and make high quality contacts like we have done here in the evidently high quality Julius Berger Cashew stand.“
Robin Koevoets of B&S, an international distributor of fast moving consumer goods and also one of the international exhibitors at the event said, the FAB exhibition in Lagos has provided a veritable platform for his company to easily penetrate the huge Nigeria Market.
The food and beverage sector within Nigeria is estimated to grow annually by 5.50% while revenue in the food market amounted to $191.40billion in 2022. The largest segment within the Nigerian food and beverage market is confectionary and snacks, and was worth about $48.59 billion in 2022.
Julius Berger’s internationally-benchmarked and top quality-driven Cashew processing plant, located in Epe, Lagos was commissioned in September, 2022.
Nigerians who fondly call the company JBN, also generally believe Julius Berger Nigeria Plc represents only the very best and alpha grade delivery in terms of business performance, product quality and reliable
