Nigerian cocoa magnate Kayode Ogunsua ships 20,000 tonnes annually, holds $30m FCMB stake
A Nigerian cocoa exporter, Kayode Ogunsua, has built an operation that ships roughly 20,000 tonnes of cocoa beans a year while holding a stake valued at about $30 million in FCMB Group, one of Nigeria’s mid-tier commercial banks, according to Billionaires.Africa.
Nigeria ranks among the world’s leading cocoa producers, trailing Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia in global output. Cocoa cultivation is concentrated in the southwestern states of Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Cross River and Ekiti, where smallholder farmers produce the bulk of the country’s annual harvest. Raw cocoa beans remain one of Nigeria’s most valuable agricultural exports, earning foreign exchange and supporting millions of rural livelihoods.
First City Monument Bank, commonly known as FCMB, was founded in 1977 and is listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group. The bank operates retail, commercial and investment banking divisions and has expanded into microfinance, investment management and digital financial services. Holdings in FCMB are often tracked as indicators of domestic investor sentiment, given the lender’s longstanding presence among Nigeria’s publicly traded banks.
According to Billionaires.Africa, Ogunsua’s reported 20,000-tonne shipping volume places him among the more prominent privately held exporters in a sector dominated by multinational trading houses. His profile, combining a sizeable commodity operation with a major banking stake, mirrors a small group of Nigerian entrepreneurs who have built fortunes across trade and finance, often beyond public visibility.
The disclosure comes as Nigeria continues to push for higher non-oil export earnings in the face of fluctuating crude revenues and currency pressures. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has repeatedly named cocoa, along with sesame, cashew and ginger, as priority commodities for government support.
Ogunsua’s reported footprint — a multi-thousand-tonne annual shipping operation paired with a $30 million stake in a publicly listed Nigerian bank — illustrates how a small cluster of domestic business figures continue to anchor both the country’s commodity trade and parts of its banking sector.
Sources
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