Robust Nigeria

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Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Singapore, Robust International Pte Ltd (“Robust” or the “Company”) (https://www.robust-international.com) is a mid-sized agri-commodities trading firm and one of the leading traders of agro-commodities, such as sesame, cashews, and ginger, with a focus on sourcing from Sub Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, and Tanzania. Robust sources its commodities from a broad mix of local buying agents (LBAs) at communal sale markets and smallholders at farm gates in origins and partakes in early primary processing operations, such as sorting, hulling and fumigation. As of May 2021, Robust’s two main commodities traded are raw cashew nuts (RCN) and sesame seeds. Other minor commodities sourced, such as Gum arabic, ginger and beans. The company operates several warehouses and dry sesame processing plants in Kano, Kogi and Lagos. Robust’s largest sales destination is China, followed by Vietnam, India, and Turkey. IFC is considering an investment of up to US$18 million corporate loan with specific use of proceeds for an expansion plan, including (i) development of integrated warehouses in Kano and Lagos; (ii) establishment of a dry sesame processing facility in Kano; and, (iii) working capital for increasing the volume of agro-commodities sourced in origins (the “Project”). The Project is expected to add significant capacity of modern storage infrastructure to Kano region, reducing capacity constraints and spoilage of produce from smallholder farmers.