A vertically integrated, ethically sourced cashew processing and export venture — capturing the margin that today flows out of Africa, while building a transparent, child-labour-free supply chain from farm to shelf.
Côte d'Ivoire alone supplies over 40% of the world's raw cashew nuts, yet the overwhelming majority leave the continent unprocessed — shipped to Vietnam and India, shelled, and re-exported to Europe, the Gulf and the US. Every link added abroad is value, jobs and margin that never touch the producing region.
Share of global raw cashew nuts originating from a single West African producer — the structural source of our cost advantage.
The bulk of West African raw cashews are shipped out whole, surrendering the high-value processing margin to Asian intermediaries.
A large, supply-constrained, growing category with durable demand from health-led consumers across the UK, EU, Middle East and US.
Cashews sit in the fastest-growing corner of the global nut market, pulled by health-led snacking, plant-based diets and premium retail. Demand has consistently outpaced processing capacity, and that imbalance is precisely what a new, ethically positioned processor is built to capture.
Estimated value of the global cashew market — among the largest tree-nut categories worldwide.
Projected market value, implying roughly $4.7B of net new demand to be supplied.
Consensus annual growth across leading market researchers sits in the ~5–7% range.
Tonnes of cashew kernels imported into Europe in 2024, growing ~6.5% a year since 2020.
Europe is the world's second-largest cashew consumer, with Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands leading. The UK alone imports roughly 23,000 tonnes a year — yet around 70% of it arrives via a single, distant corridor through Vietnam.
Our model collapses that journey: African raw nuts, processed in Morocco, shipped directly to UK and European buyers. Shorter, more transparent, lower-carbon, and aligned with the traceability that European regulators and retailers increasingly demand.
Sources: Mordor Intelligence; The Business Research Company; CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports); UN Comtrade / World Bank WITS. Market-size estimates vary by scope (whole nut vs. kernel) and methodology; figures shown are representative of the consensus range.
We site processing in Morocco: low operating costs, duty-advantaged trade access to Europe, deep-water shipping through Tangier, and a government investment charter that can fund up to 30% of eligible capital. Raw nuts come directly from West African producers; finished kernels ship straight to established trade buyers — cutting out the Asian detour entirely.
Raw nuts secured directly from West African producers under fair off-take terms.
Shelled, graded and packed in Morocco at ~28% yield, in a duty-advantaged zone.
BRCGS & GAP food-safety and ethical-sourcing certification built in from day one.
Finished kernels move through Tangier to contracted European and global buyers.
Phased move upstream into farmland to lock in supply, traceability and margin.
This is no longer a concept on paper. The commercial, supply and regulatory foundations are already in place — so the raise funds execution, not discovery.
Signed with anchor UK & European trade buyers, underpinning forecast offtake.
Hover for detail →The MOUs set out indicative volumes, pricing mechanism and quality specs — turning forecast revenue from assumption into commitment, and anchoring our trade-finance conversations. Counterparties are disclosed under NDA in the data room.
Multi-supplier raw-cashew relationships across West Africa for price resilience.
Hover for detail →Active relationships with suppliers across Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Tanzania let us buy inside each country's harvest window and keep suppliers competitive on price — protecting both availability and cost across the season.
Moroccan technical, accounting and engineering partners already engaged.
Hover for detail →Cashewmoroc / MagDev (processing & machinery), El Maguiri (Casablanca chartered accountants) and a UK/India engineering team are engaged now — so licensing, compliance and commissioning are led by people who have built cashew operations in-country before.
Eligible under Morocco's Investment Charter — grants and a tax holiday, treated as upside.
Hover for detail →The Charter can fund up to 30% of eligible capital plus a 5-year corporate-tax holiday and VAT/duty relief. We model the business without it — every incentive received lifts returns rather than propping them up.
Signed MOUs, supplier terms, partner agreements and the Morocco entity status are available under NDA in the investor data room.
Capital is deployed in disciplined phases — proving unit economics before scaling, and moving upstream only once cash generation supports it. No follow-on raise is modelled.
Two processing lines installed; trade revenue from month one while in-house processing ramps from month six. A loss year by design as the line stabilises.
Second facility lowers per-unit cost. Focus shifts to margin and cost control. The tightest cash year — managed via trade finance and phased procurement.
Volumes and margins climb as the model matures; optional move to owning the facility, strengthening the asset base.
Operational maturity, peak margins, and the modelled investor exit — with the option to hold for the longer integration story.
The shift from buying finished kernels to processing raw nuts in-house is the core margin lever: raw input at a fraction of finished cost, processed at ~28% yield in a low-tax, low-cost jurisdiction. Net margin moves from negative in Year 1 to roughly 25% by Year 5 as that lever compounds.
Figures below are drawn directly from the working financial model — revenue, profit and operating cashflow by year. We show them as they are, including the loss-making first year and the tight second.
| £ | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 3.12M | 7.22M | 11.82M | 16.86M | 22.37M |
| Net profit / (loss) | (1.22M) | 0.13M | 1.52M | 3.49M | 5.49M |
| Operating cashflow | 0.83M | 0.20M | 1.62M | 3.41M | 5.69M |
| Net margin | (39%) | 2% | 13% | 21% | 25% |
Source: Company financial model, base case. Year 2 operating cashflow tightens to ~£0.20M during the facility-purchase and procurement overlap — mitigated by a trade-finance facility and phased RCN buying. Projections are illustrative and not a guarantee of future performance.
£2.5M for 30% equity, no follow-on capital modelled. For a physical-goods processor, earnings are the honest basis — so the base case sits on an earnings multiple. The richer revenue-multiple case is reserved for a strategic acquirer integrating African supply, and shown as upside, not the headline.
The base case implies a ~7.9× return on a defensible earnings multiple; the strategic case reflects what an acquirer integrating African supply might pay. Beyond Year 5, management intends to pursue full backwards integration into farmland across multiple African nations — a longer-horizon (7–8 year) path that comparable integrated agri-businesses (e.g. Wilmar, Olam) have used to compound value several times over. That upside is optional and held separately from the figures above. Exit routes: strategic acquisition, private-equity buyout, IPO, or continued hold.
The majority of capital works directly in the supply chain, not overhead — converting a proven model into shipped product. Each tranche is tied to a milestone, and the raise is sized to reach cash generation with a buffer, without a follow-on round.
Raw-cashew and finished-goods procurement cycles — the engine that drives Year-1 revenue to £3.1M.
Two processing lines, backup generator and handling equipment installed and commissioned.
Morocco fit-out, BRCGS/GAP food-safety certification, and power/grid connection.
Core team, on-the-ground operations and overhead through to self-sustaining cash generation.
Downside cushion for input-price or timing shocks — protecting the tight Year-2 cash position.
for 30% equity, fully funding the plan to cash generation. No follow-on capital modelled.
£2.5M for 30% equity, with a £1M minimum — structured for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, private offices and funds, not retail tickets. Indicative terms below; definitive terms are set out in the subscription documents.
Figures marked indicative are subject to confirmation; pre-/post-money are mathematical implications of the £2.5M / 30% headline. Nothing here constitutes an offer — definitive terms are in the subscription agreement and information memorandum.
The cashew industry has a documented child-labour and worker-safety problem, concentrated in the opaque, sub-contracted shelling stage. By owning processing and moving toward owning supply, we remove the layers where abuse hides — and build verification in by design, not as an afterthought.
Vertical control replaces anonymous sub-contractors with owned, audited facilities.
Stable off-take at fair prices lifts smallholder incomes and de-risks our supply.
A share of retained earnings funds measurable, SDG-aligned local development.
This isn't a side-story to the returns — it's what makes them durable. Traceability commands price premiums, ESG-aligned assets attract impact and institutional capital, and a clean supply chain de-risks the land acquisition the long-term plan depends on.
The supply chain is African and Moroccan, but the business is British. Headquarters, board, governance and tax residency sit in the UK — so the margin this venture repatriates from the cashew trade, and the returns it generates, land in the domestic economy.
HQ, leadership and tax residency in the UK — value accrues here, not offshore.
Hover for detail →Incorporated and tax-resident in the UK, the company pays UK corporation tax and books profits domestically. Investor gains, dividends and any exit proceeds flow through a UK entity rather than an offshore vehicle.
An Africa→Morocco→UK route diversifies a supply chain ~70% dependent on Vietnam.
Hover for detail →The UK imports ~23,000 tonnes of cashews a year, ~70% routed through Vietnam — a long, single-corridor dependency. A shorter, more transparent route diversifies a strategically important food import away from one distant source.
UK office, staff and lead engineer, plus British audit, legal and advisory mandates.
Hover for detail →A UK head office, UK staff and a UK lead engineer, plus mandates for British audit, legal and advisory firms — keeping skilled professional work and procurement spend in the domestic economy.
British capital and its returns flow back into the UK economy.
Hover for detail →Returns on British investor capital flow back into the UK economy, and UK ownership of African agri-trade infrastructure builds a strategic, ESG-aligned asset base onshore.
A shorter, more transparent route also means a lower-carbon footprint per tonne reaching British shelves, and gives UK retailers and trade buyers a traceable, ethically certified alternative to opaque Asian-routed supply — increasingly a regulatory and reputational necessity, not a nice-to-have.
We'd rather raise the hard questions ourselves. Here's how the model is built to withstand them.
A board drawn from institutional finance and Big Four assurance, backed by Moroccan technical and engineering specialists who have built cashew operations before.
Began at BNY, the world's largest custodian bank. Leads strategy, partnerships and investor relations.
ACA Chartered Accountant with a Grant Thornton background. Leads financial strategy, compliance and ICAEW-aligned governance that builds investor confidence.
Finance and law background (BNY; Freshfields). Runs daily operations, compliance and risk controls.
Accountant with a PwC background. Oversees risk, governance, stress-testing and ESG reporting — safeguarding capital and giving investors clear downside visibility.
Supported on the ground by El Maguiri & Associés (Casablanca chartered accountants, Russell Bedford network), Cashewmoroc / MagDev Sarl (cashew value-chain consultancy), and a UK/India engineering team for machinery sourcing and oversight. Board advisory from Professor Sanjiv Jari, FRCS.
The questions a fund's investment committee will raise first — addressed up front.
£2.5M · 30% equity · asset-backed · ESG-aligned. Share a few details and we'll send the full data room — model, certifications, contracts and impact framework.
This round is raised by International Cashew Company — the UK entity delivering the International Cashew Project.