Construction works have begun at the site of Tingo Foods Processing Factory, in Onicha-Ugbo, Aniocha North Local Council of Delta State, where the groundbreaking ceremony recently held.
 
The event, hosted by Nigerian-born UK serial entrepreneur, Dozy Mmobuosi, was attended by eminent persons in government and industry across Nigeria, including the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar; the monarch of Onicha-Ugbo, the host community, HRM Obi Chukwumalieze 1, the President General of Onicha-Ugbo Patriotic Union, Peter Kogolo and others.
 
Tingo Foods, a subsidiary of Tingo International Holdings Incorporation is setting up its food processing facility. A statement by the Founder of Tingo International Holdings, Mmobuosi, noted that the project, which would gulp about $1. 6b, will save Africa from paying foreign exchange on imported finished food products. Additionally, it will aid the export of made in Africa foods to the world, enhance intra-Africa trade via the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, and sell high-quality and nutritious food products in Nigeria.

Mmobuosi, an iconic tech guru, is making the massive investment as a way of giving back to his birthplace. He has vowed to revolutionise the African Food Industry and create direct employment for the teeming youths in Nigeria, providing a significant boost to the Nigerian economy and contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all.

The facility’s job creation and wealth creation will help support SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 2, Zero Hunger. In recent times, the African food processing industry has thrived at a snail’s pace, with low productivity and poor usage of human capital.
 
Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they have access to more capital, electricity, better technology, and irrigated land to grow high-value nutritious foods, and if African governments can work more closely with agribusinesses to feed the region’s fast-growing urban population, according to a new World Bank report launched recently.
  
The factory is expected to begin operations in the next 18 to 24 months. Mmobuosi noted that the facility is the first phase of a multi-billion dollar investment that Tingo International Holdings plans to make in the African food industry.
 
The company would decongest the labour market with the creation of no fewer than 12,000 direct employments with the setting up of its food processing facility in Delta State.
 
Meanwhile, Mmobuosi is close to buying English Football League club, Sheffield United at a £90m takeover, though subject to the EFL’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test. According to The Times, the 43-year-old, co-founded Tingo Mobile, an Agri-Fintech company that aims at helping African farmers.