Here's proof that Olam's taking bigger bite of its food business

Plans to be the Unilever or Nestle of Africa.

According to OSK, Olam international has moved downstream to build a packaged food business and it has generated sales of USD350m in countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Mali.

Here's more:

In addition, it aims to be the Unilever or Nestle of Africa.It has two R&D labs in Bangalore and Singapore, as well as 10 manufacturing plants in Nigeria and Ghana which produce 85% of what is sold in the region as compared to less than 20% 2 years ago.

In total, the business unit has spent US300m in fixed capital and has partnered Sanyo Foods in a joint venture that will house the instant noodles business in Nigeria where olam is working with the Japanese noodle manufacturer in three aspects, adapting locah dishes into the seasoning, innovating on the noodle cake and making noddle consumption more convienent.

The food staples and packaged food segment made SGD7.7b in revenue and SGD589.3m in net contribution of sales in the 2013 financial year.  (Business Times)