Twiga Foods has today launched a multimillion Agri-tech distribution center at Tatu City, Nairobi County.

This comes after the Agri-tech startup announced transformations to ensure its business model remained resilient while the firm was creating more entrepreneurship opportunities among Kenyans.

The firm stated that the new business model will ensure convenient and affordable food distribution to urban centers.

The event was graced by President William Ruto who said, “The Twiga Foods model is truly bottom-up, uniting literal mama mbogas with actors along the supply chain to large corporate concerns in the quest for more incomes, greater efficiency and increased productivity.”

Twiga startup raised KSh 5.2b in investment.

The firm was among Kenyan startups that accounted for 15.4% of the total African startup, raising over KSh 33 billion investment in 2021.

 Twiga Foods raised $50 million (KSh 5.8 billion) in Series C, contributing significantly to Kenya’s economic growth. 

 Twiga Foods Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder Peter Njonjo said the model would ensure entrepreneurial skills among its agents, developing self-employment in the country.

“Based on this new approach, we anticipate the creation of over 1,000 new independent opportunities by the end of March 2023. We are working on the transformation of the informal retail industry, one step at a time,” said Njonjo during the media tour at the warehouse on Wednesday, November 23.

He said the firm has invested heavily in the warehouse facility to offer customers quality and affordable fresh produce like bananas. 

Njonjo noted that about Sh 2.2 billion from the capital funding was used to improve the warehouse and distribution facility. 

The firm stated that the transition was made in full compliance with the labor laws. 

During the transition, the firm laid off 211 salespersons out of the 400 employees.

“Every impacted employee receives one month’s pay notice, termination pay of 15 days for every year worked, and pay for all outstanding leave days. The impacted employees have also been granted the first right of refusal to transition to the new model,” stated the firm, concerning the lay-offs.