Twiga Foods will receive Sh300 million from the Hustler Fund for onward lending to suppliers and customers to enable them to grow their businesses.
President William Ruto said that the loan targets the firm’s 140,000 suppliers.
Suppliers will enjoy an annualized interest rate of 8 per cent instead of 1 per cent per day, reducing the cost of servicing credits.
“The Sh300 million that you lend to your 140,000 suppliers and customers across Kenya. We are going to make that amount of money available to you so that they can be able to borrow at lower interest rates and hopefully increase their earnings,” President Ruto said after opening Twiga Foods Distribution Facility at Tatu City in Ruiru, Kiambu County.
The agri-tech company uses technology to aggregate demand and streamline logistics in the distribution of farm produce such as bananas, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, mangoes, and cabbages, to small-scale vegetable vendors in city estates, helping make products more affordable and increasing sales for vendors.
“The Sh300 million that you lend to your 140,000 suppliers and customers across Kenya, we are going to make that amount of money available to you so that they can borrow at lower rates and hopefully increase their earnings,” said Ruto.
He directed the Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui to ensure that Twiga Foods gets a slice of the Sh50 billion Hustler Fund set to be launched on Thursday.
“That Sh300 million, CS Chelugui, make sure that the customers of Twiga have access to the Hustler Fund and instead of them borrowing at one per cent per day, they should be able to borrow at eight per cent per year,” the President added.
Twiga serves about 33,000 vendors monthly with an average of seven orders a week per vendor.
Part from Nairobi, the firm also operates in Uasin Gishu, Embu, Meru, Kirinyaga, Machakos, Nakuru, and Kiambu counties.
Since its founding in 2014, the company has raised billions of shillings including equity and loan deals from international investors such as the International Finance Corporation.