Kenyan food manufacturer eyes continental growth with new DRC and Ivory Coast outlets

This comes after the firm secured an additional investment capital, the saw the firm expand its footprint in Uganda earlier this year.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Twiga Foods–Kenyan agricultural start-up is planning African continental expansion by setting up outlets in Cote d'Ivoire and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) come 2024.

This comes after the firm secured an additional investment capital, the saw the firm expand its footprint in Uganda earlier this year.

“We just started operations in Uganda, and we are also in the advanced stages of joining West Africa specifically in Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo.” said Twiga Foods East Africa's Yebeltal Getachew.

Speaking during the launch of the Twiga Foods Last Mile Distribution Expansion Project, Yebeltal revealed that the firm  has leased  up to 300 Isuzu trucks to facilitate faster delivery of fresh food products to customers

In 2021, Twiga Foods announced that it had raised KSH 5.6 billion from international investors to fund the East and West African expansion.

Launched in 2014, the company has raised billions of shillings including equity and loan deals from international investors such as the International Finance Corporation.

They recently took an additional 15 commercial trucks from Isuzu Kenya valued at KSH 80 million, which was financed by NCBA under the pay and use agreement.

Twiga Foods is among a growing number of tech-enabled firms that are seeking to disrupt food and other consumer supply chains, connecting producers to consumers and reducing the number of middlemen.

The firm has more than 140,000 vendors, served through a fleet that covers a cumulative 12,000 kilometres daily and handles more than 2 million kilos of products daily.

GAROWE ONLINE