Abstract

Twiga, a mobile-based B2B tech platform, supplied fresh fruits and vegetables sourced from farmers in rural Kenya directly to small and medium sized vendors and to kiosks known as Mama Mobgas, in Nairobi. It was founded by Grant Brooke, a US-based researcher, and Peter Njojo who was with Coca-Cola Africa, with the aim of addressing the issues plaguing the fresh produce supply chain in Kenya. Twiga linked the informal vendors to the farmers through its proprietary cashless mobile technology platform. It matched the supply from small scale farmers with the demand from vendors, procured fresh produce from the farmers, and organized efficient supply chains with the help of logistics and warehouse platforms, to have the orders delivered to the vendors. In the process, Twiga eliminated the middlemen, minimized post-harvest losses, and lowered the price of the fresh produce. Twiga’s highly scalable and replicable model created a manifold impact, and was expected to help in fixing Kenya’s economy by controlling food prices and by reducing the share of disposable income that people spent on food (which was 45%). Twiga’s model was found to be highly suitable for addressing the challenge of food insecurity, food safety, and food inflation that the world was facing.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Get insight into the supply chain issues that plague the agricultural market in Africa (and many other developing countries). Its impact on the price of the produce, consumer spending, and on the economy at large.
• Evaluate the Attributes of Market Creating innovations and their role in bringing in innovation-led development in underdeveloped and developing countries.
• Analyze the Innovative business models that meet the needs of the poor in developing countries
• Understand the Risks and rewards associated with startup ecosystem in developing markets
• Examine the Impact of agritech enterprises on the achievement of food security

Keywords

Twiga; Kenya; Agri Supply Chain; food security; innovations; market creating innovation; innovation-led development; business models for the poor; startups; technology enabled business models; tech entrepreneurs