KENYA – Twiga Foods, Kenyan-based technology food distribution platform, has officially launched its new Distribution Center, located at Tatu City in Ruiru, Kiambu County.
The world-class 200,000 sq ft facility is set to offer fulfillment by Twiga services to manufacturers, brand owners, and farmers across East Africa and expand its overall capacity and ability to deliver a selection of fresh produce, and retail products and provide partners access to over 140,000 customers across the Kenya and Uganda.
While addressing stakeholders during the launch, Twiga’s Group C.E.O, Peter Njonjo stated that the move will ensure convenient and affordable, food and retail commodities distribution across its markets.
“Today, we are extremely proud of the official opening of the Twiga distribution centre. This world-class facility will help push our daily handling capacity to 8Million Kgs.
“This facility will form the backbone of our supply chain and will be key in enabling our new service, fulfilment by Twiga” said Peter Njonjo, Twiga’s Chief Executive.
The state-of-the-art distribution unit is fitted with the latest logistics and warehouse technology.
The modern agricultural distribution centre has a large capacity storage fitted with racking systems, banana rooms, modern dock door systems, and product scanners which have enhanced food traceability among other functions.
The unit was officially opened by the His Excellency Hon. Dr. William Ruto William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, who availed a Ksh300 million (US$2.45m) to Twiga Foods’ suppliers and customers.
The financing, targeting a client base of 140,000, will offer lower interest rates to enable the beneficiaries grow their businesses.
The agri-tech company uses technology to aggregate demand and streamline logistics in the distribution of farm produce, serving about 33,000 vendors every month.
Since its founding in 2014, the company has raised millions of dollars including equity and loan deals from international investors to spearhead its growth both geographically and operationally.
Earlier this year, the company invested US$10 million in the expansion of its private label business with the launch of a new subsidiary dubbed Twiga Fresh.
The new division is focused on modern and commercial farming of domestic horticultural staples like onions, tomatoes and watermelons, making it one of the largest single horticultural farms in Africa, focused purely on the domestic market.
To this end, the B2B e-commerce food distribution platform will be farming and distribute its own agricultural produce to traders.
Production is undertaken on a 650-hectare (1,606 acres) parcel of land, with an estimated output of 150,000 tons of fresh produce annually.
With Twiga Fresh and the company’s other private label lines such as its rice dubbed SokoYetu Rice, Twiga projects a better control of the value chain.
Still spearheading its growth, the food distributor launched its operations in Uganda, officially marking its first pan-African expansion drive into Africa’s online retail market.
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