{"id":3748,"date":"2018-05-21T10:21:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T09:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/africa\/?p=3748"},"modified":"2018-05-23T10:58:41","modified_gmt":"2018-05-23T09:58:41","slug":"meet-our-portfolio-start-ups-twiga-foods-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/africa\/meet-our-portfolio-start-ups-twiga-foods-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet our portfolio start-ups: Twiga Foods, Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post was co-authored by Samuel Ajadi and Peter Ndichu.<\/em><\/p>\n

Agriculture accounts for over a quarter of Kenya\u2019s GDP (or around half if other related sectors are included). Over 75 per cent of the country\u2019s population makes some part of their living from agriculture. However, the Kenyan agricultural sector can be inefficient and complex, and food waste is high due to inefficient handling practices. At the same time, small- and medium-sized fruit and vegetable vendors often lack access to a reliable supply of affordable and quality products.<\/p>\n

Twiga Foods was created in 2014 to reduce fragmentation in the produce market. The agritech startup runs a mobile-based B2B food supply platform that supplies fresh fruits and vegetables sourced from farmers in rural Kenya to small- and medium-sized vendors, outlets and kiosks in the country\u2019s capital, Nairobi. The mobile-based cashless platform allows Twiga Foods to offer higher prices and a guaranteed market to farmers, and lower prices and a reliable supply to vendors. It also helps to reduce post-harvest losses and waste as it matches demand with supply. Consumers also benefit as they are able to buy fresher products at lower prices thanks to a more efficient supply chain.<\/p>\n