Country
Product Type: Distribution and Payment Services
Sector: Agribusiness
Project Country: Kenya
Twiga Foods
The Twiga Foods solution gives small fresh fruit and vegetables vendors a mobile-based ordering platform where they can purchase their stock. With Twiga Foods, vendors can access better quality products at competitive prices and delivered directly to their shop while farmers can get better prices for their produce.
Project Description
Twiga Foods is increasing financial and economic inclusion in the fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) supply chain through a fintechenabled ordering app, by which vendors can order stock and access credit offered, so that they can sell more; by extension, more produce is ordered from farmers, which increases their FFV sales.
Project Update
Twiga Foods has piloted two loan options, one for farmers and one for vendors. The company has also managed to create a market information system, a part of which has involved putting up live fruit and vegetable price boards in at least 10 locations, with prices of main produce traded by the company updated on a daily basis.
Twiga Foods platform connects the demand from many thousands of street vendors in urban centres to the demand of as many thousands of smallholder farmers in rural areas.
Key Learnings
Serving smallholder farmers is costly, and potentially takes businesses longer to get to the break-even point. Reaching the last mile takes significant effort, which may not be a priority for commercial companies. This underpins the need for donors and investors to continue supporting innovative projects that promise impact until they can start showing results. Technology can play a significant role in introducing efficiencies in value chains.