#64: Twiga Foods - How the AgriTech supply chain company is connecting SMB retailers and smallholder farmers to improve food logistics across Kenya and Africa

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Twiga Foods. We’ll explore the story across the following 6 areas Africa Agricultural context Kenya farming & market access context Twiga Foods’ early history Twiga Foods’ Product & monetization strategy  Twiga Foods’ Competitive positioning & potential exit options Future outlook. This episode was recorded on May 28, 2023 Companies discussed: Twiga Foods, Apollo Agriculture, Vendease, Kibanda, Kellogg, Tolaram, Multipro, Olam, Dangote, Coca-Cola, Shoprite, Cargill, Nestle, Unilever & Safaricom (M-Pesa) Business concepts discussed: Agriculture technology (AgTech, AgriTech or AgroTech), Agribusiness marketplaces, farming financing, Farmer market access opportunities, SMB Retail, B2B solutions and Agriculture Logistics. Conversation highlights: (01:00) - Twiga Foods context (08:53) - Africa Agriculture context (18:30) - Kenya background and agriculture context (23:34) - Market access context in Africa (31:20) - Market access context at Twiga Foods' founding (40:12) - Founders’ background and farming context (56:10) - Fundraising (1:04:10) - Geographical expansion, Partnerships and Hiring (1:15:00) - Metrics (1:20:15) - Product & Monetization strategy, Cost structure (1:32:58) - Competition (1:35:00) - Options for exit (1:45:50) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook (1:58:58) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook (2:06:31) - Recommendations and small wins Olumide’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Berkshire Hathaway story on the Acquired podcast. It has multiple parts and is really good. The Acquired podcast is like the non-African version of Afrobility. They tell stories of companies in developed markets. Alternatively you could say Afrobility is the African version of Acquired. Recommendation: Exxon-Mobil analyses on Business Breakdown podcast. Business Breakdowns is like a more serious suit-and-tie version of Acquired. As you can tell from my recommendations I like podcasts that analyse businesses. Small win: Sao Paulo trip. It was fun.  Small win: To physically touch and hold the Firedom (financial independence) book. I and Samon released the paperback and hardcover versions in May and I just received my author copy. It feels magical, the book is beautiful and bright red. Bankole’s recommendations & small wins: Recommendation: Article about end of Life Dreams, Hallmarks of Good Product Sense & This Company Will Give You A Free TV In Exchange For Your Data | AdExchanger  Small win: The EPL season is over, and the suffering of being a Chelsea fan is on pause… Other content: Winning in Africa’s agricultural market, After 18 Months, Your Investment Probably Isn’t Getting Marked Up - Angellist & Kellogg purchases 50% of Multipro for $450M Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected] with feedback! Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [email protected] Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at [email protected] Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com