Twiga Foods has let go of a third of its employees. Contrary to rumours, the company has not shut down its operations in Uganda.

Twiga, a Kenyan B2B e-commerce food distribution platform, will lay off a third of its 850 permanent employees, citing an increasingly challenging business environment. Twiga’s CEO Peter Njonjo told TechCabal that Twiga has been “on a transformative path in the last few months to become a lean, agile, cost-efficient organisation, undertaking several interventions to adopt and sustain the business during these economic times.”  To this end, Twiga reviewed its operating model and cost to “ensure organisational structure is fit for purpose.”

Njonjo also denied rumours of the closure of Twiga’s Ugandan operations. “There is no closure of operations, we continue to operate in Uganda, and our farm is operational,” said Njonjo. Yet, the latest layoffs will affect employees across all markets. An estimated 283 people will be made redundant, and Twiga said they would be compensated according to labour laws.“

In June, TechCabal reported that Twiga adjusted its commercial model, ditching its internal sales team in favour of independent retained contractors based on their performance. It points to a company looking to cut costs wherever it can. “The business has undertaken strategic operating adjustments to enhance its service delivery capacity over the past few months. This has been influenced by the current business environment where people’s purchasing power continues to decline,” Twiga said in a statement.

Twiga Foods will continue to operate Twiga Fresh, a business vertical launched in May 2022. Backed by a $10 million investment, the product cultivates onions, tomatoes, and watermelons on a 650-hectare farm in Taita Taveta. “Twiga continues to operate its farm, we have been running the farm operation for a year now, and we continue to incorporate our learnings,” Njonjo said.

When asked how Twiga is rebuilding confidence among investors and customers, Njonjo responded, “Our investors are fully supportive of this transformation with the objective of Twiga continuing to provide affordable goods & services to our customers into the foreseeable future.”