2022 Lindas Awards: Peter Njonjo, Twiga Foods

🎥 Feb 07, 2023 📺 Endeavor Global ⏱ 1m 👁 282 views

Back when he served as President of Coca-Cola West Africa Kenyan businessman Peter Njonjo noticed two things as he traveled ...

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About Peter Njonjo

Peter Njonjo, co-founder and former CEO of Twiga Foods, has spoken extensively about the company's mission to address inefficiencies in Africa's food supply chain. He has described the retail industry in Africa as "broken" and "very informal," noting that "pretty much nothing has changed over the last 50–60 years." Njonjo has cited the example of a tomato costing about $100 a metric ton in California compared to $420 in Nairobi and $2,500 in Kinshasa, arguing that "some of the world's poorest consumers are paying some of the highest prices when it comes to basic food items." He has stated that Africans on average spend half their disposable income on food, a figure he compared to the United States 150 years ago. Njonjo has said Twiga Foods aims to "leverage technology to build efficiency into some of these supply chains" and that "technology could provide a solution to accelerate food security." Njonjo resigned as CEO of Twiga Foods and stepped down from its board in January 2024, though he remains a shareholder with a stake valued at over $1 million. He previously spent 21 years at The Coca-Cola Company, where his last role was President of West and Central Africa. Njonjo has credited his wife with encouraging him to sell their matrimonial home to finance Twiga Foods in its early days. He has also spoken about the importance of mentorship, saying that "there are many dreamers like myself" in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and that supporting them "really keeps me focused on the agenda of ensuring that we continue driving this multiplier effect."

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Transcript (1 segments)

Peter Njonjo0:00

Thank you so much, Linda Edgar. It's such a great honor to be here. Not been here since last time we had this three years ago. I'm a big believer in the multiplier effect. Nine years ago, after climbing Kilimanjaro, I came back with an idea: what if we could create a platform that allows us to improve distribution of food, that starts figuring out how to make food more secure in some of its underprivileged markets? As a result of that, we created Twiga. When I look at Twiga since then, we've touched 140,000 retailers, small businesses, that's about 25% of the retail industry in Kenya, 14,000 suppliers and small farmers, and we employ over 3,000 people. So when you look at that impact over the last nine years, I'm so honored to be here and represent a team that's focused on delivering that every day. When I look at the entrepreneurial ecosystem in this market, there are many dreamers like myself. So again, mentorship and trying to support them really keeps me focused on the agenda of ensuring that we continue driving this multiplier effect. Lastly, I really want to thank Endeavor, Endeavor Catalyst, and especially Linda. We have a private joke that I spent so much time working for a multinational previously, and Linda kind of really encouraged me to move into entrepreneurship. I'm really glad that Linda, you pushed me this hard to be here today. To my team, colleagues, family, and everybody who's contributed to our success here today, thank you so much.