Kenya’s B2B food distribution platform Twiga Foods, which aims to modernize Africa’s Urban based informal retail through technology, has appointed a new CEO for East Africa to drive its growth across Kenya and expand into the larger East African region.
Ethiopian Yebeltal Getachew (YG) will take over as Twgia’s Chief Executive Officer for East Africa, effective 3rd May 2021 to lead Twiga’s commercial growth and expansion in Kenya and across the borders into the wider East Africa market, in line with the strategic goals of the company.
Founded in 2014 by Grant Brooke and Peter Njonjo, Twiga Foods platform uses mobile phone technology to match supply and demand, aggregating market participants and finding buyers for farmers’ produce in Africa’s large, but highly fragmented fruit and vegetable market. It currently works with more than 17,000 farmers and 8,500 retailers.
The current CEO, Peter Njonjo, will take on the role of Group CEO effective 1st June to build Twiga’s organization capacity and capability for its pan-African expansion.
With over 20 years of commercial and franchise leadership experience in business operations in East Africa, as Country Manager in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and Mozambique and later Managing Director / Vice President in the Nigeria business for the Coca-Cola Company. YG was instrumental in driving commercial excellence, revenue growth management, and mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola, YG spent five years in the logistics sector rising to the position of Operations Director for Urgent Cargo Handling. He has a Bachelor of Science in International Business Administration from USIU, a Master of Business Administration from Edinburgh Business School and an Executive Coca-Cola Signature MBA from Harvard Business School.