Twiga Foods creates holding company, cuts over 300 jobs

Twiga Foods, one of Kenya’s most funded e-commerce startups, has created a new holding company, referred to internally as “newco”, as part of a broader restructuring effort that will consolidate its recent acquisitions and streamline operations. The move, which comes in the wake of Twiga’s takeover of three Kenyan FMCG distributors, led to job cuts affecting over 300 employees as the company pivots to an asset-light model to cut costs.

While Twiga described the plan as “a routine corporate realignment,” an internal document reviewed by TechCabal suggested a more significant operational overhaul, including the transfer of a core team into the new entity and potential consolidation of key functions.

The restructuring plan first surfaced in an internal document labelled Project Easter, first reported by Techish Kenya, a Kenyan tech media publication. The document outlined the formation of a newco to oversee logistics, procurement, and technology across Twiga and its subsidiaries. Though the company has not denied the document’s content, which TechCabal reviewed, it downplayed its importance, calling it part of “standard planning work” for a multi-entity business.

Twiga declined to comment on whether the newco had been formally registered and whether it would function as a holding company or manage shared services. It also declined to disclose how much capital its key investors, Juven and Creadev, have injected into the company as part of the restructuring or whether the funding was structured as equity or another instrument.

“The internal references to a ‘newco’ reflect strategic efforts to align the group structure with operational needs,” a Twiga spokesperson told TechCabal. However, the details of the internal document go deeper, including a proposal to move a small central team of 10–12 employees into the new entity and centralising shared services such as tech, procurement, supply chain, and finance, across all four businesses.

Of Twiga’s 435 staff, 319 were marked as “leaving,” with the largest cuts hitting the supply chain department, where 267 roles were laid off. Just 83 office or distribution centre staff and 33 field staff were expected to remain. A note beside 18 retained employees indicated they are “likely to be fully transferred to Jump,” believed to be a codename for newco. This number could drop to 10–12. 

Twiga declined to disclose the number of employees laid off, but the document suggests more than 300 roles have been cut as part of the restructuring. Redundancies were possible as overlapping roles were merged. In an email to TechCabal, Twiga disputed the headcount figure as not indicative of the “final scope” but did not challenge the broader restructuring plan.

“All workforce-related adjustments have been carried out in full compliance with our HR policies and Kenyan labour laws, and are equally guided by best-practice standards,” Twiga told TechCabal. The startup laid off 59 employees in August 2024.

The consolidation could be seen as a move to improve operations since managing four separate companies creates inefficiencies, likely in logistics. A unified structure could make Twiga more attractive to investors, a pressing concern since its last major funding round, a $35 million convertible note in 2023.

Twiga’s push for efficiency doesn’t stop at corporate restructuring since the firm is also reconsidering its physical footprint, including a potential move from its Tatu City logistics hub to cheaper, more centralised locations near Nairobi. The changes show Twiga’s broader pivot toward growth after years of struggling to digitise how food is distributed from producers in rural Kenya to resellers in local towns and cities.

Twiga insists these changes are about sustainability and profitability, but the need for a new holding structure suggests its previous model wasn’t built to manage a multi-entity operation.