Twiga Meals, certainly one of Kenya’s most funded e-commerce startups, has created a brand new holding firm, referred to internally as “newco”, as a part of a broader restructuring effort that can consolidate its current acquisitions and streamline operations. The transfer, which comes within the wake of Twiga’s takeover of three Kenyan FMCG distributors, led to job cuts affecting over 300 staff as the corporate pivots to an asset-light mannequin to chop prices.
Whereas Twiga described the plan as “a routine company realignment,” an inside doc reviewed by TechCabal prompt a extra vital operational overhaul, together with the switch of a core workforce into the brand new entity and potential consolidation of key features.
The restructuring plan first surfaced in an inside doc labelled Undertaking Easter, first reported by Techish Kenya, a Kenyan tech media publication. The doc outlined the formation of a newco to supervise logistics, procurement, and know-how throughout Twiga and its subsidiaries. Although the corporate has not denied the doc’s content material, which TechCabal reviewed, it downplayed its significance, calling it a part of “commonplace planning work” for a multi-entity enterprise.
Twiga declined to touch upon whether or not the newco had been formally registered and whether or not it might operate as a holding firm or handle shared companies. It additionally declined to reveal how a lot capital its key buyers, Juven and Creadev, have injected into the corporate as a part of the restructuring or whether or not the funding was structured as fairness or one other instrument.
“The inner references to a ‘newco’ mirror strategic efforts to align the group construction with operational wants,” a Twiga spokesperson advised TechCabal. Nonetheless, the main points of the inner doc go deeper, together with a proposal to maneuver a small central workforce of 10–12 staff into the brand new entity and centralising shared companies akin to tech, procurement, provide chain, and finance, throughout all 4 companies.
Of Twiga’s 435 employees, 319 have been marked as “leaving,” with the most important cuts hitting the availability chain division, the place 267 roles have been laid off. Simply 83 workplace or distribution centre employees and 33 subject employees have been anticipated to stay. A word beside 18 retained staff indicated they’re “more likely to be absolutely transferred to Bounce,” believed to be a codename for newco. This quantity may drop to 10–12.
Twiga declined to reveal the variety of staff laid off, however the doc suggests greater than 300 roles have been minimize as a part of the restructuring. Redundancies have been potential as overlapping roles have been merged. In an electronic mail to TechCabal, Twiga disputed the headcount determine as not indicative of the “last scope” however didn’t problem the broader restructuring plan.
“All workforce-related changes have been carried out in full compliance with our HR insurance policies and Kenyan labour legal guidelines, and are equally guided by best-practice requirements,” Twiga advised TechCabal. The startup laid off 59 staff in August 2024.
The consolidation could possibly be seen as a transfer to enhance operations since managing 4 separate firms creates inefficiencies, seemingly in logistics. A unified construction may make Twiga extra enticing to buyers, a urgent concern since its final main funding spherical, a $35 million convertible word in 2023.
Twiga’s push for effectivity doesn’t cease at company restructuring for the reason that agency can also be reconsidering its bodily footprint, together with a possible transfer from its Tatu Metropolis logistics hub to cheaper, extra centralised areas close to Nairobi. The modifications present Twiga’s broader pivot towards progress after years of struggling to digitise how meals is distributed from producers in rural Kenya to resellers in native cities and cities.
Twiga insists these modifications are about sustainability and profitability, however the want for a brand new holding construction suggests its earlier mannequin wasn’t constructed to handle a multi-entity operation.