Twiga, a DFC partner, named one of TIME’s Top 100 Most Influential Companies

Each year, TIME Magazine identifies businesses that are driving an impact and are a paradigm of ambition and innovation. This year, DFC-supported Twiga Foods Ltd. was named one of the TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2022 for reducing fragmentation in the food retail industry in a country where roughly 75 percent of workers make their living in farming.

Twiga is celebrated alongside companies driving transformational change in critical sectors such as healthcare and technology, and is the first East African company to be recognized on TIME’S list. Twiga connects small farmers in remote parts of Kenya with urban food vendors through a mobile ordering platform, cold storage, and an efficient transportation network. In 2018, DFC committed $5 million in financing to support Twiga’s expansion of a streamlined food distribution system in Kenya by expanding transportation, storage, and training for local farmers.

Today, Twiga serves over 130,000 retailers and has the capacity to transport up to 1.2 million kilograms of product every day, expanding access to fresh produce and reducing food waste. Historically, weak value chains resulted in as much as 40 percent of food produced going to waste before it could reach consumers.

The Twiga food distribution network benefits all touchpoints along the supply chain. The company’s logistical support and transportation capacity help local farmers earn more from their produce and help vendors, many of whom are women, increase access to quality products.

DFC’s investment in Twiga advances DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative by supporting Kenya’s female food vendors. Twiga is also one of the many projects supported by DFC’s Portfolio for Impact and Innovation (PI2) Initiative, which invests in early-stage projects that promise a far-reaching positive impact in many of the world’s most underserved communities.