News of the Week: Twiga Pauses Operations in Nairobi Amid Workforce Cuts

Hey, Kaluka here,

This week, Twiga Foods has announced a 60-day suspension of its operations in Nairobi. This operational freeze will be in effect until August and is accompanied by a round of job cuts that will primarily affect the company’s supply chain division. While Twiga has not officially disclosed the number of employees impacted, sources report the figure could be as high as 319.

Twiga is framing the move as part of a broader structural realignment following its acquisition in April of three regional food distributors. These are Jumra, Sojpar, and Raisons, which cover Central, Western, and Coastal Kenya, respectively. The acquisitions were aimed at deepening Twiga’s reach across the country’s agricultural value chain, but the freeze signals that integrating these new assets may require more than just logistics; it requires a rethinking of Twiga’s operational backbone.

A statement from the company said the workforce reduction is being handled "transparently and respectfully," in line with Kenyan labour laws. Still, for a company that has long positioned itself as a leader in digitising Africa’s food distribution network, the abrupt halt in Nairobi raises questions about scalability, operational resilience, and investor confidence.

Twiga says it is using this time to develop a new distribution centre in a more strategic location but did not disclose the details. In the meantime, the startup has assured stakeholders of its commitment to a smooth transition.

Twiga’s pause in Nairobi isn’t a failure but rather a reflection of how African startups are evolving. Scaling across fragmented logistics markets comes with growing pains. For years, founders have been pushed to prioritise growth metrics over operational discipline. But now we’re seeing a shift.

What are your thoughts? Reply and let me know!

If you’re a founder building something bold, now’s a good time to raise. If you have a startup you want featured on TechArena, let us know through this contact form here.

We had one of the slowest weeks in regards to startup funding rounds last week. We only recorded 2 rounds:

72% — The percentage of African startup funding in Q1 2025 that went to just four countries: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt. (Source: Partech Africa Q1 2025 Report)

The “Big Four” still dominate VC flows, but ecosystem players are increasingly questioning whether capital is bypassing high-potential but underfunded markets like Ghana, Uganda, and Côte d’Ivoire.

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