Twiga Foods to send more staff home in new wave of layoffs

Kenyan e-commerce and food distribution giant, Twiga Foods has announced a fresh round of layoffs that will see scores of workers sent home, just a few months after another 211 were laid off.

The decision comes amid high cost of living and tough economic times that have resulted in a decline in purchasing power with a negative impact on many businesses.

The business-to-business (B2B) tech company which links farmers or agricultural producers and fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers to retailers noted that some roles had been declared redundant after a review of its operating model and costs.

“As part of these efficiency interventions, the company has reviewed its operating model and costs to ensure its organization structure is fit for purpose.

“Regrettably, this exercise has seen the company declare some roles redundant across the organisation in full compliance with applicable labour laws.” Read a statement released by Twiga Foods on Saturday.

The statement did not indicate how many employees would be affected by the exercise that will see its workforce reduce further.

Twiga Foods to send more staff home in new wave of layoffs Pulse Live Kenya

Last year, the company released 211 employees of its more than 1000 staff, representing 21 percent of its workforce.

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This was after a restructuring exercise that saw its in-house sales team eliminated.

In May this year, another 130 independent sales agents had their contracts terminated over poor performance with the company clarifying that it was only engaging agents whose sales were showing improvement.

The company entered into a partnership with the government in March this year to oversee maize production under irrigation in the Galana-Kulalu project.

The tech company also obtained a Sh300 million loan from the state-owned Hustler Fund last year to boost its operations.