Co-Founder/Former CEO Grant Brooke Says Goodbye To Twiga, To Remain On Company Board
Grant Brooke, the co-founder and former CEO of Kenya-based B2B food distribution company, Twiga Foods, has today announced that he is stepping down from active management as of this month, though he will remain on the company’s Board of Directors.
In a post published on LinkedIn, Brooke hinted that he’s completely letting go of the reins at Twiga Foods having overseen a smooth transition since handing over the office of CEO to co-founder, Peter Njonjo, early last year.
In March 2019, Brooke stepped down from running the day-to-day activities at Twiga, taking up an Executive Director role which made him responsible for increasing the footprint of the startup in more countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.
As per a conversation with WeeTracker last year, Grant confirmed that they would look into the East African market first as part of the expansion plan.
Co-Founder/Former CEO, Twiga
As Brooke revealed, running the company was taking much of his time, and he wanted to devote more energy to expanding into new markets.
He also mentioned last year that there would be 40 to 50 new FMCG products introduced as part of their offerings portfolio.
“Starting new ventures is really my skill-set and passion, while proficiently running institutions is Peter’s skill-set and passion. Twiga has an aggressive growth plan and this transition leverages on our respective expertise,” Brooke had told WeeTracker.
But that was last year. Convinced that Twiga is now in a good position and in great hands at the moment, Brooke is saying goodbye to active leadership at Twiga five years after starting the venture in the single room of a rented schoolhouse.
“Five years later, to see what Twiga has become, and is still growing into, is the absolute joy of my professional life,” Brooke said in the emotion-charged, gratitude-filled post.
“I want to give my first and deepest thanks to the Twiga team who have dreamed so big, gone through so much, and grown as individuals and a collective to heights I don’t think any of us thought possible a few years ago.”
While Brooke also talked about taking some time off to pay some attention to his personal life, he probably won’t be gone a long time as he also teased a new project that will be revealed in the next couple of months.
“I probably need to pay some attention to my personal life (entrepreneurship will do that to you). And while my next project is lined-up, I’ll have more to say about that in March/April. The coming weeks is the time to celebrate what we’ve done together at Twiga,” he said.
Peter Njonjo, who was a Non-Executive Director at Twiga Foods prior to last year’s reshuffling, has since been playing the role of CEO and he will continue to do so.
Since Peter Njonjo, Grant Brooke, and Kikonde Mwatela co-founded Twiga Foods (also known as Twiga) in Kenya in 2014, the company has made significant strides in bridging the gaps in food and market security through an organised platform for an efficient, fair, transparent and formal marketplace.
Twiga is a mobile-based supply platform for Africa’s retail outlets, kiosks, and market stalls. The company is using a mobile-based, cashless, business-to-business (B2B) food supply platform to access distribution into the millions of small and medium-sized vendors in African urban markets.
The startup claims to currently serve around 4,000 outlets with produce, through a network of 13,000 farmers and 6,000 vendors.
Twiga is also one of Africa’s best-funded startups having raised over USD 60 Mn across several funding rounds with the most recent being the USD 30 Mn round led by renowned investment bank, Goldman Sachs, in October 2019.
The startup’s investor roster also has names like Omidyar Network, Index Ventures, Wamda Capital, IFC, TLcom Capital Partners, Creadev, and AHL Venture Partners, among others.
