Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya

Micro Small and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs) in many developing countries play an important role in the agri-food systems. They provide employment opportunities as well as source of foods for urban consumers. In Kenya, the MSMEs provide an interesting disruption in the rapidly growing traditional mark...

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Autores principales: Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria, Onyango, Kevin Omondi, Lundy, Mark M., Kabach, Joram
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130733
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author Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria
Onyango, Kevin Omondi
Lundy, Mark M.
Kabach, Joram
author_browse Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria
Kabach, Joram
Lundy, Mark M.
Onyango, Kevin Omondi
author_facet Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria
Onyango, Kevin Omondi
Lundy, Mark M.
Kabach, Joram
author_sort Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Micro Small and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs) in many developing countries play an important role in the agri-food systems. They provide employment opportunities as well as source of foods for urban consumers. In Kenya, the MSMEs provide an interesting disruption in the rapidly growing traditional markets. Efficient sourcing of foodstuffs is one of the challenges faced by MSME food vendors in Nairobi. Traditionally small-scale food vendors travel by informal buses to wholesale wet markets several times a week to source limited volumes of fresh fruit and vegetables. These early morning trips generate additional costs including bus fare, relatively high unit costs for small volumes of purchases, insecurity, and opportunity costs for mostly female vendors. Twiga Foods, a Kenya agritech and logistics private company formed in 2014, seeks to resolve some of these issue through the efficient sorting and distribution of fresh produce in urban Kenya to reduce fragmentation in the produce market (Cook & O'Neill, 2020). It employs a cashless mobile-based business-to-business (B2B) food supply (fruits and vegetables) platform that connects farmers to small and medium-sized vendors, outlets and kiosks, and the main aim is to address the problem of food flow from farmers to markets in urban areas across Kenya (Cook & O'Neill, 2020; von Bismarck-Osten, 2021). What can the Twiga Foods case teach us about the potential of a disintermediation model in the LMIC food system to provide multiple benefits in terms of food and nutrition security, incomes, employment, and potential spill-over effects?
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spelling CGSpace1307332025-11-05T11:12:14Z Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria Onyango, Kevin Omondi Lundy, Mark M. Kabach, Joram small and medium enterprises agrifood sector food access food systems food supply Micro Small and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs) in many developing countries play an important role in the agri-food systems. They provide employment opportunities as well as source of foods for urban consumers. In Kenya, the MSMEs provide an interesting disruption in the rapidly growing traditional markets. Efficient sourcing of foodstuffs is one of the challenges faced by MSME food vendors in Nairobi. Traditionally small-scale food vendors travel by informal buses to wholesale wet markets several times a week to source limited volumes of fresh fruit and vegetables. These early morning trips generate additional costs including bus fare, relatively high unit costs for small volumes of purchases, insecurity, and opportunity costs for mostly female vendors. Twiga Foods, a Kenya agritech and logistics private company formed in 2014, seeks to resolve some of these issue through the efficient sorting and distribution of fresh produce in urban Kenya to reduce fragmentation in the produce market (Cook & O'Neill, 2020). It employs a cashless mobile-based business-to-business (B2B) food supply (fruits and vegetables) platform that connects farmers to small and medium-sized vendors, outlets and kiosks, and the main aim is to address the problem of food flow from farmers to markets in urban areas across Kenya (Cook & O'Neill, 2020; von Bismarck-Osten, 2021). What can the Twiga Foods case teach us about the potential of a disintermediation model in the LMIC food system to provide multiple benefits in terms of food and nutrition security, incomes, employment, and potential spill-over effects? 2023-06 2023-06-15T12:16:54Z 2023-06-15T12:16:54Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130733 en Open Access application/pdf Chege, C.G.K.; Onyango, K.O.; Lundy, M.M.; Kabach, J. (2023) Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya.
spellingShingle small and medium enterprises
agrifood sector
food access
food systems
food supply
Chege, Christine Gacheri Kiria
Onyango, Kevin Omondi
Lundy, Mark M.
Kabach, Joram
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title_full Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title_fullStr Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title_short Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers: Twiga case study, Nairobi, Kenya
title_sort small and medium enterprises smes disrupt food systems to deliver healthy diets to urban consumers twiga case study nairobi kenya
topic small and medium enterprises
agrifood sector
food access
food systems
food supply
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130733
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