Twiga Foods, an e-commerce a food distribution platform in Kenya has named Charles Ballard as the new CEO. This comes after resignation of the founder and CEO, Peter Njonjo late last year. Peter was at the helm of the company for a decade.
Now, Charles Ballard steers the leadership of the company which has had numerous issues. From post Covid-19 period, the company had issues including staff layoffs, cashflow challenges and other operational headwinds. He will work alongside other leaders of the company who include Anjan Dasgupta who is the Chief Operating Officer, Paul Bombo-Chief Technology Officer, Susan Kiama- Chief People Officer and Zuber Momoniat-Chief Finance Officer.
He brings his skills and knowledge from Jumia and other organizations he worked before to Twiga Foods. Charles Ballard has a career experience spanning 15 years nine of which is in Kenyan market. His wealth of experience in e-commerce, retail, and financial services will help Twiga Foods work towards its goal. He was recently the CEO of Jumia Kenya, a leading e-commerce company.
Twiga Foods leadership optimistic about appointment of Charles Ballard.
Twiga’s chairman, Hein Pretorius commented “we are delighted to welcome Charles as our new Chief Executive. His deep understanding of the Kenyan e-commerce and retail landscape is a proven operational grip, his entrepreneurial drive, and his passion for Twiga Foods opportunity make him the ideal leader to steer Twiga into its next phase of growth of success”.
Charles on his end expressed his optimism for the opportunity “Iam honored to lead such a talented team at Twiga Foods during this pivotal time. With our unique value proposition, we are ideally positioned to seize key market opportunities”.
Despite closing deals in funding, the e-commerce company has failed to stabilize and operate profitably. By around last quarter of 2023, Twiga Foods raised around $160 million in total. Before Peter Njonjo left office, he hinted that the company was targeting to generate own cashflows that could sustain the company without necessarily depending on funding. However, that didn’t happen in his reign, its now the duty of Charles Ballard to actualize the dreams for Twiga Foods. His strategy to reorganize the company for growth will determine its future.
