Peter Njonjo wishes to alter the way food is distributed in Africa
Peter Njonjo wishes to alter the way food is distributed in Africa
Peter Njonjo founded his first business during his senior year of high school. He became aware of an issue; the school canteen was located too far from the dormitories.
Each day, he and his classmates walked from their beds to the canteen to purchase bread. Peter's solution was straightforward – purchase all of the bread in the canteen, transport it to the dormitories, and sell it to customers from the comfort of their beds, charging a small fee for the convenience.
“I built a very successful franchise because there were too many dormitories for me to do it alone,” he explained during our conversation.
Today, he is tackling a much larger version of the same problem. He is the CEO and co-founder of Twiga Foods, a company that procures fresh and processed foods from over 4,000 farmers and manufacturers who are frequently located in remote areas and delivers them to over 35,000 vendors throughout Kenya – all for a small fee.
From an incomplete MBA to leading Coca-operations Cola's in 33 African countries, his story reveals a man passionate about making people's lives a little bit easier.
His name is Peter Njonjo, and this is his life in technology.
Peter Njonjo and the case of the incomplete MBA
If you scroll down to the Education section of Peter Njonjo's LinkedIn profile today, you will notice an entry from 2000 for an MBA in Strategic Management, followed by the words "Masters Incomplete."
During our conversation, Peter informs me that he has completed the required coursework for the MBA. The incompletion would be attributed to his final MBA paper and the professor who oversaw it. Simply put, they were uncooperative.
“They were extremely finicky; they were constantly changing their minds. And I was exceedingly busy.”
You may wonder what kept a 21-year-old Peter too busy to devote 100% of his time to appeasing his professor – his job at Coca-Cola.
Around the time he applied for his master's program, Peter began working for Coca-Cola as an accountant with his newly earned bachelor's degree in finance – which he earned in nine months.
“So many people have stories about their college years and all the partying. For me, it flew by because I was constantly in the library.”
Peter decided to become a Certified Public Accountant during the typical two-year gap between high school and university (CPA). He made significant progress during that time period. He enrolled in the United States International University of Africa (USIUA), a private university located in Nairobi.
“My undergraduate degree lasted nine months due to the amount of work I completed during my CPA.”
His fizzy rise to the top at Coca-Cola
Peter Njonjo was one of the country's youngest certified public accountants in 1998. He joined Coca-Cola in the same year as an accountant, and his first assignment was to reconcile some accounts that would not balance.
“I spent many, many hours attempting to decipher that.”
However, that was only the beginning of his 18-year tenure at the company.
“If you look at the tenures of many people who worked at Coca-Cola, they are quite lengthy. It's a company where there are numerous opportunities for growth if your DNA matches that of the company.”
And Peter was seizing every opportunity available to him. For him, it was a matter of operating as an entrepreneur within an established organization and taking ownership of processes. As he puts it, he was "creating value with other people's money." This approach won him many friends early on and helped propel him through the ranks to the point where, at the age of 31, and after ten years with the company, he was promoted to country manager for Kenya.
Three years later, he would assume responsibility for Coca-operations Cola's in six East African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Mozambique. During this time period, he would negotiate deals worth more than a billion dollars in capital expenditures (Capital Expenditure).
However, he was not slowing down. He founded his own company with co-founder and friend Grant Brooke during his tenure as general manager of Coca-Cola East Africa.
Twiga Foods was not the first venture they attempted to co-found. Their first venture involved felling timber and replenishing the plantation from which they obtained the timber. The venture did not succeed.
Grant later approached Peter with an idea. He desired that they make a profit by selling bananas.
“In my mind, I was thinking, 'Oh God, this does not sound like something I want to be a part of for the long haul.' However, allow me to simply listen.'"
And he did listen.
Going bananas and starting Twiga
A fun fact that would assist Peter Njonjo in making the leap into the banana world is that bananas are one of the world's most traded commodities.
Thus, the plan called for the export of bananas. However, this was far from a stroll in the park.
“We recognized that supply chains were in shambles and that there were numerous obstacles out there. It was not going to be as simple as we anticipated.”
When they were unable to sell a single container of bananas outside of Kenya, Peter decided it was time to sell the bananas locally. However, even there, they encountered broken supply chains that limited their ability to add value, as many segments of the retail industry were fragmented and informal.
“When you attempt to formalize something that is informal, you will run into a slew of difficulties.”
One of those obstacles was the lack of a uniform standard for produce packaging. This made it difficult for businesses like theirs to calculate their gross profit margin per unit, as the market's concept of a unit was effectively foreign.
“So we needed to introduce bananas in crates and teach people that they can actually purchase bananas in crates and have them ripened rather than purchasing them and ripening them themselves and losing half of them.”
While Grant was refining Twiga's business model and determining the optimal way to create value, Peter sat on the board and assisted in the company's direction. He also advanced through the ranks of Coca-Cola, eventually becoming President of Coca-Cola West and Central Africa, where he was responsible for 33 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. He will step down from this position in 2019 to become CEO of Twiga Foods.
“I had discussed with Grant the possibility of stepping in if the business ever became too large. Because it was a significant investment for me.”
It was such a significant investment for him that, while they attempted to raise additional capital for the business, he and his wife decided to sell the home they had built in the interim to finance the business.
“In fact, it was my wife's idea. We had a term sheet from the lead investor, but due diligence was taking longer than anticipated, and I was concerned that the company would run out of money before the round closed.”
However, according to Peter, they were reasonably confident about the direction of the business, and thus it made sense for them. They would eventually close a seed round of $1.75 million.
“And I believe one of the lessons you can learn is to avoid becoming overly attached to material assets. Rather than that, concentrate on legacy and the things that need to be built.”
“Alexa, play Legacy by Jay-Z”
“This year marks my 45th birthday. Nairobi, Kenya is where I was born and raised. I am the youngest of four children.”
That is how Peter Njonjo begins his story during our conversation. He and his siblings were born to a retired accountant who is now involved in the family business and an engineer who is still active in the real estate market.
Tina, Peter's wife, and he have four children. When I asked him about his personal goals for himself and his family, he stated, "Making sure I'm there for my children as they grow up, enjoying my marriage with my wife, and pursuing things that are related to our passions, whether it's philanthropy or angel investing."
Twiga, too, has grandiose plans. The company intends to commission Africa's largest standalone banana ripening facility in September.
“We've spent considerable time fine-tuning our business here in Kenya, which should aid in our rapid scaling. We want to be in 12 countries on the continent within the next five years, serving approximately 100,000 customers daily.”
Twiga Foods is well on its way to achieving these goals based on the success it has already achieved in Kenya.
