Twiga Agent App — Linking Suppliers to Markets Efficiently
Over the last few years, Kenya has seen its demand for better food quality grow as a result of the deficiencies brought about by a fractured food supply chain. Most suppliers, especially those of the farmer category, suffer as their produce has to change across various hands to reach market.
During these processes, quality, morale and efficiency suffer as there are too many hoops to jump before produce gets to market
Enter Twiga Agent app. The app is part of a larger Agent Model whereby we assist suppliers get their produce to market faster, cheaper while still maintaining high levels of quality. By leveraging the ubiquitous mobile technology, we ensure that market availability is at your fingertips.
As mentioned before, the fractured supply chain has brought about losses to suppliers, unnecessary logistical complexity and ultimately, more often than not, low food quality reaching the market. Disappointment reverberates from supplier to end customer.
So what is this Twiga Agent app? How does it work? How would it help me as a supplier?
The Twiga Agent App is a mobile Android application that was designed and developed by Twiga to simplify the process of supplying produce to market, be it fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) or fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as flour.
Launched in November 2019, the app has been downloaded by over 1,000 suppliers, who supply Twiga which is a leading, tech-enabled food distribution platform. Over 700 suppliers are active on the platform daily.
Our suppliers are varied, located in different locations supplying a multitude of food products; Some are small holder farmers, others have multiple farmers with tens of acres and others have their own wholesale / distribution companies. Despite this, the agent model ensures a fair crack at being able to leverage Twiga’s leading distribution platform to enable their food stuff reach the market place in a fast and relatively cheap manner while ensuring quality is maintained
At the heart of the agent model is a bidding system which is employed by the app. It is a very simple chain:
Twiga creates a bid which contains the produce it wants, a market fair and dictated price range, required tonnage, quality requirements and the delivery date. This bid is then made visible to suppliers on the app. If a supplier feels he or she meets the criteria of the bid then they submit an application containing their supply proposal. If their bid is accepted and they win (yay!), the supplier proceeds to supply Twiga as stipulated in their bid proposal.
Supply of quality products is essential in Twiga. If a supplier proves time and time again that they can supply quality products, the chances of their bids being accepted in subsequent applications increases. Slacking immediately lowers chances of doing business with Twiga
The Twiga Agent App is a transparent system. The bidding information and process is open to anyone who has the app downloaded. Suppliers get accurate information on the products that Twiga want, at what price range (fair and market informed) and the expected (high) quality standard.
By using the Twiga Agent app, Suppliers are able to tap into the vast market that Twiga serves without the hassle of going through unnecessary red tape and unscrupulous brokers who take advantage of market information to give suppliers a value less than what they can get on the Twiga ecosystem
Suppliers can also do their own trend analysis to see the trends in terms of product, quality demands and pricing to better adjust what they source and in the case of farmers, what they plant.
Ready to supply and join the Twiga ecosystem? Download the app through the Android’s Google Play
