Exclusive: Twiga legal chief departs company days after founder’s resignation

Daniel Ngungi, head of legal and administration at Twiga Foods, left the company days after TechCabal reported that Peter Njonjo, the founder and CEO, resigned from Twiga’s board. Ngungi confirmed his departure in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

“The 4th of January 2024 marked my last day at Twiga Foods, an organization that was my home for a decade, eight years of which were on a full-time basis,” the post read.

Ngungi’s departure comes amid what appears to be a takeover of Twiga by its investors, leading to the eventual exit of Peter Njonjo, its former CEO, confirming speculation that he was forced out of the company.

Yebeltal Getachew, who led Twiga’s East Africa business, also left the company in December.

TechCabal reported that cash-strapped Twiga raised $35 million in convertible bonds from Creadev and Juven, two of its existing investors, to pay 100 vendors it owed. But TechCabal learned that at least one vendor said they were not paid or notified of a payment plan despite the company’s claim that it notified around 100 vendors. Last December, a Kenyan court in Nairobi gave Twiga Foods four months to resolve its debts with Incentro, a Google Cloud reseller.

At the heart of the lawsuit lies a $3 million cloud service contract Twiga signed with Incentro, back when the departing Head of Legal was still with the company. Twiga allegedly fell behind on monthly payments, leading Incentro to demand over $450,000, including accrued interest and what they claim to be missed bonus payments from Google due to Twiga’s delayed sign-offs.

Twiga disputes the amount owed, questioning the contract details and claiming Incentro’s lawsuit is motivated by ulterior motives. They’ve also engaged in talks with Google Ireland directly regarding the cloud service bill.

As of December 5, 2023, both parties missed a court deadline to reconcile their invoices, and the next hearing is scheduled for March 13, 2024.