EFMD encourages and rewards innovative and impactful cases in management development each year. The 2022 edition of the EFMD Case Writing Competition brought an exceptional variety of winning cases across various industries. We interviewed the winners to find out more about their motivation, inspiration and significant challenges. The following interview is with K B S Kumar & Indu Perepu of ICFAI Business School, the winners of the “Entrepreneurship” category.

‘Twiga – Improving Market Access for Farmers in Kenya’

What was the inspiration for your case?

As we hail from a country whose economy is agrarian-based, we often encounter issues and challenges that farmers face in growing crops and distributing them. We come from a region that is highly fertile but is prone to cyclones. We have witnessed several cases where the produce that was ready for distribution going waste in unseasonal rains. The farmers we interacted with said that solution was to have proper warehouses and storage facilities, and they have to rely on the government to provide those facilities. As these are the challenges most farmers from developing countries face, we started looking for solutions from other countries. Our search brought us to Twiga. The fact that it is run independently without governmental funds or intervention motivated us to explore its work in detail.

What were the major challenges in designing the case?

Here we are trying to understand the country of Kenya, to which we had limited exposure. We took some time to understand the nuances of agriculture and the country’s climatic conditions and to learn more about the small urban vendors.

What would you like to highlight from your case?

The problem that farmers were facing in Kenya is age-old. It is the so-called ‘Big Problem.’ This case shows the power of small solutions for big problems. What started as a small solution connecting the farmers with the vendors became a wholesome solution with technology and mobile payments. The case also shows that a small step of eliminating waste from the food supply chain can go a long way in addressing global challenges like food insecurity, food safety, and food inflation. As far as Kenya is concerned, Twiga-like interventions would go a long way in controlling food prices, thereby reducing the share of disposable income people spend on food. Twiga’s model is highly scalable and replicable and could as well hold a solution to the global food crisis.

How do you believe your findings could impact society and business in the future?

Twiga’s model is highly replicable and can be used anywhere in the world. We have used this case during a training session for a government-run organization that works for farmers’ welfare. Some of the participants in the session were field-level executives who dealt with farmers and helped them with guidance and training. The Twiga model highly inspired them, and some have implemented it in their own way. In a follow-up session conducted after a few months, some field executives said they had created network groups connecting farmers and vendors, where the farmers post the details of the products available on the group, and vendors bid for it and pick it up directly.

We feel that such models should be publicized and adopted widely, as they hold the key to major food challenges plaguing the current world.

Delve into a wealth of valuable insights within the remaining Case Writing Competition interviews.

About Sponsorship

EFMD Case Writing Competition is proud to have dedicated sponsors who drive management education towards impactful teaching and learning. Sponsoring a category allows you to showcase your institution’s expertise in the specific field of management education in the wide EFMD network. The choice of category, its exact definition and any specific conditions are the privileges of the sponsor. Sponsorships for the following categories are currently available – Bringing Technology to Market, Continuous Improvement: the Journey to Excellence, Hidden Champions, Responsible Business, MENA Business Cases, and Responsible Leadership. If you are interested in sponsoring the mentioned categories or launching a new category relevant to case writing and teaching, please check out our category sponsorship opportunities page or contact Hansol Park at hansol.park@efmdglobal.org.

More information about the 2022 EFMD Case Writing Competition can be found on the EFMD Case Writing Competition page. Please visit The Case Centre’s webpage to access the collection of the winning cases. See other interviews from this series.