Issue link: http://endeavor.uberflip.com/i/971013
GRANT BROOKE Kenya, Twiga Foods Grant Brooke grew up in Texas, where he learned the power of digital marketplaces at a young age. As a small boy, Grant would travel with his father to rural parts of the state, purchase run-down classic cars, then fix them up and resell them on Ebay for a profit. Brooke attended American University and graduated in 2 years, not wanting to waste any time in college. Grant created his own degree in social economics before proceeding to Princeton Theological Seminary for two masters degrees investigating how religion affects economic behavior. His studies led him to Africa to conduct research, but when his professor retired and his studies shifted to Oxford, Grant reevaluated his path and decided to remain in Kenya permanently. While in Nairobi, Grant was struck by the high cost of food. How could a locally-grown banana cost more in Nairobi than in the US? Setting out to uncover the root cause, he and his friend Peter Njono purchased a couple of tuk tuks and began delivering bananas directly from farmers to vendors. The Nairobi vendors appreciated the low prices and convenient delivery and quickly requested other products from Twiga. After studying the demand, Grant and Peter were convinced of the business's potential. They raised seed funding, hired a tech team to create an order tracking platform, and launched Twiga Foods in 2015, a company now revolutionizing African retail.