Twiga Foods Chief Executive Officer Peter Njonjo has announced his decision to take a six-month sabbatical from the Kenyan e-commerce and food distribution company.

Njonjo, who co-founded the company together with Grant Brooke in 2013, made the surprising announcement through a notice published in a local daily on Thursday.

He indicated that he is taking a half-year break from the helm of the business-to-business (B2B) marketplace after “an intense 2023” to focus on unspecified “personal matters.”

“I joined Twiga as CEO in 2019 because I had a dream of increasing food security in Africa, starting with my home country of Kenya,” he said in the published statement.

He added: “I am proud of what we have built at Twiga and the impact that Twiga has had through job creation, the reduction of agricultural waste, and ultimately the reduction of food costs for our people.”

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However, the company announced that Njonjo will remain on the board of directors.

“The board supports Peter's decision to take a sabbatical and has full confidence in the capabilities of Twiga's recently bolstered senior leadership team,” the firm announced.

It added: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank Peter for his demonstrated commitment in ensuring the completion of Twiga's recent funding round, despite the personal sacrifices required.”

The company’s chairman, Hein Pretorius expressed confidence in Twiga's market position and optimism it will work with Njonjo to grow the business after he concludes his leave.

Twiga Chief Operating Officer Laurent Gouault and Chief Financial Officer Zuber Momoniat will lead Twiga Foods’ operational & commercial and finance & legal functions respectively during Njonjo’s break.

In November, the decade-old agri-tech start-up secured fresh funding from Creadev, Juven, DOB Equity and TLcom Capital Partners, the investors who took part in the 2021 round that netted $50 million.

But this came as the e-commerce firm was slapped with a Sh40 million debt collection lawsuit from cloud services vendor Incentro Africa, which tried to put it under insolvency.

However, Njonjo managed to obtain temporary orders barring the liquidation attempt, contesting the debt claimed by Incentro terming it “in bad faith and with ulterior motives.”

The two later started engaging in talks to settle the debt, Twiga later confirmed, with the fresh funding set to enable it pay its suppliers and fund its transformation and growth plans.

This comes even as industry analysts are wondering whether Njonjo will return to the troubled firm and in what capacity, or whether he will be forced out of the company he co-founded as it seeks to regain its footing in this tumultuous period.