Twiga Foods and Incentro Africa have resolved a disputed Google Cloud services payment that had seen the IT firm file for insolvency.
This comes about three and a half months after the High Court gave the agri-tech firm and Incentro Africa 60 days to negotiate and agree on the settlement of the dispute.
The distributor of farm produce had disputed a debt after it was served with a demand for $261,878 (Sh42.6 million), which was lodged in court on September 4.
Incentro Africa had initially made the statutory demand in September on Twiga Foods over sums relating to Google Cloud Services provided by Incentro.
Twiga Foods which disputed the amounts had said the liquidation demand was made in bad faith in a bid to compel it to pay a non-existent debt, with the court allowing the two parties to reach a settlement after the firm filed an application in court to set aside the statutory demand.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the two firms announced what they termed “a renewed and strengthened partnership”, following “ a significant breakthrough in the resolution of the historical dispute.”
The resolution, led by Twiga’s new management team followed negotiations between Twiga Foods and Incentro Africa following the management changes announced in Q4 2023.
This follows the significant recent investment, led by Creadev and Juven, into Twiga in December 2023.
Incentro CEO Dennis de Weerd of said: “ I would like to commend the exceptional work of Twiga’s Chief Financial Officer, Zuber Momoniat. His commitment and decisiveness have been instrumental in resolving the dispute and rekindling our partnership.”
The collaboration, de Weerd said, marks a significant step towards a stronger and more productive relationship between Twiga Foods and Incentro Africa.
“We regret the difficulties that arose in 2023, which placed both Twiga Foods and Incentro Africa in a challenging position. However, we are pleased to announce that these issues have been resolved to our mutual satisfaction and are excited to recommit to our partnership,” de Weerd added.
The firm will continue providing cloud services to Twiga Foods, it said.
Twiga is a business-to-business marketplace platform that sources produces directly from farmers and delivers it to urban retailers through a mobile-based cashless supply platform.
To run and optimise its business, the firm had to engage a cloud services provider and the distributor has been using Incentro’s Google Cloud platform reseller account.
