Food processor Unga Group has dissolved 117 jobs in the year ended June; with the sales and distribution units the most affected.
A report on Business Daily indicated that the company’s workforce dropped to 283 from 400 the previous year.
The company cut most jobs from the sales unit which declined to 39 up from 126 and the production department which dropped to 103 from 134.
At the same time, the food processor increased its staffing in the administration and management department by one.
“This has been a difficult year for the board. Our animal nutrition business has continued to struggle in the face of increased competition, raw material supply bottlenecks, and compressed demand due to the high cost of living which has forced farmers to seek alternative animal feeds
“We have had to make extremely difficult decisions as a board, with more concerted efforts focused on fire fighting in order to keep our business running in the face of all of the aforementioned headwinds,” Unga Group said.
Unga’s managing director Joseph Choge said the same has been attributed to the increased competition at a time when the company announced losses.
“The competitive landscape has continued to intensify, with over 50 new millers joining the fray over the last two years alone,” Choge said.
As earlier reported on WoK, Twiga Foods has laid off a number of its staff and reduced allowances of those remaining, just months after pumping KSh 1.6 billion into the business.
According to Business Daily, the agri-tech firm has changed its operations into an agency model for its sales team.
This is even as the company transitioned all its trade development representatives to agents.
At the same time, Twiga Foods cut its staff per diem to KSh 1,000 up from KSh 4,000 with a single room bed and breakfast accommodation also provided.
“As a result of this transition to the agent model, your employment with Twiga will terminate on November 30, 2022. We invite you to transition into a new relationship with Twiga as an agent effective November 1, 2022,” read a notice to the staff.
The company added that members of the sales team who will not accept to work as agents will be allowed not to work during the one-month notice period to enable them to seek alternative engagements.
The company has also limited its employees’ travel allowances in the restructuring plan.
“The travel allowance will include all costs related to the movement of the employee in her/his personal vehicle to attend to the business of the company
“Executives will identify employees in their team, whose jobs fit the criteria for a travel allowance,” said the firm.