Situation
Open Capital was engaged by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to study food distribution in Kenya and Ethiopia, from production to last mile distribution, to understand how the Foundation could improve nutrition for low-income consumers.
Our Process
OCA supported the Foundation by:
- Designing a research methodology to identify priority areas, bottlenecks, and opportunities in the food delivery value chain in Kenya & Ethiopia as well as the nutritional needs of low-income consumers
- Conducting extensive interviews and field research to map the food distribution and nutrition value chain across the two countries. This included building a detailed mapping of all existing players in the chain, their specific roles, capabilities, and constraints as well as identifying market trends, key bottlenecks, and investment opportunities.
- Tracing the distribution paths of specific prioritized foods within each country and demonstrating the value captured by each player in the distribution chain.
- Designing a strategy and recommendations for how the Foundation could best intervene to solve gaps and improve end-consumer nutrition
This research culminated in a comprehensive report laying out the relevant food distribution and nutrition fact base, including tracing the relevant value chains, identifying key economic drivers at each step of each value chain, detailing particular actors in the chain, outlining the value they were able to capture, detailing market trends, and identifying bottlenecks and potential opportunities. Our report included detailed recommendations on interventions across the value chain, including an assessment of impact for each intervention.
