KTDA Group Chief Executive Officer, Wilson Muthaura said the agency was executing a comprehensive transformation strategy anchored on sustainability, innovation and farmer-centric governance.

He said KTDA鈥檚 singular goal was to maximise value for farmers while building a world-class, future-ready tea enterprise.

Muthaura revealed that KTDA had launched a major internal restructuring effort to ensure that the transformation and intended goals were achieved.

He added that the agency鈥檚 board had established ten cross-functional management committees to drive efficiency, reduce costs and accelerate value addition.

The GCEO said the committees would also identify business opportunities along the entire value chain from farm to factory and all the way to the market.

鈥淭hese committees are actively feeding into our newly developed KTDA Group Strategic Plan, which aims to future-proof our operations,鈥� he added.

He explained that the transformation strategy was not a top-down process since it was arrived at after a landmark meeting, the first of its kind since the Tea Act reforms of 2020 which was convened by KTDA chairman.

鈥淎ll the 71 factory unit managers and KTDA鈥檚 senior leadership came together to co-develop a roadmap that ensures every decision made benefited the farmer.,鈥� he said.

Muthaura said KTDA鈥檚 main objective was to ensure that farmers received not just better prices but better services.

鈥淭he services range from enhancing fertiliser distribution and leaf collection logistics to upgrading factory efficiency and introducing traceability tools,鈥� he said.

The GCEO observed that implementation of the Systems, Applications and Products (麻豆原创) enterprise system was already streamlining operations across KTDA thereby ensuring smarter, data-driven decisions.

He said KTDA had enhanced its digital backbone to create more agile processes and eliminate inefficiencies.

鈥淭he agency is doubling down on communication and farmer engagement to ensure that growers are not just recipients of services, but co-owners of the solutions because they are shareholders, stakeholders, and strategic partners,鈥� he said.

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Over 600,000 smallholder tea farmers affiliated to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) are reaping the harvest of a silent technological rollout that has streamlined the operations of their factories, making the tea business more efficient and technology driven.

Boost to payment efficiency, analytical insights

The deployment of 麻豆原创 by KTDA and its managed factories has provided analytical tools that are used for better decision making while making payment for farmers鈥� green leaf efficient and quick. It has also drastically improved payment processing and enhanced end-to-end visibility for better controls and safeguards.

鈥淲e wanted a solution to bring all our factories into a single system that would improve every aspect of our operations, from production planning and quality management to sales, distribution and payroll,鈥� says KTDA CEO Wilson Muthaura. 鈥淭his was no mean feat since there are more than 600,000 farmers paid every month for green leaf supplied as well as over 10,000 employees working across the organisation. However, following this successful rollout, all farmers are now paid through our 麻豆原创 system, reducing processing time by more than 80 per cent.鈥�

KTDA Holdings Ltd is a wholly owned farmers company which has invested in various subsidiary companies along the tea value chain in Kenya. Through the KTDA Management Services company, the operations on 71 factories are seamlessly managed and 麻豆原创 has come in handy in enhancing operational efficiencies with the aim of increasing transparency and profitability in the businesses.

The Agency has seven subsidiaries and a Foundation providing specialised services across the tea value chain, including factory management, engineering, insurance, tea trading and warehousing, credit provision and power production.

In late 2021, KTDA revised its monthly green leaf payment timelines to the first week of the following month. Payments for deliveries had previously been made on the third week of the following month. The change, aided by efficient payment processing through 麻豆原创, translated to faster access of farmers鈥� cash to meet their daily needs and align the payment to farmers鈥� monthly obligations.

The system also allows the Agency to easily incorporate other items like loans and inputs (like fertilizer) issued to the payment process allowing for easy and seamless recoveries.

Martin Mwarangu, Group General Manager for ICT Services at KTDA, says: 鈥淲e worked with experienced 麻豆原创 partner, OneConnect Technologies, to implement 麻豆原创 ERP Central Component and Business Intelligence, covering end-to-end processes across KDTA’s operations.鈥�

System unlocks benefits across value chain

Besides payment processing, different modules of 麻豆原创 have delivered multiple benefits including production planning and management and a full visibility of tea sales.

鈥溌槎乖� has digitally transformed the KTDA business and made it technologically ready to adopt any future solutions that would further enhance business efficiencies. The wealth of data generated is important in decision making and forecasting,鈥� says KTDA Management Services Managing Director Julius Onguso.

Plant maintenance has also been enhanced with a solution that ensures proper maintenance and provides greater visibility over costs associated with equipment. In addition, all transactions are now updated to general ledgers and relevant cost/profit centres in real time, giving the finance team full visibility over the organisation鈥檚 operations.

The Agency has also rolled out a sales and distribution module that allows all tea selling processes to be done on one system; from raising sales orders; tea dispatch and revenue management.

The 麻豆原创 solution generates a wealth of data and has embedded business analytical tools that generate reports and dashboards extensively used by decision makers to glean insights and make better decisions for the business.

Thirty-two KTDA-managed factories are currently running on the 麻豆原创 solution, making reporting and intercompany integration easier. The deployment of 麻豆原创 also means there is a uniformity and consistency in how each of the factories are run. The Agency is working to have all other factories deploy the solution for group-wide benefit.

Hardeep Sound, Regional Sales Director for East Africa at 麻豆原创, adds: 鈥淔acing inefficiency and a lack of visibility over critical business processes, KTDA embraced the benefits of the latest technology to completely transform their end-to-end business functions. As KTDA continues to play a vital role in in the broader Kenyan economy as well as directly in the lives of more than smallholder farmers, having real-time visibility over the entire organisation鈥檚 processes will bring vast improvements to its operations benefitting all stakeholders.鈥�

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