Nigeria-based e-health startup, Field Intelligence is on its mission to digitise the pharmaceutical supply chain in Africa by expanding its operations in 11 cities across East and West Africa to provide the pharmacy market with its pharmacy inventory-management service, according to media reports.
The startup plans to open its services to Rivers, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Delta and Kwara States in Nigeria, and Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and Naivasha in Kenya.
This mission will be a collaboration between the African governments to scale up their healthcare system while taking care of Africa’s small private pharmacies.
The news of the company’s expansion comes after it raised $3.8 million in 2020 to scale its Shelf Life product, a subscription-based pay-as-you-sell platform. Shelf Life was launched in 2017 to solve the inventory problem that is faced by Africa’s $75 billion pharmacy market.
The startup’s winning pitch for the funding was simple. Help any type of pharmacy access thousands of products and cutting-edge inventory planning along with enabling them to pay and sell the products. This approach minimises some of the risks associated with storage activities such as procurement and inventory management and it also eliminates the over and understocking problem faced in the market.
Michael Moreland, chief executive officer (CEO) of Field Intelligence told the media, “Shelf Life’s rapid uptake across such a range of African markets is a testament to its potential as a solution for pharmacies across the continent. Rural and urban, East and West, we have found Shelf Life helping pharmacies overcome a shared set of challenges and seize new opportunities for growth by improving access for their patients.”
“The ability of our technology to digitise, automate, and optimise planning, assortment, and fulfilment, led by an incredible team, is quickly making Shelf Life one of the largest retail pharmacy supply chains in Africa.”
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