Field Intelligence, a known Healthtech startup had announced its decision to expand into more cities in two countries across the African continent. The expansion is featuring 11 cities in Nigeria – Rivers, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Delta, Kwara States of Nigeria, plus Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and Naivasha of Kenya.
Brought into existence in 2015, the aim of Field Intelligence was to digitalize pharmaceutical supply chain operations and create a unique experience for end-product users in that field. As they continued in business, they discovered that the issues they came in to solve were not unique to only them; other privately run pharmacies faced same. Therefore, they evolved from being a software company to a tech-enabled pharmaceutical distributor; launching Shelf Life in 2017.
The expansion is to embellish Field Intelligence’s 700+ already-existing structure of membership, serving over 1.4 million patients in Africa, and fast-track the implementation of quality frontline healthcare services across the continent. Rapid growth saw the company embarking on this expansion just a year after they experienced exponential sales and growth in Shelf Life membership.
Describing the need for the expansion and Shelf Life as a solution to Africa’s pharmaceutical digital needs, the CEO Mr. Micheal Moreland said: “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 digitize, automate and optimize planning, assortment and fulfilment, led by an incredible team, is quickly making Shelf Life one of the largest retail pharmacy supply chains in Africa”.
The journey so far
Field Intelligence has mentioned that so far, Shelf Life is being used in more than 700 pharmacies in Nigeria and Kenya. Targeted customers in drugstores and pharmacies in Nigeria and Kenya amount to more than 20,000. The forecast the company is drawing out, is adding 2,000 more drugstores and pharmacies to its portfolio of active users, and 12,000 by 2025.
This new system can be likened to a redefinition of pharmaceutical supply chain operations. If key stakeholders in the African Health sector were to adopt Field Intelligence’s digital approach; applying it to the system, it would not be a wrong direction.
