#37: mPharma - How the HealthTech supply chain platform is providing services to pharmacies & patients across Africa

Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about mPharma - the Ghanaian prescription drug inventory management company. We’ll explore the mPharma story across 6 areas:

1. African Health care status & context
2. mPharma founding and early history
3. Fundraising & Growth
4. Product & monetization strategy
5. Competitive positioning & potential exit options
6. Overall outlook.

This episode was recorded on Sep 5, 2021

Companies discussed: mPharma, Novartis, DrugStoc, Medsaf, Helium Health, Golden Palm Investments, Novastar ventures, CDC & Gates Foundation

Business concepts discussed: Healthcare Logistics, drug distribution, Healthcare technology, Health insurance coverage, Health platforms, IFC & Public policy

Conversation highlights:

• (01:14) - Why we’re talking about mPharma
• (05:18) - Background of Healthcare in Africa
• (19:41) - Healthcare and Pharmacy / Drugs access in Nigeria
• (26:05) - Healthcare context and insurance in Ghana
• (27:15) - mPharma founding and early history - Gregory Rockson background
• (43:56) - Fundraising - Seed, Series A, B, C
• (56:00) - Traction - users, reported revenue, etc.
• (1:01:50) - Product strategy - Quality (Shop) Rx, Mutti, etc.
• (1:11:57) - Monetization strategy
• (1:14:17) - E-Commerce logistics vs healthcare logistics
• (1:21:48) - Competition
• (1:34:22) - Options for exit - mergers, acquisitions
• (1:36:56) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
• (1:45:36) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
• (1:55:47) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: The World After Capital (Albert Wenger)
• Small win: Setup Galaxy Z Flip3. Different experience.
• Other content: Life expectancy (World Bank database)

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: Donald Shoup on the economics of parking & Heaven and Hell - Kanye West
• Small win: Attended a wedding in New Jersey this past weekend. Lots of fun celebrating with friends. Happy Married Life Joan & Chris!!!
• Other content: Accelerating improvements in Health Product Distribution by Salient Advisory & How the QWERTY Keyboard Broke the Chinese Language

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Please email [e-mail] with your feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about you & what you're working on, email us at [e-mail]

Investors: We'd also love to link up with you, to partner to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at [e-mail]

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