Healthcare consulting firm Salient Advisory has released its latest market intelligence report highlighting 24 leading Africa-focused supply chain innovators who are likely to make a more substantial impact.
The report, titled “Leading Innovations Enabling Access to Medical Products in Africa,” funded by the Gates Foundation, reveals that amid challenging macroeconomic realities and declining investment in Africa’s tech ecosystem, a select few African medical innovators are emerging as leaders.
After an average of 10 years of activity, the 24 leading innovators now collectively partner with more than 100 manufacturers and 75 public health organizations, serving approximately 50,000 providers (serving hundreds of thousands of patients per day) and delivering health products directly to millions of consumers.
Kasha made headlines last year when it raised a Series B investment and has since reported it will build out its health tech access platform and generate more than $50 million in annual revenue by 2023, the highest ever recorded in Salient’s research.
Innovators like Kasha, who provide digitally-enabled ordering and inventory management services to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and drug stores, dominate among major companies, accounting for 13 of the 24 innovations featured and operating in 30 countries. The four largest online pharmacies reach approximately 10 million customers and generate average annual revenue of nearly $9 million. Other categories featured are innovations in product protection and visibility, medical drone delivery and data analytics.
Lead innovators now appear positioned to make a more substantial impact, but targeted engagement from governments, donors, industry, and global health organizations is needed to transform access for underserved populations and improve the cost-effectiveness of care. To leverage lead innovators’ models to drive increased access, governments, industry, donors, and global health organizations need to simplify regulatory pathways, explore innovators’ ability to generate cost savings for health systems, pursue partnerships where evidence is strong, and evolve contracting and payment systems to enable innovators to partner with large health delivery systems.
The 24 leading innovators featured are (in alphabetical order): Chefaa, DrugStoc, Field Inc, Figorr, Grinta, HealthPlus, Kasha, LifeBank, Maisha Meds, Medictect, mPedigree, MYDAWA, Pendulum, PharmaSecure, Remedial Health, RxAll, Sobrus, Sproxil, Talamus Health, VIA Global Health, Viebeg, Wingcopter, Yodawy and Zipline.
Commenting on the report’s release, Yomi Kazeem, Engagement Manager at Salient Advisory, said: “The survey findings highlight the incredible resilience and growing impact of Africa’s supply chain innovators. Having tracked healthtech startups for many years, the emergence of this group of leading innovators is very encouraging to report. The local and global public health community must increasingly recognise and leverage innovators in developing reliable and resilient medical supply chains.”
“Technology-enabled innovations have the potential to help overcome long-standing challenges in Africa’s health systems, while creating local jobs and strengthening local health markets,” said Anne Allen, senior program officer at the Gates Foundation. “The report confirms that innovators are increasingly in a position to deliver on this promise. But to harness these innovations to truly transform cost-effective access for millions of underserved Africans will require a concerted effort from governments, industry and global health organizations, and there is still much work to be done.”
