KENYA – Field Intelligence, a Nigerian-based health tech startup that is digitizing the supply chain and transforming access to essential, life-saving medicine, has expanded to Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and Naivasha in Kenya with its revolutionizing pharmaceutical platform-Shelf Life.
This expansion adds to Field Intelligence’s existing 700 plus pharmacy membership, which has so far provided drugs to over 1.4 million patients.
Pharmacies use the Shelf Life platform to supply drugs through its Pay-As-You-Sell programs, offering a cheaper option than seeking for working capital.
In Nigeria, the startup has expanded to Rivers, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Delta and Kwara States.
The Shelf Life platform, which launched in Nairobi in August 2018, enables independent and franchise pharmacies to access 1000 unique products, do inventory planning, subscription delivery and offer Pay-As-You-Sell capabilities.
Shelf Life membership has grown by 65% in Kenya, with pharmacies in both countries selling more than 586,950 products in 63 different product categories across the Shelf Life platform.
Some of the products available on the platform include contraceptives, anti-malaria drugs, and supplements, cold and cough medicines, and PPEs.
Available figures indicate that Nigeria has 4,500 registered pharmacies and over 15,000 drugstores, whilst Kenya has 6,000 registered pharmacies and chemists.
Field Intelligence aims to surpass 2,000 pharmacies and drugstores using Shelf Life by 2022 and 12,000 pharmacies on its network by 2025, four times larger than GouDam-the Chinese pharmacy chain, which is the largest in the world.
Using data to optimize predictions and identify irregularities in the market, Field Intelligence has met the demands for prescription and over the counter drugs in multiple markets despite recent critical global shortages.
Field Intelligence forecasts a revenue volume in Nigeria of over US$1.3 billion by 2025, with a 22.31% annual growth rate compared to a 19.97% annual growth rate in Kenya and a market volume of US$649.73 million by 2025.
Michael Moreland, CEO of Field Intelligence, said Shelf Life’s rapid uptake is a testament to its potential as a solution for pharmacies across Africa.
“We launched Shelf Life in 2017 to allow pharmacies to outsource their supply chain to us. And it really just grew very organically from there”
Micahel Moreland – CEO, Field Intelligence
This expansion comes a year after the company experienced rapid sales and Shelf Life membership subscriptions with sales growing by 47% in Nigeria and 65% in Kenya, selling over 586,950 products in 63 different product categories.
“We launched Shelf Life in 2017 to allow pharmacies to outsource their supply chain to us. And it really just grew very organically from there,” Co-founder and CEO Michael Moreland said.
“And as we built up, we expanded down to Lagos and eventually to Nairobi to see if it would work in East Africa in that context, and it did. We haven’t looked back since then. The future of the business is in the private pharmacy market.”
While Field Intelligence is looking to tackle inventory management with Shelf Life, Moreland believes the company is also effectively solving a finance problem too because it provides an alternative to traditional financing options by lowering the cost of running a pharmacy.
Field Intelligence concluded its first round of outside capital in March 2020, a US$3.6 million Series A.
The money was raised for expansion, but the pandemic stalled that plan. Field Intelligence went back to work by the end of Q4 2020 and planted the initial seeds of what has grown until this moment.
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