Nigerian Tech Startup DrugStoc Aims To Become Africa’s One-Stop Shop For Its Healthcare Providers

DrugStoc co-founders Chibuzo Opara and Adham Yehia launched DrugStoc to serve as a tech-enabled solution that combats the continent’s broken pharmaceutical supply chains through connecting drug store companies with hospitals and pharmacies in Nigeria.

It’s an ambition goal and a challenging task but one that they’re ready to tackle.

According to the company, they have managed to deliver millions of pharmaceutical products to millions across the country and connect 400 manufacturers to 3,200 doctors, hospitals and pharmacies since its initial launch in 2017.

The startup has already raised $4.4 million in a Series A funding round led by Africa HealthCare Master Fund, Vested World, the German Development Bank, and others.

It plans to expand to 16 states in Nigeria.

But they first want to ensure that Nigeria as a whole is covered. Then, they plan to eventually transition into becoming the one-stop shop for all healthcare providers in Africa as a whole.

“I believe that we will always continue to find out what the health provider needs and try to essentially design the system around the constraints in Nigeria, which is the fact that we only have 30,000 doctors and 20,000 pharmacists for a population of around 200 million — which is a gross underestimation of what we need,” Yehia told Afrotech.

“Our mantra and what we’ve been convinced about is that we need to empower these guys a lot more than we even initially thought. Everybody that has a license to practice and offers healthcare services in Sub-Saharan Africa is an asset to the country that can not be lost. We want to ensure that they’re empowered to do their job, and they have all the tools that they need.”