Getting the prescription right

If you are thinking of taking on
the African market, make sure
you have at least three p’s in your
arsenal – planning, perseverance
and patience.
Fungayi Chamba, head of Africa
operations at Pharma Dynamics,
has been dealing with the sub-
Saharan African market for more
than 21 years and most of that has
been in the export industry.
“If I have learnt anything during
that time it would be that in Africa
you need research and the ability
to listen so that you understand the
market you want to penetrate and
plan very carefully how you are
going to do it.”
It was this knowledge that he
brought to the table when Pharma
Dynamics, a distributor of generic
medication in South Africa,
decided to expand its brand into
Africa.
Having embarked on an
ambitious plan to ensure greater
availability of affordable
medication in sub-Saharan Africa,
the first exports were to Zambia in
April this year with cardiovascular,
antibiotic, allergy and flu
medication.
“We are now exporting regularly
to Zambia and have also entered
the Mozambican market and are
aggressively targeting Nigeria and
Angola. While the first exports
only happened this year, the
process of expanding our footprint
into these markets started at least
two years ago.”
Chamba says Pharma Dynamics
has spent the time, both ahead of
the launch into Africa, and on an
on-going basis, refining its strategy
to ensure the challenges of doing
business in Africa are met.
“On a macro-level, challenges
we faced included a lack of
information, poor infrastructure,
grey imports and counterfeits, trade
barriers and legislative compliance
issues, currency volatility and
political instability, as well as
difficulties with the supply chain
and lead-times to market.”
These challenges have not
necessarily disappeared but good
planning has helped the company
to deal with issues as and when
they arise.
“There is huge potential to
grow one’s business into Africa
despite the challenges that have to
be overcome.” With 54 countries
and over 400 000 million people,
Africa has the consumer base for
exporters willing to take the risk.
“The key to succeeding lies
in your ability to adapt your
business model. Having a firsthand
experience in more than 13
countries on the continent, you
quickly learn to see the consumers’
picture,” says Chamba, “which is
important for the sustainability of
your business model.
“Our research and experience
has shown that the consumer
seldom buys in bulk. He buys two
headache tablets when he has the
headache. We must then reconsider
selling in packs of ten, thirty or
sixty and either adapt to a singles
pack or a bulk pack that can be
dispensed.”
Chamba says it not only means
being able to change packaging,
but looking at your
volumes in a
different way.
“When you ask
how do I grow
my volumes in this
environment it is not how many
packs of tablets I sold, but how
many single tablets.”
Another important consideration
is the product itself.
“Medicine is dissimilar to other
consumables. People don’t just
switch from one medication to
another because it is cheaper, so
a lot of education has to be done
in these markets and we have to
spend a lot of time listening to
the needs to ensure we are able to
provide solutions that are in line
with unmet basic needs.”
According to Chamba their
strategy into Africa has been
impacted by differing legislative
requirements in the individual
markets.
“We have based our
prioritisation on two aspects – the
speed with which we can get
product to market and also the size
of the addressable market in terms
of the opportunity.
For instance, in terms of
market size, Nigeria is the biggest
opportunity. It is also by far more
regulated and, as a result, more
complicated, he says.
Because the need for medicines
remains fundamental in Africa, the
company is focused on finding the
space where long-term sustainable
development can take place.
Profiling the consumers,
Chamba is clear the characteristics
within the sub-Saharan African
market are no different from any
other.
“The
consumer
in Kinshasa
or Lagos or
Addis Ababa is
fundamentally no different from
the consumer in Johannesburg
– they all have touch points that
either drive them to purchase
a particular product or not to
purchase it. Holistically, there
are more similarities than
dissimilarities – even though we
tend to generally point out the
differences and highlight them.
Focusing on the similarities
enhances our ability to effectively
reach the targeted consumer
because we can see and relate to
their perception”.
Physically getting product to
the market is a critical piece in
the puzzle. Currently Pharma
Dynamics uses road freight
to Zambia and airfreight to
Mozambique, but Chamba says
plans are in place to mainly use sea
freight to Nigeria once they begin
exporting to that market.
“It is primarily based on cost, but
we also consider need. In certain
instances a customer requires a
product urgently and hence we will
use air freight, although it remains
an expensive option and impacts
the pricing to the end consumer.”
Pharma Dynamics has partnered
with experienced agents in the
countries of export, who have
the requisite market intelligence
and capability to responsibly and
effectively distribute its products.