LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Advantage Health Africa, enabling access to quality and affordable medicines in Nigeria
Abimbola Adebakin is a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), Pharmacist, management consultant and tech innovator who is keen to drive performance improvement in the African healthcare system. She is the Founder/CEO of Advantage Health Africa, a business launched in 2017 and today employing 86 people, focused on enabling access to quality and affordable medicines in Nigeria through tech, aggregation, digital health services and pharma products. She sits on the board of Safe Medicines Foundation, and mentors for WIMBIZ (Women in Business) and Google StartUp programme. Abimbola’s work at Advantage Health Africa has garnered global recognition, grants and awards from Bayer Foundation, Google, Ashoka, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMGF and the Jack Ma Foundation.
Lioness Weekender spoke to Abimbola Adebakin about her entrepreneurial journey, her passion for quality and affordable healthcare, and her vision for the future of the business.
What does your company do?
Advantage Health Africa enables access to affordable and quality medication across Nigeria, through tech, aggregation, digital health services and pharma products.
Today, at Advantage Health Africa, we are building the African health ecosystem of the future through network, technology and innovation, powered by our solutions:
myMedicines (tech-enabled last-mile access to medications) myPharmacy (pharmacy management resource center + growth hub + network of franchise pharmacies + end-to-end pharmacy management solution)
myAdvantage (health affordability solution via Community-as-a-Service & teleconsultation)
myCare+ (medicines subscription solution for persons with chronic conditions, with stabilized pricing and lifestyle support initiatives)
Advantage Pharma (pharmaceutical marketing & distribution venture).
What inspired you to start your company?
When I started Advantage Health Africa for the second time in 2017, I simply wanted to solve some of the ‘wicked’ problems in healthcare and provide patients access to quality and affordable medicines. I am a pharmacist who has worked in other sectors for a long time. I had worked as a management consultant for many years and I learned so much about systems, organizational design and performance improvement. In the retail pharmaceutical industry, I noticed a fragmented industry with little digitization.
On returning to the pharmaceutical sector, it was important for me to bring models that had been used in other sectors. I transferred models I had used in the financial services and agricultural sectors, and I decided to build by aggregation, leveraging technology.
The retail pharma sector is underserved, with less than 4,500 registered retail pharmacies and a population of 223 million in the country. This means Nigeria has only one retail pharmacy per 49,500 people. Sadly, the available pharmacies are unable to meet the teeming health needs of the Nigerian people.
Secondly, many of the available pharmacies suffer from poor funding and inefficient operations, resulting in drug stock-outs which negatively impact patient care. Through Advantage Health Africa, we are democratizing access to healthcare, thereby reducing treatment failure, mortality, and morbidity.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Advantage Health Africa stands out because our solutions are deployed by leveraging existing solutions, systems and structures through aggregation and collaboration. We build with light assets and rely heavily on relationships and soft convening power.
Tell us a little about your team:
While I lead Advantage Health Africa as Founder/CEO, our success as an organization is hinged on the indelible contributions of the team, from the C-level executives to the managers, to the entry level employees. We are a team with diverse competencies and strengths, yet united by a singular vision to democratize access to healthcare in Africa. My people have imbibed the cultural norms of being audacious, fulfilling promises. respect for self and others, being innovative while collaborating and with a clear view of African growth. They believe what we are pursuing is for the greater good of Africa and I am because they are!
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
Yes, my dad was an entrepreneur till he passed on at 93 years and my mum had several side hustles even when she was a lecturer, till long after she retired. My siblings are also entrepreneurs.
While I am a trained pharmacist, I also have a consulting background, having worked with Accenture Nigeria in my early years. I have gone on to do a Certification in Performance Technology because I'm interested in process improvement, change management and talent management. I have an MBA from the University of Lagos. I also attended the Joseph Business School, Lagos where I was selected as Valedictorian and received the Joseph Business School (JBS) Global Entrepreneur of the Year (2022) award. I have taken a series of executive leadership courses too in my pursuit of knowledge.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
Lol! They are huge but let me share some here.
1. My future plan is to see our medication App downloaded and used in every home in Nigeria and many parts of Africa.
2. Also, to see our pharmacy management solution, The Advantage, serving thousands of pharmacies in Africa, providing them access to markets, resources, and opportunities.
3. I also hope in the nearest future, to see Advantage Pharma manufacture and market our own indigenous pharmaceutical brands, bridging the gap in local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
It’s the opportunity to solve problems and impact the world by the agency of sheer curiosity, resilience, and vision. I find it quite fulfilling that we started a digital health solution (an online pharmacy) when it was unpopular. In six years, it has grown to become an award-winning and impactful initiative delivering business success for our aggregated pharmacies and partners as well as excellent patient care.
I find it fulfilling that we were able to provide medicines to a farmer’s mum who lives in a rural area in Nigeria, who had glaucoma, diabetes and arthritis and would have lost access to her medications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I find it fulfilling that we are able to help doctors, hospitals and health management organizations (HMOs) provide access to medicines for thousands of patients around Nigeria, at reduced costs, with ease and great convenience.
I find it fulfilling that we are solving real problems in the healthcare sector, transforming patient care and giving other health professionals tangible examples to further pursue their own dreams.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Just start! Shun self-doubt and start but be kind to yourself for the many errors you may make along the way. Don’t put yourself down too harshly.
Do great work and solve real problems. Permit yourself to be a SOLUTION PROVIDER.
Rather than disqualify yourself from the ecosystem that needs to be built and fortified, examine the issues, go back to basics, study options within and outside your sector, grow in expertise regarding any skill to possess OR buy/borrow such skills (you no longer have to do everything by yourself). Think of collaboration, instead of competition - let us ALL solve the problems!
To learn more about the work of Advantage Health Africa, contact Abimbola Adebakin via email: abimbolaadebakin@gmail.com or visit the company’s website and social media platforms:
Website: http://advantagehealthafrica.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aoadebakin
Instagram: http://instagram/abimbola_adebakin
