This summer we led an investigation into innovations in health product distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Supply Chain team. In summary:
The analysis surfaced 30 companies innovating in product distribution across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and S. Africa (see below).
Innovator companies are typically small, young and and self-financed, though there are some notable exceptions.
Companies are offering services that have the potential to generate significant value: promising to lower prices and price variability, better control for quality, and lower transaction costs for both providers and consumers.
The digitization of product distribution is also offering new visibility into product movement to enable better forecasting, new financing models and digital relationships with consumers themselves.
We highlight several opportunities to engage the companies in efforts to increase coverage of priority products. A high-level synthesis of our findings is linked here. Comments most welcome, as always.
The Center for Global Development is planning to host a more in-depth discussion of the findings in Washington DC in early December. Please let us know if you are interested in attending.