Field Intelligence, Nigerian e-health startup expands into 11 new cities across East and West Africa

Field Intelligence, a major pharmaceutical supply chain provider in Nigeria and Kenya, was founded in 2015 with the goal of reshaping the pharma value chain by transforming the supply chain that underpins it into a strategic instrument for access and growth.

The business collaborates with African governments to deliver and scale healthcare programmes, while also catering to Africa’s tiny private pharmacies using data-driven technology that helps inventory management and product access.

Field Intelligence has expanded its operations to Rivers, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Delta, and Kwara States in Nigeria, as well as Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Naivasha in Kenya, after a year of rapid growth in sales and membership subscriptions to its Shelf Life platform, selling over 586,950 products in 63 different product categories.

The Shelf Life platform gives independent and franchise pharmacies in the cities it serves access to 1,000 unique items, inventory planning, subscription delivery, and Pay-As-You-Sell. The business secured a US$3.6 million Series A investment round in March 2020. The expansion will expand on Field Intelligence’s existing 700-strong pharmacy membership, which has provided exceptional frontline healthcare to over 1.4 million patients across Africa.

Field Intelligence plans to use Shelf Life to reach 2,000 pharmacies and drugstores by 2022, and by 2025, the firm hopes to have 12,000 pharmacies in its network, making it the largest in the world.

“Shelf Life’s rapid uptake across such a range of African markets is a testament to its potential as a solution for pharmacies across the continent. Rural and urban, East and West, we have found Shelf Life helping pharmacies overcome a shared set of challenges and seize new opportunities for growth by improving access for their patients,” said Michael Moreland, chief executive officer (CEO) of Field Intelligence.

“The ability of our technology to digitise, automate, and optimise planning, assortment, and fulfillment, led by an incredible team, is quickly making Shelf Life one of the largest retail pharmacy supply chains in Africa.”