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How pharmaceutical firm Surgipharm Limited has survived for 37 years

 

It is a beehive of activities right from outside Nivina Towers in Westlands, Nairobi as tens of workers push hand carts loaded with cartons either in or out of the premises.

But it doesn’t end there. A step into the building reveals even more frenzy as teams of staff process consignments of freshly delivered medicines and medical equipment while also routing some to clients to various destinations.

This is the perfect welcome to Surgipharm Limited, one of Kenya’s biggest pharmaceutical companies that has existed for 37 years and grown to become a reputable supplier to both public and private health facilities.

Mr Vijai Maini, who co-founded the company alongside its current sales director Vipin Shah, prides himself in building a successful indigenous company that has withstood the test of time and competition by larger multi-nationals to achieve an annual turnover of more than Sh10 billion.

“From the onset, the intention was to establish a company that would import or source locally pharmaceuticals, medical, surgical and diagnostic products from reputed multinational companies and distribute them to hospitals, healthcare institutions, and retail pharmacies,” he told Smart Business at the company offices in Nairobi.

“We realised at that time there was a gap in the supply chain and so we wanted a company that would be efficient to serve the requirements of customers,” added Dr Maini, who headed the company since its inception in 1985 until he retired last December.

Six workers

From humble beginnings with just six workers operating 4,000 square feet of rented space in Nairobi central business district, the company has grown massively.

Today it occupies 55,000 square feet, has properties in Nairobi, and distributes medical products countrywide with a workforce of over 330.

“While starting, the idea was that all profits that the company made would be ploughed back. We wanted to build a name and it was critical to ensure that any commitments we had with the suppliers were met on time. That was the way we built trust and eventually grew,” the 78-year-old Dr Maini said.

Over the years, Surgipharm has grown to enter into dealerships with over 30 multinational medical and pharmaceutical companies that include reputable names such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Abbott Nutrition, and Anios.

Today, the company also deals in hundreds of pharmaceutical, medical and orthopaedic products, distributing to reputable government institutions, hospitals, clinics, and retail pharmacies, and delivering orders to about 450 clients daily.

Dr Maini explains that Sughipham partners with manufacturers to import and distribute the products locally.

Once the products reach Sughipham facilities in Nairobi and Mombasa, they are then stored ahead of dispatch to various hospitals, pharmacies, research institutions, and other institutions mandated to handle them, as orders come.

Dr Maini said Surgipharm has also developed networks with local hospitals for interventions in cases where there are emergency needs and medicines or other products are needed within short periods.

“By the end of 2021, we had employed a total of 331 staff, and the company built into the largest pharmaceutical distribution company in Kenya with a turnover of Sh10 billion per year,” he said.

Good doctor

But it’s not all about making money as the good doctor said over the 37 years, his biggest task has been to build two pillars within Surgipharm; trust and reliability.

“It is trust that makes a supplier issue me products without paying for them and wait until I have sold them to repay and to be an ambassador of their brand in the market. It is through creating efficient systems that ensure we get products to clients within the good time since we deal in life-saving products, that make us reliable and the two have been critical for our growth,” Dr Maini who started the company when he was 40 years old said.

The pharmacist, however, notes that over the time, the challenge of counterfeit medicines within the market- particularly informal settlements- has come to be a big hindrance for the industry, estimating that up to 30 percent of medicines in the country, are of poor quality.

He says many illegal pharmacies operating across the country pose great danger to citizens, since they continue dispensing medicine without any prescription.

But as he exits the stage, he remains optimistic that Kenya has a chance to attain the targeted Universal Health Coverage (UHC), if the government and private sector players in the medical industry complement efforts and make the services cheaper.    BY DAILY NATION   

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