Innovate for Africa is a program built to raise and create Africa’s next generation of innovators and also strengthen the ecosystem of Nigeria through empowering students with the right skills, confidence, and connecting them with startups. I have been working to develop my skills around entrepreneurship, teamwork, strategic thinking, business analysis, and key structures that would help a startup in Nigeria.
This project is focused on analyzing MEDSAF, an enterprise medication supply chain management solutions platform that provides quality control as a service with reduced cost. To be able to help scale MEDSAF, a strategic analysis might be conducted to help determine weaknesses, threats and other factors that could affect a business. There are steps to follow to have a detailed and structured analysis of a company.
Let’s start with analyzing the external factors affecting the business using the STEEPLE model (Social, Technology, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal and Ethical). MEDSAF has a good social presence which is supported by great use of technology for also tracking of their products being shipped to clients. They undergo some environmental threats such as location identification and also identity fraud. The economy of the country is not helpful for business but MEDSAF has made it possible for their services to be cheaper amongst the competition. They have also made it clear that they care about political and ethical issues when they state that “quality medication is a fundamental human right”.
Next, we analyze their internal structure, things like their systems, processes and workflow. MEDSAF made it possible to get quality medication by building relationships with reputable brands, installed a tracking system (QR code) through which authenticity can be confirmed for deliveries They also manage inventory to ensure they remain in stock and lastly they have built a database of customers whose trust they have won.
Another step to look at is conducting a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is conducted to check both internal and external factors that could affect a business. SWOT stands for “Strengths”, “Weaknesses”, “Opportunities” and “Threats”. One of their main strengths is their use of technology and Data Analytics to track and trace for overall management. Their services are also cheaper, safe, and of high quality. Weaknesses lie more around acquiring human capital. Technology also tends to bring more opportunities through better delivery systems made possible by Advanced Techs like Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. Operating online could also pose a threat since online fraud can be very frustrating. Another threat is the supply of fake medication from vendors as this could cause serious damage to the company’s reputation.
Good strategy is key to a company’s success and it is particularly important for startups. A strategy is a framework to guide choices that takes an organization from current to future state. There are two key steps to having an effective strategy. Strategic positioning helps you state your value proposition and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). You need to state your objectives and also have a structured way to determine your key results by knowing if your targets are being met and this should be measured (quantitatively).
One strategy for MEDSAF to consider is to build a good structure around how they can better use technology to grow their database and get customers. This may give them an advantage over competitors like ImmuPharma, Assertio Therapeutics and Interpace Diagnostics. Along the way, they will need to take steps to be able to measure their strategy by considering their activities, the metrics in which they measure the things being used in these activities and what resources they have access to. MEDSAF should be able to provide drugs to over 80% of the country and outside the country by increasing their human capital with the right skill sets and also make deliveries efficient with improvements in their technologies.