Ahmed Kadous

For the past 14 years, Ahmed Kadous has been navigating the Egyptian pharmaceutical industry across numerous functions. As a pharmacist, he has extensively worked with big and small players in the local pharma ecosystem, including Pfizer and Novartis. Having been entrenched in the comings and goings of the sector, he realized that patient access to medication is plagued by multiple pains, but there were a few common denominators that caused these ailments: the industry’s fragmentation, lack of connectivity between pharmacies and suppliers, and the need for manual processes in order for a medication to reach consumer selling points across the country. This is where he saw the market potential of digitizing the sector’s supply chain through his own company Pharmacy Marts.

Egypt’s pharmaceutical market is the biggest in Africa, with USD 4 billion in sales in 2022 and a projected CAGR of 12% over the coming five years. However, it is a very fragmented market, served by 60,000 pharmacies offering over 7,000 products from 3,000 suppliers and wholesalers. The bigger caveat is that the connection between all these stakeholders is still very primitive and relies heavily on manual processes and phone calls.

Let’s paint a picture. A pharmacist who wants to check the availability and price of a certain medication would have to spend 3-4 hours on the phone, talking to about 8-10 different suppliers and wholesalers, comparing prices, discounts and delivery times. If he or she needs more than one type of medication, he or she needs to cross reference the availability of each item with different suppliers, and get ready to deal with varying or prolonged delivery times, as well as payment mechanisms and terms, to be able to obtain them.

Hence, the distribution of medication is not reliable or smooth, but rather plagued with the inconsistent availability of products across pharmacies and geographical areas, leading to a shortage in medication. This ultimately impacts the patients who need the medication and makes the life of a pharmacist rather difficult. “This pain was especially felt during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kadous explains.

He realized that the solution lies in the digitization of the supply chain, and thus launched Pharmacy Marts. The platform allows pharmacists to search for the products missing in their inventory, see which suppliers have them, get an estimate on which supplier could meet their financial and time-specific needs best, order the missing items, choose the preferred payment method, and receive them within 24 hours.

Kadous was joined by three cofounders: Ahmed Mazhar, Haitham El Ghotni, and Mahmoud Shousha. Mazhar serves as the Chief Strategy Officer, and has previously held the role of Senior Manager for Business Development Strategy at Vodafone’s Vodafone Cash division. El Ghotni, the Chief Business Officer, has extensive background in the commercial sector, having served in marketing and sales roles at Vodafone Cash, MNT-Halan, and Capiter. Shousha, Head of Sales was an Executive Medical Representative at Novartis before co-founding Pharmacy Marts in January 2021.

Equipped with the experience and in-depth knowledge of the sector across its different functions, the four entrepreneurs embarked on a mission to make medication more accessible to those who need it. While there are similar solutions in the market trying to tackle the same problem, what sets Pharmacy Marts apart is its complete digital interface, same-day delivery fulfillment, and favorable financing terms.

What do financing terms have to do with the problem? Simply put, pharmacies face challenges in securing suitable financing terms from their wholesalers. Through Pharmacy Marts, pharmacies can access inventory financing options, including working capital financing and long-term financing. Moreover, pharmacies benefit from expanded access to pricing options from a larger number of wholesalers, resulting in increased discounts. Meanwhile, wholesalers can broaden their customer base without hiring an extensive sales force, all while reducing  delivery costs.

Today, Pharmacy Marts covers about 12,000 of Egypt’s pharmacies, equivalent to 20% of the total market, and boasts over 200 suppliers on its platform. The company has raised a total USD 2 million in investments from local, regional and global VCs, including Acasia Ventures. “Acasia Ventures has a great presence in African markets that we are planning to enter, in addition to a solid network of advisors and experts in the pharmaceutical industry,” Kadous says. “That is why we are excited about having them on board Pharmacy Marts.”

“Pharmacy Marts combines a lot of things that we absolutely love at Acasia Ventures – a solid team with a fantastic track record who are successfully delivering a compelling digital solution to alleviate a big pain point for thousands of pharmacies and indirectly, millions of patients,” Managing Partner at Acasia Ventures Aly El Shalakany explains. “In a short period of time, Pharmacy Marts has emerged as a category leader in this space and we are confident it will continue to go from strength to strength.”