Chibuzo Opara Driving Force in Tech

Dr Chibuzo Opara is the co-founder and co-CEO of DrugStoc, a cloud based pharmatech distribution platform that provides access to verified quality pharmaceutical products for healthcare facilities and professionals in sub-Saharan Africa in a financially sustainable way. He holds degrees in Medicine and Surgery and Economics, Policy and Management from the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. With a passion for using tech to disrupt barriers while transforming access to quality healthcare, he challenged Nigeria to embrace technology and be among countries driving changes 

You are the Co-founder of Drugstoc. What was the motivation behind starting your company? And what do you do at DrugStoc?

Drugstoc is a cloud based pharmatech distribution company that connects manufacturers of good quality pharmaceutical products to hospitals and pharmacies. Our motivation comes from our dream to empower healthcare providers in the true transformation of the healthcare sector – to provide for a healthier population. 

You see, we came out of the healthcare services space where we struggled for years trying to meet the needs of our patients from a pharmaceutical logistics standpoint in the hospitals we managed. We dealt with the fragmented system until we got frustrated with its short comings and decided to deploy a tech solution which could tackle our challenges and meet our needs and that of our fellow healthcare providers. The platform scaled and the rest is history as they say.

Access to genuine drugs continue to be a challenge in developing countries like Nigeria. Why is this so? And what can be done to improve outcomes?
This can be directly attributed to the fragmented last mile distribution space, years of chronic underfunded and underperforming healthcare system infrastructure. More investment into the space will go a long way, regulatory support and encouragement for players who elaborate solutions to tackle this type of “tragedy of the commons” challenges.

Your work is primarily centered around pharmaceutical innovation. What trends should we expect to see in the pharmaceutical sector in coming years?
Technology will continue to play a big role in the space over the coming few years, transforming how we access care and even expanding access to care in more ways than one. All these spell good news for the client and the patient as they are the ones who always benefit from new innovation or greater access which translates into more healthcare and even better quality cost-effective care in the long run.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced in business? How did you overcome it and what did you learn from the experience?
Very difficult to answer, I think every new level in business comes with its own unique challenges – each with its own special set of solution requirements. The most important thing is not to be defeated in your mind or at least be able to keep bouncing back from every defeat. It helps to be focused on the vision and the reason why you started.
Where do you see Drugstoc in the next three years?We intend to expand into different parts of the country as well as expand into a few countries outside the Nigerian space which have similar supply chain challenges.

What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs looking to launch a start-up in Nigeria?
It’s extremely hard to succeed. To do this, you have to really be focused and believe in the reason driving you to wake up every morning and tackle the same challenge over and over again, despite the odds.

Is there any other thing you’ll like to add?Technology is the great enabler. Tech businesses stand poised to transform the current state and situations in most of sub Saharan Africa and the world in the next decade. Over the next five years, there’s going to be a significant transition and transformation in the way a lot of services, businesses, organisations, governments, banks and more operate with tech optimising them – creating job opportunities, employment and access to a better lifestyle and more optimum living conditions for the general population.

With one of the youngest populations in the world, Nigeria stands assured to benefit massively from this wave of change. It’s important to embrace it so we stay as one of the countries driving these changes rather than let it stall and stumble and we become one of the countries that are on the receiving end of the great technology transformation with a negative impact.