PharmaServ's Emeka Anyaorah Is Building Healthtech to Scale

Its platform allows life science sales and medical representatives to automate their sales, marketing, and distribution processes, especially in low-resource settings. Since its 2019 launch, PharmaServ has been able to roll out its offering in Canada as well as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal, and has reached more than 7,000 organizations. The brains behind this venture is a Nigerian named Emeka Anyaorah.

"We have built a proprietary platform that enables medical reps and their managers to standardize scientific exchanges with their healthcare practitioners," says Emeka. "This allows them to accelerate the time-to-market lifecycle for pharmaceutical products, and to integrate advanced tools for prescription-level tracking and analytics."

PharmaServ has been supported in its endeavors by a $50,000 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant, via its I3 Innovation Program, as well as venture capital funding of more than 1 million to date. For Emeka, it's all part of his career as a healthcare technology entrepreneur.

Born to Do It

The West African country of Nigeria is the sixth most populous in the world. It is diverse in terms of its environment and people. There are 500 distinct languages spoken in this country of 237 million. Emeka describes his parents as being middle class and entrepreneurial. He spent a lot of his life engaged in sports like soccer and tennis, and exploring computers and their features.

His knack for technology was apparent from an early age. "Whenever we were on family holidays, I was usually the one who organized the photos, who set up the cameras and transferred the images to different devices," he says. He learned about Microsoft Excel and Word from his aunt, and even found himself attending bootcamps where he learned to code.

In college, he set up a music downloading program that allowed users to share hip-hop, afrobeat, and country music. "The company never succeeded but it was a great learning experience," he says. He also continued to perform well in various athletic competitions.

A Board-Certified Pharmacist

Emeka's foray into the health technology world started with his studies. He majored in pharmacy at Igbinedion University Okada in the country's south, and graduated in 2015. This, plus post-graduate work in Nigeria, enriched his clinical awareness and understanding of best prescription and pharmacy practices. He became knowledgeable about pharmaceutical terminologies, medication names, and different aseptic techniques. He also became competent in performing mathematical calculations with different forms of measurement and could multi-task and prioritize drug prescription orders without mixing things up or making mistakes.

In those years, he worked as a procurement officer for a company called DrugStoc E-Hub, where he led negotiations with hundreds of suppliers, including global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and GSK Africa. He also managed more than 7,000 pharmaceutical stock-keeping units, and helped to optimize supply chain operations and reduce efforts.

Emeka also began to consult for Bain & Company, forecasting demand for pharmaceuticals in Africa. "My ability to navigate complex markets and integrate advanced technologies into practical healthcare solutions consistently set me apart as a leader in the field," Emeka says.

Starting PharmaServ

This background led Emeka to try his luck in the startup world, and he founded PharmaServ in 2019. He now manages a team of 16 employees and has honed his chops as a CEO and day-to-day manager. "I treat each employee as an individual, showing concern for their welfare, career growth, and development," Emeka says. He is also the firm's strategist, and continues to show flair for new technologies, including a proficiency in enterprise resource planning systems.

"I have a strong understanding of the interplay among various aspects of healthcare and technology including enterprise IT systems, prescription monitoring, strategic planning, customer acquisitions, go-to-market execution, and organizational leadership," Emeka says. "These skills have allowed me to establish trust and secure enterprise customers across different healthcare verticals, and are a testament to my ability to integrate business acumen and interpersonal skills," he notes.

A Great Entrepreneur

In his heart, Emeka remains an entrepreneur, and cites Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, as an influence. "His ability to transform companies and nurture new generations of entrepreneurs continues to astound me," he says.

Like Welch, Emeka would like to be known for building successful businesses, enterprises that will become publicly listed. He wants to be recognized as an innovator, one who could build an African business that was able to scale globally, and to make an impact along the way. Emeka aims to do this by serving local communities and giving people jobs that inspire them to grow.

To get there, he surrounds himself with inspiring mentors and good friends, and reads diligently, soaking up information that can help him to reach his goals. In a decade, he would like to see his business scaled to multiple countries and groom a new generation of business leaders. And, if he has the time, he'll manage to sneak in some soccer, tennis, and travel, for old time's sake.