VOICES Arab Republic of Egypt: A Platform to Deliver Pharmacy Services

VOICES OF YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN THE MENA REGION

ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT: A Platform to Deliver Pharmacy Services

Doaa is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of an online pharmacy platform based in Cairo. She has a degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Tanta.

Doaa started her career at multinational and national digital marketing firms. Her entrepreneurship journey originated from a personal health crisis. During her treatment, Doaa was able to access a lot of things she needed online except for medicine. She struggled to get her medications nearby. She met other patients at local hospitals and clinics who shared this frustration.

Doaa’s platform serves hundreds of thousands of customers across Egypt, allowing them to order medicine and have it delivered directly to their homes by the pharmacy. Through the app, customers can locate medicine in nearby pharmacies by using a search engine. The app then churns out information regarding the whereabouts and affordability of products that fit their needs. The website also provides free information regarding medicine, allergies, diseases, vitamins, and supplements. In addition to enabling online pharmaceutical orders and deliveries, the platform is becoming a source of learning and community for millions of customers trying to manage their chronic diseases by connecting them to one another to share knowledge. Customers do not pay fees for ordering services through the platform. Instead, the pharmacy whose products they purchase is charged a monthly fee of 5 percent of the total medicine sales executed, and 10 percent of their sales on beauty care products. The app sends monthly statements to each pharmacy and collects payments electronically. Doaa had only 91 clients when the app first launched. As of January 2020, approximately 200,000 customers had received medical services through the platform. Annual revenue from the platform grew by 30 percent between 2018 and 2019, and by 300 percent in 2020 due to the government-mandated COVID-19 lockdown. Currently, the platform employs 54 full-time staff, 60 percent of whom are female. The number of staff grew from 16 to 54 in just two years.

Several factors helped Doaa launch her business. Importantly, she did extensive research at the very beginning. She studied similar businesses overseas and then customized her business ideas to fit the local Egyptian context. Accessing finance was difficult. She applied to and was accepted at Flat6labs, a start-up accelerator in Cairo. Through this accelerator, she received US$17,000 in cash as a seed fund in April 2018. Flat6labs provided not only seed money but also strategic advice, business training, and networking resources. She had to navigate confusing business laws.

A cultural barrier observed by Doaa is parental pressure to work for an established, “safe” company. According to Doaa, there is a misconception that start-ups are not real businesses, so parents push for their children to get “safe” jobs. Doaa’s message to women in the MENA region is: “If you have an idea, act on it.”