mPharma enters Uganda with the acquisition of Vine Pharmacy

mPharma, a Ghanaian healthcare startup has entered into Uganda with the acquisition of Vine Pharmacy, thereby increasing its footprint across Africa. mPharma acquired a 55% stake previously held by the Abraaj Group.

mPharma entered the East African region two years ago with the acquisition of Haltons Pharmacy for $5 million.

This comes at the heels of the company’s entry into Ethiopia with the franchise agreement with Belayab Pharmaceuticals PLC.

According to cofounder and CEO, Gregory Rockson in an interview with Techcrunch, “Vine used to be the biggest pharmacy chain in Uganda. At its peak, it had about 36 stores spread across the country. But with Abraaj as its largest shareholder, the business had to resize once there wasn’t any more capital available for growth. We are buying out the stake that Abraaj held.”

The CEO said that he hopes to “take Vine Pharmacy to its former glory, when it held the position of the biggest retail pharmacy chain in Uganda.”. Abraaj Group doubled the number of branches after acquiring Vine Pharmacy until the PE collapsed leading to the shutdown of several outlets. 

mPharma improves access to medicine by providing innovative financing and inventory management solutions to hospitals, pharmacies and patients. Its proprietary Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) system is already being used in over 250 pharmacies across West, East and Southern Africa in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In 2020, mPharma raised $17 million in a funding round led by Novastar along with UK’s development finance arm, CDC Group and previous investors to grow aggressively across Africa

In a related story, the Ghanaian Healthcare startup said that it was proposing to create 100 virtual clinics across seven African markets over the next six months, to make its services available despite the COVID-19 pandemic.