A Ghanaian health startup, mPharma, which supply of prescription drugs for pharmacies and their suppliers, has let go some of its employees.
“We took the difficult decision to right-size the team,” Gregory Rockson, the company’s CEO, told TechCabal.
The layoffs are in light of the current macroeconomic conditions driven by the devaluation of the naira.” He added.
The layoffs affected about 150 workers, 40 of whom were in Nigeria. Severance packages were given to the affected workers. “We allowed affected employees to keep their health insurance, and we extended the period for them to exercise their stock options from 90 days to 3 years,” stated Rockson.
90 million dollars have been raised by mPharma, including a $35 million Series D last year. In September 2022, for an unknown sum, the firm acquired the bulk of HealthPlus, a well-known drugstore chain in Nigeria.
It acquired 55% ownership in Uganda’s Vine Pharmacy a year prior, the second nation in East Africa, after purchasing Kenya’s Halton’s Pharmacy for $5 million in 2019.
Nine countries in Africa—Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Gabon, and Ethiopia—are served by the startup.
The primary healthcare venture of mPharma going forward will be Mutti. According to their impact report, mPharma wants to create a Mutti pharmacy in every town on the continent. Mutti is their online pharmacy.
When mPharma first launched in 2013, its initial goals included managing retail pharmacy operations, providing market intelligence to hospitals, pharmacies, and patients, and providing prescription drug inventory to pharmacies and their suppliers.
