mPharma wins Skoll award for social entrepreneurship

The Skoll Foundation has announced mPharma, a data and cost management platform, as a recipient of the 2019 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

The award is presented each year to a select group of social entrepreneurs “whose innovations have already had significant, proven impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems, and invests directly in the promise of even greater impact at scale.”

According to a statement from the foundation, mPharma was awarded the honour for pioneering the vendor managed inventory model for pharmacies in Nigeria.

“With the innovation, instead of pharmacies managing their own inventory, mPharma sources, procures and finances it for them at no cost to the pharmacy,” the statement read.

“The pharmacy only pays mPharma for what they dispense to patients. Through this service, mPharma is reducing inventory stockouts and the need for pharmacies to have access to capital to purchase their inventory.

“Over 100 pharmacies and hospitals in Nigeria are in mPharma’s network including Lagoon Hospitals, Reddington and Lily Hospitals.

“Today, more than 250 pharmacies across Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia are in the network and mPharma is serving over 400,000 patients since 2017.”

Gregory Rockson, the CEO of mPharma, who received the award said: “We are honored to see the work we started receive this acknowledgment from the Skoll Foundation. It encourages us to work harder in ensuring that no patient is denied access to high quality medicines due to cost or stockouts.”

Skoll said each awardee will receive a $1.5 million investment or core support grant to scale their work and increase their impact.

They also gain leverage through their long-term participation in a global community of visionary leaders and innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems.

The award will be presented on April 10 at the Skoll World Forum at the University of Oxford.