A business leader often lays the foundation of the company to work tirelessly to scale their company and drive profits for themselves and their investors. Alongside, today there is a rise in socialpreneurs who are set out on an entrepreneurial venture to address social issues and contribute to the social good. Choosing a similar path, Mr. Sinhue Bosco Noronha, CEO and principal promoter of Africure Pharmaceuticals Limited, is helping Africa build self-sufficiency in pharmaceuticals across key geographies. The leading socialpreneur Noronha has always aimed to create a better quality of life for the people. He is fulfilling this deep-rooted purpose through Africure Pharmaceuticals.
Noronha started his journey in the pharmaceutical industry at the early age of 20. His career trajectory has grown from being a medical representative and, after that, rapidly moving through roles of product executive, product manager, Sr. product manager, marketing manager, and marketing controller. After gathering the experience, Noronha ventured into entrepreneurship and started his business of manufacturing and exporting pharmaceutical formulations to buyers in Europe and Africa. In 2008, he received an offer from an India-based global pharmaceutical player to buy the business and offered Noronha a bigger canvas to play on. This offer allowed him to grow the African business of the global player from USD 5.0Mn to USD 65Mn by 2017. In 2017, the global pharmaceutical player looked at restructuring their businesses and offered to sell the Africa-based manufacturing business to Noronha, which he bought with the help of investors who believed in his capabilities. This led to the establishment of Africure Pharmaceuticals Limited in 2017.
Quality And Affordable Healthcare
Africure Pharmaceuticals is established to provide quality and affordable healthcare to the people of Africa. The company is focused on creating pharmaceutical manufacturing assets and capabilities in sub-Saharan Africa and particularly in countries where zero or very little manufacturing activity exists and in strategic markets where it can cater to a certain market cluster. Though it is a challenging task, the team of Africure is striving relentlessly to bring smiles to the faces of the African population. “We strongly believe that local manufacturing is the future of pharmaceuticals in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, we primarily focus on setting up manufacturing facilities in Africa by upholding our motto ‘Made in Africa by Africans for Africa’,” said Noronha.
Africure has initiated a unique business model called Management contract where the team takes up the management of the struggling Pharmaceutical plants. Africa has a lot of Struggling Pharmaceutical manufacturing plants that are accumulating losses over the years. Through the management contract, Africure helps these companies become profitable by assisting in the purchase of raw materials and engineering materials, production planning, and sales of finished good. The company has taken up 3 companies under management contract till date. Currently, Africure has manufacturing plants in India (100%EOU), Cameroon Cote D Ivoire, Tanzania and Botswana, and looking forward to establishing a plant in Ethiopia. Africure also has distribution companies in Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso.
Reliable Team and Leadership
Noronha understands the challenges of developing a business in Africa and thus wishes to help other entrepreneurs through the Management initiative. Initially, Africure faced many challenges like scarcity of finance, poor infrastructure, and weak governance. Due to the strong experience of working in developing countries, the team of Africure was able to overcome the challenges and move ahead of the curve. Noronha highlights that the efforts of strong manufacturing and engineering teams helped Africure to expand in various countries of Africa. Noronha ensures that the team is provided with proper training and required technologies.
Noronha believes that leadership is all about having a clear vision and getting yourself and the team to believe in it. To attain this one needs to have a lot of persistence and multifaceted knowledge in various domains. Alongside, it is also important to look at the bigger picture while not losing attention to finer detail. At Africure, Noronha nurtures a culture based on the ideals of honesty, sincerity, and commitment towards the vision and mission of the company. “Success to me is achieving your objectives which may not necessarily be monetary. For instance, I am successful if I can see the happiness on the face of my employees and also when I can see the same on the face of people that consume medicines made by Africure,” asserts Noronha.
Leading towards better tomorrow
Africure is on a mission to manufacture high-quality essential medication in Africa by Africans for Africa. It has been ranked amongst the most innovative companies of 2022 and the team is striving to create state of art manufacturing assets and capabilities in Sub Saharan Africa. Noronha anticipates that in a few years the company will progress to USD 50 million in sales and have a valuation of USD 100 million. He continues, “The journey so far has been an exciting and satisfying one.”
On a parting note, he shares some advice to young entrepreneurs, “Start small, with a larger vision in mind, build the business brick by brick, being on top of things, being aware of what’s happening in the company & in the market, taking constant corrective action leading to constant re-strategizing. Create something unique and scarce, solve a persistent problem. If you are not flexible, someone will replace you sooner rather later.”
“Africure is committed to African Health and we will strive to do all that it takes to make all our stakeholders proud by delivering high-quality products, on-dot deliveries, and consistent availability.”
