Neighbourhood pharmacies are the unrecognised spine of healthcare in Africa. In Kenya alone, these small, independently run chemists deal with a lot of the nation’s medication distribution, accounting for over two-thirds of main care and shelling out roughly 60% of all medicine offered within the East Africa area. But, regardless of their central position, they continue to be largely offline and under-financed.
Zendawa, a Nakuru-based startup with operations in Kiambu and Nairobi, speculates that the way forward for African healthcare runs via these micro-pharmacies.
Based in 2022, the 16-person crew has developed a modular software program platform that connects hundreds of chemists to digital provide chains, working capital credit score, and primary administration instruments. Its objective is to carry last-mile pharmacies on-line, however not via “disruption” as most startups declare at their inception.
Zendawa is modular, however what does this imply?
Zendawa’s thesis rests on the last-mile supply of important medicines, enterprise administration, and entry to credit score. Its platform, out there via the online and shortly USSD, provides pharmacies entry to 3 built-in instruments.
First is the telepharmacy market, a B2B platform that connects pharmacies to verified distributors for quicker restocking. It’s complemented by enterprise administration software program for stock, funds, and reconciliation, and an embedded finance layer that provides credit score scoring and dealing capital loans, powered by transaction knowledge.
In contrast to most health-tech platforms that construct inflexible merchandise, Zendawa’s method is modular. Pharmacies can plug in solely what they want, with out abandoning their current techniques.
“Our predominant adoption barrier has been pharmacies that have already got a administration system,” Will Chege, Zendawa CEO, stated. “We innovated round this by making our platform modular, such that they don’t must migrate from the techniques however somewhat undertake the modules from our system, which they don’t have entry to.”
That call has formed how rapidly the corporate is scaling; the platform has onboarded tons of of pharmacies via referral networks, primarily the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya.
How Zendawa makes cash
Zendawa’s mannequin sits on the intersection of SaaS (software-as-a-service), fintech, and market economics. Nonetheless, in line with Chege, its “stickiest” product is the pharmacy administration software program, but the corporate doesn’t cost for it. As an alternative, income flows primarily from market commissions on every order processed. This retains adoption friction low whereas producing repeat transaction earnings.
Zendawa doesn’t at the moment lend from its personal stability sheet, however it has partnered with capital suppliers who advance credit score utilizing Zendawa’s knowledge as proof of efficiency. The startup earns a 1% service price on each profitable compensation cycle and stories a 98% compensation fee to date.
Over time, Zendawa needs to let pharmacies settle for each card and cell cash funds straight of their outlets. Every transaction would earn Zendawa a small processing price, creating an additional supply of earnings.
For now, Zendawa operates on founders’ capital and has not disclosed plans to boost funds.
Credit score, knowledge, and the trail to lending
Zendawa’s “data-to-credit” mannequin sits on the core of its system. Every buy, compensation, and sale recorded on the platform builds a knowledge engine that measures pharmacy efficiency. This document permits lenders to increase working-capital loans with out collateral, thereby opening up credit score entry to pharmacies which have lengthy been excluded from formal banking.
“Lengthy-term, we intend to mortgage from our personal stability sheet thus having direct affect over rates of interest charged,” Chege stated.
Increasing offline
The following part is rural growth. The corporate is constructing a USSD model of its platform to succeed in pharmacies and well being employees with out smartphones. The largest problem isn’t infrastructure, however behaviour.
“Some communities are skeptical of adopting digital channels to entry medicines,” the CEO admitted. “We’re working round this by lobbying to accomplice with group well being employees to advertise our method. That is an on-going improvement.”
Zendawa’s logistics mannequin, constructed round versatile partnerships with supply suppliers, helps this growth. Riders could be deployed primarily based on demand patterns, guaranteeing even low-density areas are served with out heavy fastened prices.
AI and knowledge governance
Zental.AI is Zendawa’s subsequent main step, a system constructed to automate routine work inside pharmacies. It manages restocking, reminds sufferers to gather refills, and prepares each day information.
Utilizing pc imaginative and prescient, it might learn prescriptions and rely inventory, slicing down on errors that usually sluggish operations. Its demand forecasting characteristic predicts what every pharmacy will want, decreasing waste from expired medicine and holding cabinets stocked.
The system depends on delicate well being knowledge. Zendawa’s Wellness Verify AI gathers and analyses biometric info for preventive care below strict knowledge safety guidelines. It complies with the GDPR and Kenya’s Knowledge Safety Act, Chege stated, making use of encryption, anonymisation, and acquiring knowledgeable consent. All diagnostic instruments stay below human supervision.
How does Zendawa stand out in a crowded area?
Kenya’s health-tech house is already aggressive. MYDAWA, an area startup, leads in direct-to-consumer drug supply. Maisha Meds focuses on digitising small pharmacies. Zendawa’s defence lies in its modular, asset-light construction, in line with Chege.
“Our modular method provides us a low entry level with a novel development path for our pharmacies. This can be a long-term play the place we construct up our pharmacies whereas sustaining their independence to supply high quality care at a fraction of the price,” Chege stated.
“This mannequin is extremely scalable as a consequence of our asset-light method and our opponents must shed hundreds of thousands of {dollars} value of property to undertake our method with no rapid return.”
Quite than consolidating pharmacies below one model, Zendawa’s mannequin helps its autonomy whereas embedding know-how into pharmacy operations. It’s a slower path however one with deeper retention. The common Zendawa pharmacy that digitises its operations sees a 30% rise in gross sales and positive factors entry to credit score for the primary time.
The lengthy sport is hinged on infrastructure
Zendawa’s lengthy sport isn’t software-as-a-service, nor one other fintech front-end. It’s about constructing the infrastructure layer that helps how pharmacies function. This method could be plugged into any retail counter and quietly energy the movement of medication, cash, and knowledge throughout Africa’s fragmented healthcare market.
“Assume Shopify, however for licensed pharmaceutical merchandise,” Chege says. “Our intention is to provide each neighbourhood pharmacy the instruments to function on-line — sustainably, compliantly, and with out dropping independence.”
That imaginative and prescient mirrors a broader shift in Africa’s digital well being sector, from flashy client apps to firms that present infrastructure, equivalent to techniques that standardise knowledge, funds, and compliance.
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