Wema Bank plc said it is partnering with the the Association of Community Pharmacist of Nigeria (ACPN) through Advantage Health Africa (AHA) to provide support for licensed community pharmacies across the country. This partnership will offer financial and non-financial support to providers of health care services within the pharmaceutical sub-sector and their value chain at competitive terms for the improvement of health care facilities in Nigeria. The funding will be geared towards members of Community Pharmacy Development Initiative (also known as CPN NEXUS) delivered in partnership with Advantage Health Africa, an aggregator in the pharmaceutical space.
Under the partnership with Advantage Health Africa, access to skills that will boost productivity and expertise of members and position them for sustainable business growth will be prioritised. The CEO of AHA, Abimbola Adebakin, mentioned how members of CPN Nexus will have access to markets via HMO, online orders, joint bids, joint advocacies that will help grow revenue and maximising productivity. Members also will have access to non-financial support like Business and Tax Advisory, as well as business growth strategy materials.
Speaking on the bank’s decision to support this sector, Head of Retail Banking at Wema Bank, Dotun Ifebogun, explained that the Bank believes strongly in the growth potential of small and medium scale businesses—particularly in a high-growth and a critical socio-economic sector like health—and is keen to provide the required financial and non-financial support needed to ensure these businesses realise their potential and the sector receives the required support needed to grow.
With funding deficit still greatly evident, the government increasingly appears open to greater private sector participation that can help resolve some of the inadequacies of the public health system as well as help relieve funding pressures. Private-sector led initiatives like the partnership Wema Bank has Advantage Health Africa aligns perfectly with the aspirations of the government. It will serve to improve funding to a key sub-sector and support capacity building drives and activities for service providers, ensuring the overall improvement of healthcare in Nigeria.
