 Now, digital services are an important growth driver for the pharmaceutical industry. To harness this opportunity outside your core businesses, pharmaceutical companies need to adapt both internally and by leveraging an ecosystem of pharma tech startups. But this ecosystem is highly fragmented and very dynamic, therefore difficult to navigate. Working with startups is also a challenge as their culture and ways of working can be different. Welcome to business and site in Clause TV Africa as we focus on startups and leveraging on the pharma tech sector. The friend from Bank of Nigeria says it has redesigned all major Naira notes and will be by December 2022 start circulating them. The affected denominations are 100 Naira, 200 Naira, 500 Naira and 1000 Naira. Now the CBN governor, Godwin Amy Filly announced this at the press briefing on Wednesday. They said the notes were redesigned following a request from the federal government. The last time the bank redesigned the Naira was in 2014 when it changed the design of the 100 Naira notes to commemorate Nigeria's centenary. Now chief economist and CEO of Street Nomics, Ltd. Gospel Obele gives an analysis on this development. Take a look. Yeah, thank you so much for the question. So it's a developing story and it's one that comes with mixed reactions quite honestly and that's because there are short term implications and that's to say that everywhere else globally if you put it into context before you can fizzle out current existing notes it may take up to a gear of engaging them in monetary activity and then slowly begin to introduce the new notes and all that take for instance in the UK the process has started to begin to exit on the current pound notes that has the queen picture on them and all that and then it's expected that by 2024 new notes would have been in circulation with King Charles and all. So on the normal basis of things it would usually take way much more than 45 days like what the central bank has positioned on to do this. However, the central bank is looking at bigger tickets on the table such as trying to manage the central bank is trying to manage the electioneering economics of things and that's very critical right now that things are getting heated up, crises are also evolving in different parts of the country and it's looking really fiercely contested as it were. So the idea of votes buying and all that the central bank want to be in position to sort of influence or hijack how that happens you know being the fact also that on the 31st of January the current from the 31st of January 2023 the current notes would become illegal tenders so technically would mean that you cannot buy votes with the old notes because people would no longer collect it as it would become useless to them. However, on the short term let's not forget that the flood and climate conversation is on the table, Christmas is around the corner and the challenge with managing news like this for Nigerians would be that people are also trying to exit and take out the old notes which may work for this whole challenge of dealing with increasing inflation but there will still be inflation of some sort and that's because scarcity conversation will come into four you know how much of the new notes will be will be produced enough in good time you know to balance out on the supply demand bit of how this is going to turn out and let's not forget because the central bank is in control of the supply side of this whole arrangement so that would mean that the apex bank may intentionally you know pace the introduction of these new notes into the economy and that intentionality right there may now be the new conversation of a cost-impact inflation if not well managed so it's it's a conversion that sort of sits on the fence because it comes along with mixed impact if well managed or if not well managed as the case maybe. However, we're still looking forward to positive times ahead and hoping that this will bring the Nigerian financial sector monetary block into much more better place but also to state and it's very important to state that the redesigning of the currency has nothing to do with the value of the currency. The value of the currency is dependent on the productive block of the economy not on the redesigning of a currency's face value so there are very two different things you know and one does not positively impact the other in the direct sense of things maybe indirectly but not directly. Surely when you do not have the productive engagement. Alright that was Gospel Obelli, an economist giving his own analysis on the new narrow notes has been introduced by the central bank of Nigeria. Moving on, Adiola Ali is the CEO and founder of an online pharmacy and healthcare platform providing access to medicines and healthcare solutions for individuals and healthcare providers. As a licensed pharmacist in the United Kingdom and United States of America, Adiola launched One Health NG in Nigeria when she realized it was difficult to purchase specialized medications in the country for her child. She joins us now to discuss business development prospects for startups in Pharmatec. Many thanks for joining us Adiola on business insight and plus TV Africa. Thank you so much for having me and glad to be here. It is indeed our pleasure. Let us just start from the basics as it's where I know why your interest in Pharmatec. I know I said that you had issues getting the right drugs for your child. Can you just bring us up to speed really? For sure. So I mean I'm a practicing pharmacist so the idea of understanding drugs, drugs usage, access to medication and bringing that field already I was aware of and I'm aware of the solutions that are possible but from a personal standpoint like how I decided that okay I wanted to go head on into the startup was more like really not getting my thumbs inhalers. So I had to ration, I had to you know beg people sometimes, I had to source out of the country and it's a problem. Upon even digging deeper I found that this is not atypical. A lot of people are suffering from not being able to manage their conditions very well because they don't have access consistent access to medications. So that's how we started. Okay well interesting story but let's look at the industry itself Pharmatec because what we have mostly if you just go around Lagos you see some small shops, chem shops and all of that are you know selling or dispensing drugs some of them are not exactly licensed and not even registered pharmacists as it were but if you were to have advised them someone who is interested in starting up a business in Pharmatec would you really say it's something rigorous or something like an old commerce affair? So I'll say Pharmatec, really the tech piece of Pharmatec is just automating a lot of processes that exist online. So there's Pharmatec, when you say Pharmatec there's Pharmatec there is drug development Pharmatec so meaning bow like new molecules to help with us. There's wholesale Pharmatec so being able to get sourcing from manufacturers easier procurements easier origin online. There's my retail tech like I'm talking about being able to dispense to the last mile and that is a typical like user journey for an individual you go to regular pharmacy if you want to start a business I mean traditionally you want to know what they already exist which is a regular pharmacy right online is just another way is it is a fastest way a modified faster way faster way as well as a more innovative that's the future of not having to physically go somewhere to get your medication so yes exploring digitalization in healthcare and Pharma would be the would be a very positive way to go. Okay for instance now wow I know we're not really there when it comes to our technology internet usage and all of that in Africa specifically Nigeria would you really see that the Pharmatec industry is a bit novel it's something that Nigerians are still trying to grapple with. Well yes it's kind of new and people are the genuine the regular habits right now of regular people is to go to your local pharmacy however post pandemic people are very comfortable accessing here online we have over I think it's about 20 percent growing year on year now online shoppers about 78 million online shoppers and 25 percent of those are shopping for healthcare so telemedicine online pharmacy you'd be surprised I mean we have I mean my pharmacy one health we dispense to over 7000 in release I dispense every day I'm delivering last now so inadvertently it is a very big business yes okay so for instance nice to mention growing it's still growing by the time so we talk about startups a whole lot on this particular show so if I okay fine I may not be a pharmacist but I know about the potentials in pharmacist I really want to get there what does it really take I mean to say you want to be a pharmacist you have to really understand why you're taking the first place right so I do you do you have software developers you understand products you understand the solutions are there easy things that you could use that exists like your google sheets or what not to to delight your customers to provide the services you have to be service based you have to have the value and the impact they are trying to push before the technology so technology just enables you to deliver the services so yes technology in in our daily lives has to be at the forefront at the backbone of how we operate so if we are going to start your pharmacy it doesn't have to be online but do you have your electronic systems that keeps your records do you have digitalization where you're consulting your patients are you documenting it okay but you have to physically have the drugs well that's a business model question versus like versus impact or solution question all right so for us I have some and I don't have some like so I I mean we have a physical pharmacy in in Lagos for example but out of Lagos I have about almost 700 pharmacists I don't hold the stock for them okay so you could actually just get from local sources yeah so we're empowering the community right there's no point in trying to have multiple chains I mean for us it's not as scalable as building an infrastructure to support the system so you not necessarily but what you have to bear in mind is the end user are they getting quality medication are you really ensuring that you have processes that make sure that even if you're not delivering yourself the pharmacy that you have on board is giving them quality access to medications and delivering it on time very very very interesting but so you have the passion I'm talking about for instance someone who wants to really get into this there's a passion and there's the technology and listening to you now he or she has a bit of an idea of how to go about it but is there specifics that you'd need to learn to be able to stand out you mean in tech not from a technology yes I mean you have to have a product mindset in terms of what is that automation that allows you to skill or delight your your patients and your customer I think that's the forefront so by the time you start to think around that you start to innovate okay so if you want to be in tech in pharma tech that's how you have to think I mean what are the solutions exist if you want to be do you want to have an app you want to have a website are you just going to automate through whatsapp but to be honest in healthcare really at the heart of it it has to be the care the end result what is the goal of you dispensing that drop for patient treatment for adherence for access what are the partners that you're going to leverage to make this work and how you get to use technology to solve that problem okay I mentioned some challenges that we have in Nigeria as regards technology internet access and you know how it is but are there other ones that pharma tech startups may face challenges that is I mean there's a funding aspect so because you're trying to build a solution typically requires and most of most of us startups we have to have seed money pre-seed money I mean little little incremental because you and you have to get and prove you know that you can you can return investment you have to prove that you've deployed and you're executing and then you get more and then as you as you think big as you see the problem as you size it you ask for more until you get your your margins right and you're probably positive and then that way you're able to be sustainable but it really depends right and some business model is really about you know growing up growing your gmv your revenues versus your margins and then exiting so it really depends that's a business model question I'll say but yes I mean really truly just innovating around that is really is really important and also another I would say another issue that what we'll have to think around is regulation so tell us about it so we regulation in pharmacy and healthcare it's highly regulated I mean you should know what you're doing so it's a business where I would really recommend either you have a co-founder or founder that is in healthcare or pharmacare because I can always say at the backbone of re-healthcare professionals is care is that end result so you want to understand why you're doing what you're doing and how you're impacting the people that you're serving so regulations thank god they're safeguarding that so do you have your pharmacy license are you registered the online registration as well as just come out where you have to have some certain parameters of records and you can only dispense over the counter items or you need a prescription for for prescribed drugs so all of those regulations you have to ensure that you're sticking to them and not getting counterfeit drugs for example from I don't know from the markets things like that so yeah okay fine so we don't really have so much time but let's talk about them the future of pharma tech I know online activities and all of that are got so like a crescendo in the wake of the covid pandemic and all of that so would you really say that the future is bright for pharma techs specifically in Nigeria oh absolutely I would say the future is bright in general in Nigeria obviously there's some challenges that we have to in terms of there's a market creation that needs to happen okay so and that comes with some market awareness especially for the end user so you still have some education around you know I can counsel you online you'll be fine you know there's time wait there's money and time that can that'll be wasted if you physically have to go into somewhere only for you to realize that you can get that online yes so we have to obviously educate the audience about you know online being a genuine alternative and and also really for us for it to really be scalable we have to have interoperability meaning we have to be able to work with the doctors work with the labs to work together have digital infrastructure that I'm able to you use dispense and you prescribe a drug you send it to me I have that connection we both have the records I know what they're supposed to take I when something's off I can say that this is your lab the history scientists they give me their records I follow it up I forward it back that three-way connectivity that interoperability is very essential for us to scale in the healthcare profession so I think that those two things really it's super important very very interesting conversation but we have to go I guess we may have to bring you again because there's a whole lot of interesting things to talk about pharmacy and startups in general but we do appreciate your time thank you so much thanks for having me I appreciate it is indeed our pleasure as we round off now the federal government has been called upon to give entrepreneurial support to women in mind and sector in order to enhance their livelihood now this was the submission of the president of women in mining in Nigeria engineer Janet at the ME during the press conference here in Lagos would leave you with details of that report I am Justin Akadone see you again next time this press conference is to bring the plight of women in mining in Nigeria to the four it is also to herald the maiden edition of the golden gemstones conference to be organized by the women in mining Nigeria Lagos chapter led by engineer Janet at the ME the group is not happy with the hardship women in mining go through while trying to make all ends meet at the ME said she has settled with the responsibility of empowering women to be financially relevant in their respective areas of specialization it is imperative that all critical stakeholders and the mining sector should make efforts in ensuring that women are carried along in all the solid mineral value chains considering the strategic role they play in the development of the mining sector in Nigeria she further enjoyed the government's critical stakeholders and the general public to join hands with women in mining as we push for greater mainstreaming in the sector according to her the event would address the strategic role women play in the development of the solid mineral sector in Nigeria and we'll also examine the investment environment of mining as it affects them because it's a strategic location with vast economic and financial potentials which if well harnessed will result in the transformation of Lagos to a major jewelry home where mineral trading and jewelry can grow and make significant economic impact this is part of the efforts led to us mainstreaming gender into this mining sector in Nigeria the group stressed the need for all hands to be on deck at ensuring that women are carried along in all the solid mineral value chains the quality and government and all the stakeholders to partner with them to push for gender mainstreaming in the sector