00:00In about 2000, the lifespan in
Kenya was about 46 years, and
00:05that was largely because of the infectious
diseases, HIV, TB, malaria and so forth.
00:11Now that medicines are available
the life expectancy has gone above 60.
00:16My thinking about health is that it
should be a right for everybody,
00:20there should be some equity to it.
00:22So that somebody who is living
off in a far flung part
00:27of Kenya can have almost
the same healthcare that somebody
00:32living in Nairobi,
going to a top tiered hospital.
00:42My name is Dr.
Albert Mburu, I'm from Kenya.
00:46My company is called
Generics Africa limited.
00:48We provide medicines, which are high
quality, most of them are generics.
00:52Some of them are brands, and we try to
make them accessible to the clinics,
00:57hospitals and
pharmacies throughout East Africa.
01:00>> My mum was a nurse, my dad was a banker
somewhere along the way I ended up in
01:05medicine because I was
very good in sciences.
01:08But I also loved the fact that you
provided an actual fulfillment
01:12once you treated people.
01:13And you'd see the smiles
once somebody got better but
01:17along the way I also
that just being a doctor.
01:20You're treating one person, you don't
have an impact on the larger society.
01:23So I had a need to do Public health.
01:26But I found that you still
don't have the control
01:29on the actual patient because you're
working in so many layers of bureaucracy.
01:33So I found the world of entrepreneurship,
being rewarding and
01:37also free,
you're free to actually do some impact.
01:42During my time, on vacation,
I would sometimes come back to Kenya and
01:46get to talk to other doctors and they will
tell me of some of the issues they have.
01:50And some of the issues about
stockouts in medicine.
01:53And for me, it was unbelievable
because these are medicines.
01:56For instance, if you're practicing in the
US, you don't have a problem with them.
02:00I mean, access is very easy
to get those medicines.
02:03So when I'm overseas I'll transfers for
them,
02:05but then over time, I found that
the needs are getting more and more.
02:08So you provide a few medicines and
over time they'll ask for more and more.
02:13The need for business arose from that.
02:15We find that there is a need for
certain medicines which are not available.
02:20children, but in America will be the
EpiPen, which is basically a medicine used
02:24to protect patients who have a high
risk of getting an allergic reaction.
02:29Which can be deadly, that medicine is
not easily accessible in this country.
02:32So we are able to source that and
provide to the children's hospitals and
02:37make sure that they get
it at a good price.
02:40One thing we found is that sometimes you
could find that the original medicine
02:44could be 10 times more
expensive than the generics.
02:46So that's where we try to make sure
that if we can get a generic equivalent,
02:51we make that accessible to this market.
02:53>> It is important to have
affordable medicine so
02:57as to improve accessibility to the public.
02:59And when patients have access
to affordable generics,
03:03then their health outcomes are way better
than if they didn't have that option.
03:08>> In this market, one of the challenges
which we had was the fact that there were
03:11a lot of under the radar,
illegal unlicensed distributors.
03:16>> A counterfeit is a fake or
an imitation of the original product
03:22which tries to deceive the market that
is equivalent to the original product.
03:27Of course, it has not been tested and
03:30when that patient takes it,
of course they get worse.
03:33But now with the good distribution
networks created by good companies like
03:38Genetics Africa, then we are able to
overcome this challenge of counterfeits.
03:44>> I knew about Stanford, having also
lived in the US for a bit of time.
03:47I'd also wanted to do an executive MBA,
but I didn't have the time.
03:51So I found that Seed was synergistic
to my wanting to continuously learn,
03:57and also the fact that
we're locally available.
03:59I didn't have to think about
leaving my business completely and
04:03going off to a different
part of the world.
04:05Over the last two years, we've doubled
the revenues we are over $10 million.
04:11We've also managed to have 75
direct staff, and 20 indirect.
04:16In terms of the benefits to the employees,
04:19we've managed to make sure all
of them get health insurance,
04:21we give them pensions, we give them
bonuses, we give them overtime.
04:26We have a passion for children.
04:27So, we've worked with some of the
hospitals to take care of the children in
04:31the slums who will get free health camps.
04:33We hope that in future we can even broaden
those things to the bigger society.
04:36Can we do scholarship schemes?
04:38Can we employ more people?
04:39Because in Kenya when you hire one person,
04:41they have maybe about seven
indirect dependents to them.
04:45In the future, we want to see ourselves as
both a major distributor and manufacturer.
04:52Both within and distribute within Eastern
Central Africa, which is a larger market.
04:57One of the best things
about my job it gives me
05:02a lot of satisfaction to see that we are
able to impact on other people's lives.
05:07We see ourselves as part of the solution
05:13to the ills in the community.
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