In a continent where optimizing resources is crucial for development, the digital transformation of strategic sectors is a priority. The Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank, to be held from 26 to 30 May 2025 in Abidjan, will address this key issue as part of its broader remit: “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development.”
The rise of African medical start-ups, such as Blink Pharma in Morocco, shows how innovation can optimise available resources and improve access to healthcare services.
Digitization in the service of patients and pharmacists
Blink Pharma, the first digital platform of its kind in Morocco, is revolutionising inventory management and transactions between pharmacists, wholesalers and laboratories. By centralising orders, the Moroccan start-up is improving the efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain, which is essential to ensure continuity of healthcare.
Founded in 2020 in Casablanca by Ali Sami and Adil Bertul, two experts in the healthcare sector, Blink Pharma capitalised on the acceleration of digital transformation during the Covid-19 pandemic, using its founders’ detailed knowledge of the medical, scientific and regulatory environment.
Blink Pharma initially developed free mobile apps available on Android and iOS, which now connect some 4000 of the country’s approximately 10,000 pharmacies to more than 40 wholesalers and around 20 laboratories. The start-up enables pharmacies to place their orders directly via a data exchange platform, preventing stock shortages or delays in the delivery of medicines by ensuring continuity in the supply chain.
The two founders initially feared that launch of their start-up in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic would be impossible. However, the opposite proved to be true: the lockdowns opened a window of opportunity. “The pandemic accelerated digitization by pharmacists, which would have taken six or seven more years if the emergency had not forced them to work remotely,” explains Sami Ali, the CEO of Blink Pharma. A doctor by training, he worked for around 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry in various countries.
The start-up is supporting digitization of the sector by development of 4.0 management software, which manages day-to-day running and performance of pharmacies and improves their forecasting ability. Blink Pharma plans to encourage as many pharmacists as possible to use its new platform, which is available in a premium version for a fee.
The start-up has grown from four employees in 2020 to 17 today, mainly to support its commercial development. In May 2022, Blink Pharma reached a decisive turning point when it raised its first round of funding from Azur Innovation Fund, actively supported by the African Development Bank. This public-private seed fund not only finances innovative start-ups in Morocco but also provides mentoring, coaching, technical assistance and monitoring services.
Blink Pharma hopes to build bridges with paying agencies in the coming years, providing a better service to patients as social security coverage expands in the Kingdom of Morocco. The company’s technology, which can verify the authenticity of a transaction, would enable it to secure third-party payments. Once it has consolidated its presence in Morocco, the start-up plans to go international, starting with around 15 countries in Africa, including Nigeria and Senegal.
Resolutely optimistic, Ali Sami sees Morocco as “a country of opportunities, because there is still a lot to be done. The digital transformation of the pharmaceutical sector is part of the country’s broader path to emergence.”
Innovation, supported by the African Development Bank, is at the heart of Morocco’s social and economic development. It is also a driver of job creation and a powerful catalyst for youth entrepreneurship.
