NAIROBI, Kenya- Bayer East Africa has unveiled a major transformation in its Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health business models, signaling a new era of streamlined operations and enhanced market reach.
This transformation, effective from May 1, 2024, is part of Bayer’s ‘Smart Serve’ initiative, aimed at leveraging strategic partnerships to bolster its distribution network across East Africa.
Under the new business model, Bayer is outsourcing critical functions such as transportation, local warehousing, distribution, and customer support to Imperial Distributors.
This strategic move is designed to simplify the value chain and reduce the lead time between production and distribution, ensuring that Bayer products are more readily accessible to consumers across Kenya and East Africa.
Imperial Distributors will handle the logistics, while Bayer’s legal entities in Kenya will continue to manage corporate affairs, including medical affairs, media relations, and stakeholder engagement.
Jorge Levinson, Bayer’s Cluster Lead for the Pharmaceuticals Division in Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasized the importance of this transformation.
“We are pleased with the transformation of our business model to collaborate with experts towards achieving our mission. A key part of this transformation is to simplify our value chain, reduce lead time between production and distribution, and hence reach more patients and customers,” Levinson stated.
Levinson also highlighted the positive impact on employment, noting that the new model has resulted in the hiring of more professionals than Bayer had directly employed.
This transformation aligns with Bayer’s mission of “Health for All, Hunger for None,” reinforcing its commitment to the Kenyan market and beyond.
Bayer’s pharmaceutical products, including women’s healthcare, anti-infectives, and cardiology drugs, are predominantly manufactured at its plant in South Africa.
In addition, Bayer markets over-the-counter medications, nutritional supplements, and dermatologic products.
This transformation, however, does not affect Bayer’s crop science division, which handles seeds and crop protection products such as fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides.
The crop science division remains a significant part of Bayer’s operations, accounting for about 92 percent of the workforce.
This strategic focus ensures that Bayer continues to deliver essential agricultural products while expanding its pharmaceutical and consumer health reach.
