Bayer East Africa has completed transformation of its Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health business models in East Africa.

• In the new business model, Bayer is outsourcing transportation, local warehousing, distribution, and customer support to Imperial Distributors.
• Imperial is handling the distribution aspect of the value chain, while Bayer’s legal entities in Kenya continue to manage business-related corporate affairs, including medical affairs, media relations, and stakeholder management such as government and partner relations.
• The transformation, dubbed ‘Smart Serve,’ took effect on May 1, 2024, and leverages the expertise and networks of Imperial Distributors to ensure sustained availability and access to Bayer products and solutions In Kenya and East Africa at large.

Speaking about the transformation, Jorge Levinson, Bayer’s Cluster Lead for the Pharmaceuticals Division in Sub-Saharan Africa, reiterated the importance of the partnership and reaffirmed Bayer’s commitment to serving Kenya and other markets.

“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. We are happy that with this model, our products are now easily and readily accessible across Kenya. Through this model, we have also seen more professionals employed than we had employed directly,” said Jorge.

“Our commitment to operate in Kenya and other markets remains steadfast, and this transformation is geared towards ensuring our mission of Health for All, Hunger for None,” he added.

Bayer’s pharmaceutical prescription products, largely for women’s healthcare, anti-infectives and cardiology drugs are mainly manufactured at its plant in South Africa. The firm also markets and sells over-the-counter medications, nutritional supplements, dermatologic and other self-care products.

The transformation has not affected Bayer’s crop science division which accounts for about 92 per cent of the workforce.

The crop science division deals with seeds as well as crop protection products such as fungicides, insecticides and herbicides.

Britain’s GSK also in 2023 closed its commercial operations in Kenya and moved to a third-party distribution model for its medicines and vaccines. GSK’s decision has not affected its consumer healthcare business Haleon, which produces brands like Panadol and Sensodyne in Nairobi.