How much can happen in 12 months?

A year ago, Lola and Teni didn’t know it was possible to build one of the fastest-growing on-demand pharmacies in Nigeria. 

Today, the co-founders of Pharmarun had a chat on the company’s first anniversary.

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Teni - Yay! I can’t believe we are officially one! It’s amazing how time flies. I remember innocently wanting to apply for a Firstcheck grant (hyperlink) when I was running Pharmarun on my own back then. The application process sort of opened my eyes to what Pharmarun could become. Sarah (the social media manager) and I hurriedly created a website on Wix, then I created my first deck and applied. Unfortunately, I didn’t get in, but the fact that I got a callback made me happy.

Lola - Teni was getting too many orders on Whatsapp so she told me she needed to build an app to improve the customer experience. I told her to calm down oh. Let’s start with a simple website and see what the traction would be like for new users.

Teni- Lola helped me review the Wix website, which, in retrospect, was ugly. Then she introduced me to someone she thought should be my co-founder. 

Lola - Haha, the Wix site wasn’t ugly. I’d call it an MVP website. 

As the good friend that I am, I felt Teni needed a co-founder, so I tried looking for someone who could bring her ideas to life. That someone ended up being me. I resigned from my Job at MAX and then came on board officially.

Teni - It has been quite an eventful year of knowing more about our users, partners, and ecosystem.

We use the feedback from our users as a guide to continuously improve what we offer. What started as just finding and delivering medication to about 50 people has now grown to over 5000 users in a space of 12 months. We have some exciting partnerships in the works which I believe would be beneficial to our users.

We have also introduced a ‘buy now, pay later’ plan, which helps users gain access to meds irrespective of their financial situation. 

Lola -  The most challenging and equally exciting part for me on this journey was creating the application. We had been processing orders with a simple interactive form for a while and needed to create a more advanced platform tailored to meet the needs of all users.  

Putting together the right team for this project was the hardest part. I felt like quitting at some point (haha), but we went through different people till we got the perfect fit. Shout out to all of them!

We finally have the first version of the Pharmarun app where you can order health supplies for yourself and your loved ones easily. It will also let you keep historical data on your medication habits or preferences.

Teni-  Your work-rate and that of your team members are impressive. I am excited about all the plans we have instore for our users. This year has been about learning and iterating. We are now applying all we have learnt by molding Pharmarun into the best place to access health needs. I’m grateful to our amazing growing team and, of course, our users who have kept us on our toes. 

Lola-  Yeah, we are also super excited about the new users who are going to use our app & enjoy our services and join us on this Pharmarun journey. If you are reading this, join us on this ride!

Happy Anniversary Pharm-ily. 

Click here to view the Pharmarun app.

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