Case Studies
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4 min
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Mubarak Odeyemi
Udokanma has been running Divine Peace Pharmacy for 5 years. She will be the first to tell you the journey has not been easy.
"For you to really succeed as a retail pharmacy, you need capital. With that, you will be able to meet up with the demands of your customers' needs."
Capital has always been the main constraint; for restocking, for keeping shelves full, and for meeting demand the moment it walks through the door. To manage it, she procures once or twice a month, partners with HMOs to keep orders coming in, and keeps a number of a nearby wholesaler on speed dial for urgent gaps. It is a system built around what is available, and for five years, it has held.
The part nobody likes to talk about
Every pharmacy owner knows the moment. A customer walks in, asks for a product, and you do not have it.
"It's kind of embarrassing. That's like sales getting lost."
Udokanma's response to this moment was practical. She'd ask the customer to come back in two hours, call nearby wholesaler, and source the product fast. Sometimes, the customer came back. Sometimes, they did not.
"Some people just want to get their product instantly as they are asking"
This leads to lost sales, as with many independent pharmacies. And what's more, there's no easy fix when financing is what limits how much you can stock in the first place. Udokanma wanted to grow. The question was how to do it without waiting until conditions were perfect, because in 5 years, perfect conditions had not come.
She almost said no
Before signing up with Famasi Africa, Udokanma had already walked away from two partnerships in the pharmacy space. Both had promised growth. What she found underneath were hidden charges and pricing models that made her products too expensive for customers to actually buy. Customers complained about the prices, and the arrangement no longer felt like the kind of support she needed.
By the time Famasi showed up on her radar online, either on Instagram or LinkedIn, and later, a referral from someone who knew she was looking for ways to grow, Udokanma was already cautious. She was ready to turn down any similar model.
"I had already made up my mind I wasn't going to do anything like that."
So she researched. She looked Famasi Africa up online. She read what she could find and concluded that the model was genuinely different. It's a platform that could send real orders to her pharmacy. So she signed up.
Her first Chowdeck order
Through the partnership, Famasi listed Divine Peace on Chowdeck marketplace, the platform that has become one of the most active ordering channels in most Nigerian cities.
Getting listed on the platform on your own can be time-consuming. There are requirements and procedures that most independent pharmacies do not have the time to navigate while also running a pharmacy. Udokanma knew this.
"If I had to do it on my own, I don't think it would have been easy. I know it takes a lot of procedures."
Alongside the Chowdeck listing, her pharmacy started using Dispensary, Famasi's pharmacy management software, to handle walk-in sales.
Then the orders from Chowdeck started coming in. The first one arrived from a customer she had never met, someone who found Divine Peace through the platform and placed an order. Just a stranger who needed medication and found her pharmacy.
"I was happy. I was so happy. When my order came, I was like — wow, this is true."
It was not just another sale. It was proof that customers who did not know Divine Peace existed could now find the pharmacy and buy from it.
"I have more confidence."
When asked what the Famasi partnership had delivered for her business, she gave an honest answer.
"I have more confidence."
Sales have improved. Orders are now coming from HMOs and from Chowdeck, two channels where there used to be one. She knows more products need to be added, so her stock depth is a work in progress. But the direction is set, and she can now see what building toward it looks like.
"By the time my inventory is up and I have enough stock in place, I can boast of making so much revenue from Chowdeck. There's huge traffic there. I can get up to 50 orders in a day."
That is the projection of a pharmacy owner who has already seen the evidence and now has a reason to build toward something bigger.
"I would recommend Famasi"
"Of course,I would recommend Famasi. The sales has improved because I'm getting orders not only from HMOs but from Chowdeck. I've seen a huge difference.", she said.
Five years of running a pharmacy teaches you to be careful about who you trust with your business. Udokanma came into this partnership with good reasons to be sceptical. What changed her mind was a model that kept its word, and orders from strangers that proved the opportunity was real.
For pharmacy owners looking for more visibility, more orders, and a better way to grow, Divine Peace Pharmacy’s story shows what can happen when your pharmacy gets connected to the right sales channel.
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