[Interview] Astride Verushka NWAL, CEO, Pharma Pro consulting, Cameroon

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Astride Verushka NWAL is the CEO of Pharma Pro consulting, a company that distributes reliable and credible information to health professionals on the products of the laboratories that it represents and he supports pharmaceutical laboratories to set up for the development of their products in Cameroon.

Please tell us about yourself and how you find the inspiration to start Pharma Pro consulting

Before launching this agency, I worked for several years as Marketing Manager at Agipro-Pharma, a position which allowed me to develop daily marketing strategies in line with our context and the continuous evolution of Pharmaceutical Marketing. I believe myself to be very dynamic, creative, organized and with a very good interpersonal skills, I make my passion my job every day and I remain open to any prospect of collaboration. 

About Pharma Pro consulting as I was passionate about pharmaceutical marketing with a lot of experience in this field, I got the idea to help people in my country to get better health services through the development of health sector. This is how Pharmacutical Marketing and Promotion (Pharma-Pro Consulting), which is an extension of the Agipro-Pharma agency, was born in 2019 with the aim of meeting the specific needs of healthcare professionals.

So from there, we can say that the objectives of Pharma Pro consulting are:

• Support pharmaceutical laboratories in the establishment and development of their products in Cameroon starting with registrations, market studies, benchmarking and Business development management

• Disseminate reliable and credible information to healthcare professionals on the products of the laboratories that we represent

• Define strategies in line with the evolution of pharmaceutical marketing for the development of the brand image and the notoriety of the laboratories that we represent

• Continuously train and retrain our health communicators Develop concepts dedicated to health professionals that go with the active participation in the promotion of ethical pharmaceutical marketing

• Design innovative, useful and context-specific promotional material and actively participate in the fight against fake drugs and street drugs

• Create and organize events according to the needs and expectations of partners and clients by educating and raising awareness among the general public on the proper use of drugs (UPR, medical conferences, forums, seminars, Team-building ...)

What do you think gives your enterprise a competitive advantage?

We offer innovative concepts and services in the health sector in Cameroon. We take into account the evolutions of the pharmaceutical industry in the world and we adapt to the contextual challenges of our country. We are also very attentive to the specific needs of our clients, who are quite demanding in terms of the results they want to achieve. 

How has the market responded to your services? 

We are in a fairly competitive market, but thanks to the innovative and specific services that we offer, we have been rather well received in the market. In addition, our participation not only in cohesion in the health sector, but also in the fight against illicit drugs is also a good point for us.

After realizing the market, what makes Pharma Pro consulting unique?

Apart from representing and promoting pharmaceutical products, what sets us apart from other companies offering similar services is that we develop concepts especially for healthcare professionals. And the first of them is a concept which is intended to be a vector of collaboration and interaction between the various medical representatives of the health sector and the name of the concept is "Apéro'Santé". 

If we can talk about competition, how is it in your industry and how do you survive it?

Competition is very tough in our industry and the regulations are very strict. Therefore, we must constantly reinvent ourselves and follow the general evolution of the industry in order to always be at the forefront of various advances. We must be able to develop ever more innovative concepts adapted to the needs of players in the sector.

Adding to that, the pharmaceutical industry not only has one great threat, but many. Here I will cite counterfeit medicines and illicit drugs, which not only destroy our work, but put people in great danger.

Coming to the end, can you tell us a bit about your plans for 2021?

This year, we have set up an event dedicated to health professionals called Apéro Santé.

The Apéro’Santé event is intended to be a vehicle for networking and collaboration between the various players in the health sector.

The objective is to transmit good therapeutic information, to discuss and find solutions on specific issues in the sector, to participate in the fight against illicit drugs, to share experiences, and also to create a network. solid professionals, while highlighting the younger generations.

Apéro Santé brings together various health players: doctors, pharmacists, nurses, promoters and managers of health establishments, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry in general.

The event takes place once every three months. As a closing, we are organizing a three-day health fair in December.

And today, we need and are planning more partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, NGOs and government actors to grow and prosper.

Any closing remarks?

Well, I can add that in Pharma Pro consulting we are preparing the next edition of Apéro Santé, for May 27. At the same time, we are already looking for partners and sponsors for Yaoundé Healthcare Week, the health fair which will take place over 3 days in December.

Pharma Pro consulting