How a pharmacist’s own frustration with last-mile delivery became a platform now connecting over 820 pharmacies across Kenya
By Margaret Nakunza
Neighbourhood pharmacies handle roughly two-thirds of Kenya’s primary care and dispense an estimated 60% of the drugs sold across the region. Yet most still run on paper, disconnected from suppliers, financing, and each other. Dr. Victor Achoka built Zendawa to change that, starting with a problem he lived through firsthand. The platform was recently named a HealthTech finalist at the Sankalp Africa Summit 2026 in Nairobi.
Founding & Journey
The idea for Zendawa didn’t arrive as a single flash of insight. It built up gradually, as Achoka researched the pharmaceutical industry more broadly.
“The Eureka moment happened progressively as I conducted research on the state of the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya and Africa at large. I came to the realization that the same challenges I thought were unique to my co-founder actually applied to the broader ecosystem.”
What started as one pharmacist’s frustration with last-mile delivery turned into a thesis about an entire sector operating with the same blind spots.
Product & Technology
Zendawa sits across SaaS, fintech, and marketplace logistics, but onboarding a new pharmacy doesn’t start with all three at once.
“We start with the pharmacy’s most immediate operational pain point rather than forcing a predetermined solution. Usually, inventory visibility and management provide the foundation because they reveal what the pharmacy sells, needs and cannot access efficiently. From there, we progressively introduce marketplace access, working capital and last-mile fulfilment.”
The platform’s modular design means pharmacies adopt tools as they’re ready for them, not all at once.
Zendawa’s partnership with Microsoft brought AI-powered demand forecasting and expiry-risk tracking into the mix. For pharmacy owners with no prior experience using digital tools, the shift has been less about learning new software and more about finally seeing data that was always there but invisible.
“It turns previously invisible data into practical decisions. Instead of relying purely on intuition, pharmacy owners can identify fast-moving products, anticipate demand and flag medicines approaching expiry.”
Business Model & Operations
Zendawa doesn’t charge pharmacies for its core management software, a deliberate call to remove friction for businesses already working on thin margins.
“We believe the management platform should become infrastructure rather than another cost for pharmacies already operating on tight margins. By removing the software fee, we lower adoption barriers and align our success with the pharmacy’s growth.”
That model is evolving. Starting in 2026, Zendawa began charging for advanced modules like HR and accounting, a shift Achoka frames as necessary to keep the company’s core impact sustainable given a reducing runway.
Growth, too, has followed a deliberate path, leaning on referral networks like the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya rather than aggressive acquisition.
“Healthcare is fundamentally a trust business. Pharmacy owners are more likely to adopt technology when it comes through institutions and professionals they already trust.”
Impact & Pharmacies
Zendawa has onboarded more than 820 pharmacies and reached over 26,000 patients. Achoka describes the shift in terms of what changes for the pharmacy owner first, and the patient next.
“We have seen pharmacy owners move from fragmented paper-based processes to managing inventory, sales and orders digitally while gaining access to online customers. The broader impact is on patients: medicines can be identified, ordered and fulfilled through a connected network of neighbourhood pharmacies.”
Going digital, in his framing, doesn’t just modernise a single pharmacy. It turns it into something more useful to the system around it.
“It changes the pharmacy from an isolated retail outlet into a connected healthcare node. For pharmacists, this means better decisions and efficiency; for patients, it means improved availability, convenience and more reliable access to essential medicines.”
Market & Scale
One number stands out in Zendawa’s credit business: a 98% repayment rate on loans facilitated through its capital partners. Achoka reads that less as a story about borrower discipline and more as a story about what traditional lenders have been missing.
“The challenge is often not lack of repayment capacity, but lack of reliable data through which lenders can assess risk. By digitising pharmacy transactions and operational activity, Zendawa helps create an alternative data layer that can make previously underserved pharmacies more visible and financeable.”
Looking ahead, scale means going beyond Nakuru, Kiambu, and Nairobi.
“Success means building a truly regional last-mile pharmaceutical network: significantly increasing the number of pharmacies and patients served while expanding beyond our current markets into additional East African countries. We want to become the digital infrastructure powering the flow of medicine, data and money in the pharmaceutical industry.”
Vision & Future
Achoka is clear that Zendawa isn’t trying to replace the neighbourhood pharmacy. It’s trying to make it more capable.
“Our vision is to build the digital infrastructure for Africa’s neighbourhood pharmacy network. Rather than replacing pharmacies, we want to empower them with technology, financing, data and connected supply chains so they can serve more patients efficiently. Ultimately, Zendawa should make access to essential medicines more reliable across East Africa, particularly for communities where the neighbourhood pharmacy is the most accessible point of care.”
(Editorial note: Founded in Nakuru, Kenya, Zendawa is a digital platform connecting neighbourhood pharmacies to inventory management, telepharmacy consultations, marketplace access, and embedded finance. The platform currently supports over 820 pharmacies across Nakuru, Kiambu, and Nairobi, and has helped serve more than 26,000 patients. Zendawa was named a HealthTech finalist at the Sankalp Africa Summit 2026 in Nairobi.)
