“Life is too short and unpredictable and one has to make the best of the present rather than regretting the past or expecting an extraordinary future,” Sinhue Noronha shared the harsh reality of life that he realized during the current Covid 19 situation and keeping in mind the major issues like Global warming and climate change that threaten humanity.
Sinhue Noronha is the principal promoter and CEO of a dignified and renowned brand, Africure Pharmaceuticals Limited. The ambitious business leader navigated through a life journey with the deep rooted purpose of creating a better quality of life. Interestingly, his affair with the pharmaceutical industry started at the age of 20. He started his career as a medical representative and after that rapidly moved through roles of product executive, product manager, Sr. product manager, Marketing manager, and Marketing controller.
At the age of 30, Mr. Sinhue Noronha ventured into the business of manufacturing and exporting pharmaceutical formulations to buyers in Europe and Africa. Later on, moved into a Leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry and built various businesses across the African continent to a critical size & now here we are, with Africure Pharmaceuticals Limited, created with a vision to take manufacturing technology into Africa with a differentiated business model of creating manufacturing capabilities in key African markets.
Made in Africa by Africans for Africa, Africure Pharmaceuticals
As it is very commonly known the continent of Africa specifically the Sub- Saharan region is extremely backward on all counts including healthcare which is one of the most important sectors. The poor healthcare system leads to a loss of many Man-days resulting in even lower income and a great financial burden on the families.
As a company, Africure Pharmaceuticals is focused on progressing Pharmaceutical facilities and capabilities and train the local population to be self-sufficient. It is a very challenging task but the team has taken it upon themselves to bring smiles to the faces of the African population and hence their adage made in Africa by Africans for Africa. Africure has manufacturing plants in India (EXPORT ONLY UNIT), Tanzania, Cameroon, IVC, Botswana and a plant upcoming in Ethiopia (By 2022). They also have distribution companies in Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
A unique business model initiated by Africure pharmaceuticals is called Management contract. There are a lot of Struggling Pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Africa that are accumulating loss over the years. As a part of management contract Africure helps these company become profitable by assisting in purchase of raw materials and engineering materials, production planning and sales of finished good. Africure has taken up 6 companies under management contract till date.
The Greatest Accomplishment
“Accomplishments are never planned but goals and activities towards an objective with a vision that is steered well will deliver the desired result”. Mr. Sinhue Noronha’s thought process of creating multiple manufacturing facilities and capabilities in key locations in the sub-Saharan Africa is something that has never been accomplished before by any other company whereas Africure, as a company has made great progress in this direction in a significantly short duration and in times to come, would be considered as an achievement.
Fight Back to the Problems
The ardent entrepreneur believes that the opportunities to grow are unlimited and every country in Sub Saharan Africa has the capability to house a manufacturing facility, on the road to self- sufficiency.
The company has worked in virgin markets with virtually very little local materials, language barrier, foreign exchange challenges, regulatory and statutory difficulties but have been able to overcome them because of having highly competent, educated, and experienced people at the grassroots level who have left no stone unturned in ensuring that they reach their respective objectives.
Leadership Principles & Suggestions
Leadership is all about having a clear vision & getting yourself and your team to believe in it. It needs a lot of persistence multifaceted knowledge in various domains. It is also important to look at the bigger picture whilst not losing your attention to finer detail.
Sinhue Noronha’s advice to young entrepreneurs is, “Start small, with a larger vision in mind, build the business brick by brick, being on top of things, being aware of what’s happening in the company & in the market, taking constant corrective action leading to constant re-strategizing. Create something unique and scarce, solve a persistent problem. If you are not flexible, someone will replace you sooner rather later.”
From the CEO’s Desk
While sharing about his Biggest Failure in Professional Life & Learning from it, Mr. Sinhue Noronha said, “In 1990, my personal business in the pharmaceutical sector went into a tailspin because of a backward integration program that backfired due to non-corporation and very slimy behavior of the targeted company’s bankers. These bankers on some guise or another swallowed up a lot of my investment and left me and the company in a very precarious condition.”
He continued, “From this experience, I have learned to be a lot more careful when trusting people and in a difficult situation to stick to one’s own core competency. Attributes like tenacity, determination, and commitment towards a goal are inbuilt and it was all this that helped me not only turn around my business but also buy out my investors and own 100% of equity. I have along the way learned to make better-informed decisions and not to lose faith that people with focus and commitment will always succeed”
“Vision” in Life & Noronha’s Definition of Success
When Mr. Sinhue Noronha was very young, he was constantly driven by the need for a better quality of life and wanted to climb the ladder of success at the earliest.
Hence all that he did was focused on this objective. Today at the age of 62 he is driven by the vigor of giving back to society whatever best he can for which he has been working on some personal project. He would be most happy if he can make a difference in somebody’s life.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a population of approximately 750 million people and in the last 4 years, we have produced and sold over 4 billion units of tablets/ capsules which is indicative of our commitment and dedication to the people of Africa. Seeing a smile on a previously sick but recovering African is what success looks like for me and my company
Future Outlook
“The opportunities to grow are unlimited. I sincerely believe that every country in Sub-Saharan Africa has the capability to house a manufacturing facility, on the road to self-sufficiency. The situation that we faced during COVID times had woken up many governments & has reemphasized the need to start building their own manufacturing capabilities & Africure is here to support them in as many ways as it could”, Mr Norhnha proudly shared.
“We continue to look at putting up a new plant every two years and managing plants that are struggling and to turn them into success stories. It will be no surprise if Africure has a basket of 10 plants in the next five years. This would also ensure we meet our commitment to the society at large, by providing technology, employment, healthcare affordability & a better standard of living for the people of Africa,” he further added.
