Bayer to outsource 3rd party for business in Africa

Germany’s Bayer announced that it would hire a third party to distribute its pharmaceuticals in four African markets including Kenya, with little to no effect on employment, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The company, however, didn’t disclose the number of jobs that would be impacted, stating that the process of identifying those roles was still in progress.

The company currently has 200 employees in Africa. It stated that the expansion in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana would not affect its crop science division, which accounts for 90 per cent of total revenue.

Beginning in May, Bayer will turn over the warehousing, distribution, and sales representation of its pharmaceutical business, which includes oncology and ophthalmology to an unnamed third party.

It’s worth noting that this move is similar to that of GSK, a British company that announced in late 2022 that it would close its commercial organisation in Kenya and move its medicine and vaccine distribution to a third-party model.