LeapFrog Investments has sold nearly 30% of its shareholding in Goodlife Pharmacies, East Africa’s leading healthcare and retail pharmacy chain, to Eurapharma, the healthcare division of the CFAO Group.

“We are delighted to join hands with CFAO Healthcare for this significant milestone for Goodlife,” said Dr. Felix Olale, Partner and Co-Head of Global Healthcare Investments at LeapFrog.

“Their investments will help realize our collective vision of creating a healthcare ecosystem that addresses consumer needs across categories in a unified, vertically integrated, and digitally-enabled manner. At its core, Goodlife is addressing the accessibility gap to high-quality, affordable healthcare products and services across East Africa. This new chapter in Goodlife’s journey will continue to improve healthcare at scale in the region.”

Goodlife was established in 2014 and has grown into the largest private pharmacy chain in East Africa, with nearly 100 locations in Kenya and in Uganda that reach 1.7 million people.

This transaction will be the first partial sale for the LeapFrog healthcare team, investing out of LeapFrog Emerging Consumer Fund III, which launched in 2017.

LeapFrog first invested in Goodlife in 2017, and will remain the majority shareholder, while bringing on board an experienced pharmaceutical group with the expertise to help take Goodlife to even greater heights.

In a separate transaction announced earlier this month, Goodlife raised $12m in debt financing from Proparco.

Focus on innovation has enabled Goodlife to rapidly transform from a traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacy chain to an integrated, omnichannel health hub. Its holistic services include basic laboratory diagnostics and telemedicine services through key partnerships, loyalty programs, and a comprehensive digital platform.

During the pandemic, it has also developed a digital e-commerce platform to better serve patients.

Goodlife has an ambitious expansion plan, aiming to operate more than 250 stores by 2025 and to broaden its reach to over 8.5 million people, half of whom earn between $2-10 per day.

Goodlife will intensify its social impact through the launch of a new format and brand offering specifically designed for lower-income populations.

To execute the expansion plan, Goodlife has sought a strategic partner in CFAO Healthcare, which is entering Goodlife as its second-largest shareholder with a 30% stake.

“Goodlife has built strong brand recognition in East Africa,” said Goodlife’s CEO, Amaan Khalfan.

“We hope to offer all East Africans affordable and accessible high-quality medicines and grow our operations to offer more jobs, better healthcare, and more sustainable supply chains. Eurapharma’s investment in Goodlife strengthens our ability to provide reliable healthcare products and superior customer experience through our pharmacy network and via our digital platform – an element which enabled continued access to critical healthcare products through the pandemic. Goodlife Pharmacy will continue to work in marginalized areas, taking the same quality of care and providing products at the right price points for these markets. In addition, we will be working with local Kenyan manufacturers to create additional demand for Kenyan manufactured pharmaceuticals.”

Jean-Marc Leccia, CEO at CFAO Healthcare, said, “For the past decade, Eurapharma/CFAO Healthcare has been actively pursuing a strategy of value-chain integration, first upstream with our entry into the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, and now downstream with the Goodlife transaction. This is the first step towards establishing CFAO Healthcare as a major retail pharmacy player in Africa. By being an integrated operator across pharmaceutical manufacturing, wholesale, and retail distribution, we’ll be able to better serve our partners and, more importantly, African patients. Always with the same unwavering goal of contributing to the improvement of healthcare outcomes throughout the Continent.”