SUCCESS STORIES

Jump Starting the Net Market in Uganda

They come in hot pink, bright blue and pure white. Some are rectangular and hang from four corners; others are round and hang like a sultan’s canopy. Now, they come in a long lasting variety and can dangle for years. What are they? They are Insecticide Treated Nets, (ITNs), a low-tech, high-impact product for the prevention of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.

In Uganda, the marketing and distribution of ITNs is directed toward two distinct groups: those who can afford to purchase one or more, and those who can not. The bed nets acquired by both groups are subsidized, the first group by a percentage ranging from 30% to 50%, the second by 100%.

Building a private sector supply and demand based market for ITNs taps the same business principles and marketing approaches as any product would require: identify a need, develop a product to addresses the need, price the product appropriate to the market, tell the customer when and where the product is available.

Walk into most supermarkets or pharmacies in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala and ITNs are available. Down an aisle at the Kenjoy Market in the heart of Kampala, there is a large, modern, logo blazing display for PermaNet, an ITN of the long lasting variety. Next to it are shelves holding four other styles and brands. The shopkeeper says most people come in now asking for long lasting nets, which is now their biggest seller. “When it’s back to school time, we sell about 60 per day,” he says. A bed net is an essential school supply children attending boarding school in and around Kampala.

Getting to the point where nets are requested by brand name was not a simple process and required some entrepreneurial experimentation combined with traditional buyer incentives. George Baguma, with Quality Chemicals Limited, is passionate about fighting malaria and took part in a recent ITN subsidizing effort which helped promote nets to shop owners throughout in Kampala. “How can we get our economy going if people are sick with malaria or home taking care of a family member?” he asked.

Baguma explained how in the beginning his company used radio and broadcast advertising to create demand in the marketplace. “We started in 2004 with NetMark, a private USAID sponsored partner to build a strong campaign promoting the benefits of using treated nets in the home. It was hard at first because people were unaware of nets, so we also did a 50% matching grant to jump start sales,” he said.

But the internal processing turned out to be too time consuming, so now the company wholesales the nets at a 30% subsidy provided by the AFFORD program and the President’s Malaria Iniative. When the new subsidy went into affect, they went store to store to explained the program to each shop owner, so they in turn could tell the buyers why the price was lower. “Our orders almost doubled in two months,” said Baguma.

Now Baguma wants more market research and data to track how the different marketing strategies and promotions affect consumer sales. “Families in this region spend more money to treat malaria than they do for food or electricity. It can be a hard choice. But we need to get our net market going even more with greater subsidies, and then look at subsidizing treatments like the new artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs).”