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Tulsi Business Park LtdTulsi Business Park LtdTulsi Business Park Ltd+254-783-327-327+254-783-327-327 +254 -716-639-225+254 -716-639-225 +254-783-327-327 +254 -716-639-225NEWSLETTERSHIPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF PHARMACEUTICALS www.simbapharma.co.kewww.simbapharma.co.kewww.simbapharma.co.ke 2 Quarter 2026nd
From the CEO's Desk"From Port to Patient – We Are the Link"The Two Pillars of Our Business Pillar 1: Shipment (Getting It Here) Shipment is not simply "transport." It is a controlled, documented, temperature-sensitive, regulation-heavy process. One mistake in paperwork adds days. One broken seal adds risk. One temperature excursion destroys value, and more importantly, destroys trust. Our Import Department fights every day to clear consignments quickly, accurately, and compliantly. They work with KRA, with clearing agents, with suppliers, and with time zones. They are the gatekeepers. When they succeed, the rest of us have something to work with. Pillar 2: Distribution (Getting It There) A perfect shipment that sits in our warehouse helps no one. Distribution is where we prove ourselves to our clients; hospitals, pharmacies, and government facilities. Our delivery team, drivers and riders navigate traffic, weather, difficult roads, and tight windows. They carry life-saving medicines with urgent orders. They are the face of this company to every client who opens our boxes. To every driver and rider: You are not "just delivery." You are the final, most visible link in the chain. Thank you for showing up, every day, with professionalism. Acknowledging the Challenges – And Why I Am Confident Let me be direct. Pharmaceutical logistics in Kenya is not easy. KRA requirements change with little notice. Traffic does not respect our delivery windows. Roads in some counties test our vehicles and our patience. Government facility paperwork and approvals can take a long time. Cold chain integrity demands constant vigilance. I know these challenges because I see them in our reports and hear them in our team meetings. But here is why I am confident: Because I see how you respond. I see the Import officer who stays late to reconcile a document discrepancy. I see the Warehouse Supervisor who double-checks every invoice and delivery notes. I see the Driver who calls Dispatch before taking an alternative route. I see the Rider who protects the products from rain. That is not process. That is character. And character delivers when process fails. A Special Welcome to Our New Team Members.To everyone who has joined us in recently – welcome. You have joined a company that takes pharmaceuticals seriously. Not because of regulations, but because of patients. Keep moving. Keep caring. Keep delivering. With respect and gratitude, Ravi Menon - CEO To every member of our team, When a patient in a small clinic in Kisumu receives their medicine, they do not think about the journey that medicine took. They think about relief. Healing. Hope. But we think about the journey. That journey begins thousands of kilometers away at a manufacturing facility in India. It crosses oceans and skies. It lands at the Port of Mombasa or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It passes through our import documentation, our warehouse, our cold chain, our delivery vans, and finally into the hands of a pharmacist, a nurse, a doctor and a patient. That journey is our responsibility. And no one in Kenya does it alone. We do it together.
Shipment of pharmaceuticals is not logistics, it is patient safety in motion. Every box we receive correctly, every temperature we maintain, every document we match perfectly means a Kenyan patient gets their medicine on time. That is the work this team does every day. When a pharmaceutical shipment leaves a factory in India, the journey to our Nairobi warehouse is not simply "transport." It is a controlled process with zero margin for error. Here is how the Import Department manages each layer. Layer 1: Packaging & Thermal Integrity Before a single box is sealed, the supplier must prove the packaging can maintain +2°C to +8°C (for cold chain) or +15°C to +25°C (for ambient) for a minimum of 96 hours – the longest possible delay at JKIA or Mombasa Port. Layer 2: Documentation A pharma shipment cannot be touched by KRA until the following are correct and aligned: Commercial Invoice (must match proforma exactly) Packing List (showing pallet count, batch numbers, and expiry dates) Airway Bill / Bill of Lading (with correct consignee name) Certificate of Analysis (optional for some but we require it for all) Certificate of origin (COO) The Finance Department must approve the invoice before the supplier ships. Any discrepancy – even a misspelled product name adds 3–5 days of KRA queries. Therefore, the Import team cannot afford to make any mistakes, they prove to be too costly. Layer 3: The Physical Arrival & Examination When the shipment lands: Offloading is done under supervision. Temperature loggers are downloaded immediately. Shipment OF PHARMACEUTICALS The 4 Critical Layers of Pharma Shipment – What the Import Department Wants You to Know Physical examination by KRA can be random or targeted. For pharmaceuticals, it is often targeted. If a seal is missing, broken or packaging is damaged, the Import team files a damage report within 24 hours – otherwise, we cannot claim insurance. The Warehouse team is critical here. We need them on standby for every expected arrival. That person's job: watch the offloading, photograph every pallet, and confirm the temperature logger data. No other task takes priority during that hour.
Layer 4: Last-Mile Transfer to Cold Store The riskiest moment is not the ocean or air transit – it is the period between customs release and our warehouse / cold room door. A truck with a broken reefer unit, a driver taking a wrong turn, or a traffic jam on Mombasa Road can destroy a consignment. The Logistics Coordinator must pre-validate every transport provider's reefer unit before dispatch. We have a checklist. Sending a truck without that checklist signed means the driver will be turned away at the gate – at our cost. 💬 Department Spotlight: Meet the Import Desk Question: What is the most stressful part of your day? Janet: Waiting. Waiting for KRA to release a query. Waiting for a supplier to send a corrected document. Waiting for a truck to arrive. The product is there, the patient is waiting, but the system moves at its own speed. You learn patience – or you leave. Question: What is the most satisfying part? Janet: When a 'problem shipment' clears. You have been fighting for a week, missing document, KRA query, tax issues, and then finally, the system says 'Released.' You call the warehouse and say, 'It is coming.' That feeling never gets old. Question: What does the rest of the company not understand about importation? Janet: That we cannot 'just call someone' at KRA to speed things up. There are procedures. There are queues. Everyone thinks their shipment is the most urgent. We advocate, we follow up, we escalate – but we cannot skip the line. Question: What is the single biggest misunderstanding other departments have about pharma shipment? Janet: People think the shipment is 'fine' once it lands. Landing is only 40% of the work. The next 48 hours – document matching, KRA queries, temperature verification – determine whether the product reaches the patient or goes to the incinerator." Question: What is one thing Sales and relative departments could do to help? Janet: Provide the correct product classification before the supplier ships. Is it a 'medicine,' a 'vaccine,' or a 'controlled substance'? Each has a different KRA code. Guessing wrong adds a week of delays." Janet Mwathe Import Officer 🔑 A Final Word on Importation Pharmaceutical importation is not glamorous. It is paperwork, waiting, chasing, and verifying. But it is also the gateway. Without importation, the warehouse is empty. Without importation, sales and marketing teams has nothing to sell. Without importation, delivery has nothing to drive. Without importation, the patient receives nothing. The Import Department sits at the beginning of everything we do. We bring it in. The rest of us take it from there.
💰 Accounts Corner: The Unsung Heroes of Importation Behind every successful pharmaceutical shipment stands a team that signs the cheques, verifies the figures, and keeps the money moving. This page belongs to the accounts department. This article places the accounts department at the center of the importation chain – not as a support function, but as an essential partner. It recognizes their specific contributions, gives them a voice through quotes, and provides practical interaction points for Import, procurement, warehouse, sales, and delivery teams. 🔑 A Final Word from Accountant "The Import department moves the boxes. The delivery team drives the vans. The sales and marketing team sells the products. In accounts, we make sure the money is there when you need it. No delays. Just accurate, timely, compliant financial management. We need your cooperation – correct invoices, timely documentation, and honest communication about changes. Give us that, and we will never be the reason a shipment stops moving." Accounts Manager When most people hear "Accounts," they think of: paying bills, issuing invoices, bank reconciliations, and tax returns. And they are right. The accounts department is the financial nervous system of our company. Every supplier payment releases the next shipment. Every customer invoice funds the next order. Every tax return keeps KRA satisfied and our operations uninterrupted. Every payroll ensures our team shows up tomorrow. Without Accounts, no shipment lands. No delivery leaves. No salary is paid. The Four Pillars of Accounts 1. Payables (Money Going Out) Supplier invoices – local and international Freight and clearing agent payments Utility bills, rent, office expenses Staff reimbursements The challenge: Paying at the right time – not too early (cash drain) and not too late 2. Receivables (Money Coming In) Customer invoicing Credit control and collections Managing customer credit limits Cash application (matching payments to invoices) The challenge: Getting customers to pay on time. Every day of delay strains our cash flow. 3. Finance operations (Cash & Currency Management) Bank account management Foreign exchange (forex) purchases Letters of Credit (LC) issuance Cash flow forecasting The challenge: The Ksh is volatile. Buying USD on the wrong day costs us hundreds of thousands. 4. Compliance (Tax & Reporting) VAT returns (every month) Withholding tax returns Payroll deductions Annual income tax returns Statutory audits The challenge: KRA penalties are severe. One late filing can cost millions.
DISTRIBUTION OF PHARMACEUTICALSDedicated to the delivery team, drivers, and riders who ensure pharmaceuticals reach institutions, pharmacies, and government facilities safely, on time, and with care. The shipment has arrived. The import documents are cleared. The warehouse has stored the products at the correct temperature. But the journey is not complete until a patient receives their medicine. That final step belongs to you – the delivery team. Every traffic jam you navigate, every signature you collect, every temperature log you check before departure – that is where our entire supply chain succeeds or fails. This page is for you. Recognition. Motivation. And a record of why your work matters. "The warehouse loads me. The client unloads me. In between, it is just me and the road. I take that responsibility seriously. No shortcuts. Safety first.'' - Livingstone Otieno "I weave through traffic so a patient does not wait. A pharmacist once told me: You are faster than any ambulance. I did not know how to respond. But I felt proud. Very proud." - Felix Ochieng "I see myself as 'patient connection'. Without me, those boxes stay in the warehouse. I make sure they don't. I carry two things every trip: the medicine and a smile. The smile is free. The medicine is priceless. Both matter." - James Maina "My job is simple: pick up, deliver, return. But simple does not mean easy. Traffic, weather, wrong addresses – I handle them all. I have learned every shortcut in this city. Not to speed, but to arrive. There is a difference. The best moment of my day is when the client says 'you saved us.' That is not a compliment. That is my purpose."- Stephen Musau "My van is not fancy. But the cargo inside is priceless. I treat every box like it carries a life – because it does. People ask me 'Is it just boxes?' I tell them 'No. It is someone's health, someone's hope, someone's healing.' That changes everything." - Daniel KimaniDistribution Spotlight: From Our Warehouse to Their Doorstep
"The Premier Care Division is not just a new team. It is a new promise to our customers – that specialized conditions deserve specialized attention. The work you do in sales and marketing opens doors that our products could not otherwise reach. Welcome. We are proud to have you." - HR🏆 Premier Care Division SpotlightWelcome to the Team – Premier Care Sales & Marketing TEAM Our Division's Purpose Not every customer is the same. Not every condition is the same. Not every solution should be the same. The Premier Care Division exists to serve specialty pharmaceuticals – products that require deeper explanations, longer sales cycles, and closer relationships with specialists, hospitals, and chronic care patients. Our promise: Sales conversations that educate, not just transact. Marketing materials that clarify, not confuse. Follow-up that shows we remember who you are. Collaboration with all department to ensure smooth flow in sales and all related activities. When a patient understands their medicine, they take it correctly. We help make that happen. Premier Care is not an experiment. It is the future. We are building that future. A "no" today is often a "yes" next month. We follow up anyway. Relationships take time. We understand that every closed sale means a medicine reaches someone who needs it. If we say we will call, we call. If we say we will deliver, we deliver. Our meetings are focused. Our presentations are concise. Each and everyones time is valuable. we dont compromise on quality. The products we represent are safe, effective, and properly stored. We care about our clients. Their health is not a transaction. It is our purpose. Nancy Kariuki Kelvin Kipchumba Esther Okeyo Justine Mulwa Sunday Lucy Nobart Oundo
"It is my genuine pleasure to welcome every new member joining our team. You arrive at an exciting time, we are growing, we are serving more clients, and we are strengthening every link in our pharmaceutical supply chain. Whether you work in accounts, warehouse, sales, marketing, delivery, or regulatory – your work directly contributes to getting the right medicine to the right patient at the right time. That is a responsibility we take seriously. Take time to learn. Ask questions. And know that the our door are always open for concerns, for ideas, or just for a conversation’’ - HR What We Expect from You Show up – On time, every scheduled day. Speak up – If you see something unsafe, incorrect, or unclear. Care – About the product, the patient, and your colleague. Learn – No one expects you to know everything on Day 1. But we expect you to ask. Respect – Every role. Every person. Every department. Be the best you can be.WELCOME ABOARD! Calvine Ogum - Sales Manager, Vitacura Felix Bonga - Medical Representative, MSN Alexander Wambora - Supervisor, MSN Francis Ondeko - Accounts Receivable Sammy Kiplagat - Medical Representative, MSN Adison Muthuri - Store Supervisor Kennedy Ndambuki - Accounts Assistant Stephen Macharia - Medical Representative, MSN Jacob Ouma - Medical Representative, Aurobindo We know that starting a new job is not easy. You are learning new names (and there are many). You are learning new processes (and some are complex). You are learning new systems. You are learning a new culture (and we have our own way of doing things). Do not compare your day 1 to someone else's Year 5. Everyone started where you are now. Everyone felt uncertain. Everyone asked questions. Everyone made mistakes. And everyone grew. You will too. Give yourself time. Give yourself grace. And when you look back in six months, you will be amazed at how far you have come.
Tulsi Business Park LtdChady Road, Off Airport Road, Syokimau P.O Box 1541 - 00600, Nairobi, KenyaDistribution is not the end of the chain. It is the beginning of healing. Simba Pharmaceuticals Ltd is proud to be part of that beginning. ✨ From our warehouse to your doorstep with care, with precision, with purpose. ''together with you.......Always''