Madagascar's Public Sector Entrepreneurial Effort And Filling An Insitutional Void In HealthCare Delivery~Prince Eze Ugochukwu
Madagascar, a small island nation off the coast of Southern Africa has done wonders. In the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, the country has done the unthinkable and unimaginable.
What Madagascar has done, by producing home-grown medical innovation for the cure of covid19 is swimming against the sharks of the Western Pharmaceutical industry. It is unprecedented from the African emerging market perspective.
From the entrepreneurial point of view, the country has filled an,
" INSTITUTIONAL VOID" by taking advantage of the opportunity offered by lack of and absence of vaccine for covid19.
Madagascar has managed to circumvent the limitations of her environment.
Institutional Voids, are the gaps that exist in specific markets, in this case the absence of a vaccine to cure coronavirus disease. Although Institutional voids are impediments, they are also opportunities for entrepreneurship to thrive, via interventions and innovations to fill the gap.
By producing her homegrown medicine for covid19, Madagascar has today intervened and filled an institutional void in her healthcare sector. This is an example of public sector driven entrepreneurship intervention. With both hands, it has taken advantage of the opportunities offered by absence of vaccine. It has filled a void.
Madagascar instead of waiting for the major pharmaceutical industry players, has gone alone to navigate the market. They have filled gaps, inefficencies and other dysfunctional elements associated with the provision of vaccine for coronavirus, at least within the emerging markets of Africa.
In any market place, identifying institutional voids are the first step towards effective entrepreneurial intervention. This is what Madagascar has done. It has identified a void. (A gap).
Whether it meets Western Standard or not. Whether it meets World Health Organization ( WHO) standard or not, the crucial thing here is that Madagascar was able to identify a void ( absence of covid19 vaccine) and has used local innovative ideas to intervene, thereby making use and taking advantage of the opportunities offered for healthcare delivery.
Spotting institutional voids thus provides a crucial point for assessing business opportunities and market conditions. Today some markets ( Countries) in Africa has embraced the herbal-based medicine produced by Madagascar.
In Madagascar today, patients can be linked to a cure facility. The intermediation process between buyer ( patient) and Seller (government hospitals in Madagascar) is fulfilled. Solutions are created. The missing link is filled.
Another achievement by Madagascar is conquering the issue of transferability. Can her medicine be transfered both within and across her borders. Has the medicine achieved acceptance and recognition as a healthcare model. In the Western markets, the innovation has been met with laughter, disbelief, skepticism and scorn as expected. But there are much faster acceptance in Africa because it is local to our environment. So across border transferability and accetability has been achieved.
Yes, the innovation is purely outside the known "MEDICAL" sense. Nevetheless it has huge implications for improving healthcare and has opened Madagascar to the world.
The success factor of the Madagascar intervention is that, it provides access to what the people want, also there are no alternatives and again, it is affordable and convenient. It is also available with adequate supplies.
Madagascar has rocked the boat. The competitive challenges it will encounter going forward will be enormous.
Prince Eze Ugochukwu wrote from Nkwerre. Imo State.
