Alumni – Pharm Access Africa Ltd

Pharm Access Africa Limited Alumni

Florence Anam

Florence Anam holds a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Maseno University and is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Communication Studies from The University of Nairobi (UON).

Florence worked with Pharm Access Africa Limited from mid-2009 to early 2012 on a HIV at Workplace Program at eight participating companies. Aureos and NORFUND funded this program. These companies were assisted to develop and implement HIV and health policies. The top management of these companies jointly signed a commitment to address HIV stigma in the workplaces to enable uptake HIV prevention interventions and access HIV treatment and care.

“To date this remains one of my greatest achievements: not only for the program deliverables realized, but on a personal basis having faced HIV related stigma in 2007 after being fired from my job because of my HIV positive status,” says Florence.

“PAAL was not only a workplace: it was a home from which I made friends, shared a lot, grew immensely both in skill and at a personal level. Because I had a boss who allowed me to be creative, I was able to find innovative ways to deliver on my tasks. I enjoyed my time there. At the end of the project I felt confident enough to take my lessons back into engaging with communities.” she adds.

In 2012, Florence Anam joined the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV (NEPHAK) as the Advocacy and Communications Manager where she managed the advocacy and communication portfolio as well as community health engagement activities as the liaison between People Living with HIV communities and Ministry Of Health. She later joined the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) Global office based in Nairobi, Kenya from 2015 to 2018 were she worked as the Senior Manager Advocacy and Communication. Currently Florence is the HIV/TB Advocacy coordinator for Africa region at Doctors without Borders (MSF) and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Paul Maina

Paul joined Pharm Access Africa in June 2004 as the Chief Accountant. He was part of the innogural team of management of PAAL.

He held the position for 4 years heading the Finance team as well as overseeing human Resource matters. He left PAAL in May 2008.

Paul is a holder of BCom in Accounting and a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya and a member of ICPAK.

“To me, PAAL was more than just workplace. It was family. The time spent there remains some of the most memorable in my career. The challenge of setting up systems in a new organization and the satisfaction that came with serving the community by ensuring accessibility to ARVs as part of APHIA partners was truly satisfying”. He says.

Paul is currently working with KTDA as a senior manager heading the Factory Accounts department.

Jane Vikiru

I joined Pharm Access Africa Limited on 25 th May 2010 as a Finance and Administrative Assistant after having successfully worked with the Chief Accountant on a 6 months contract in 2009 on the Bill & Melinda Gates and Aureos Projects budgets and finance reports.

I held the position until 1 st July 2012 when I was elevated to a post of an Accountant to manage all finances related to importation and exportation of goods, payroll administration, while Coordinating the Tupange and UNFPA Projects Finances ensuring they were utilized as per donor requirements and workplan.

I hold a BCom in Finance from KCA University, a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya and a member of ICPAK with a Diploma in Tax Administration from Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA).

I feel confident that my experiences at PAAL contributed to my growth professionally, having been able to proceed with my professional course and attained a CPA K while at PAAL.

Am very grateful to the management and entire staff for the support accorded to me, having been a part of the team at PAAL, I received mentorship from the CEO Mr. Parmindar Lotay through his leadership, learnt so much about dedication, loyalty, teamwork and enthusiasm. I enjoyed being part of such a cohesive team for the 6 years I worked at PAAL.

Currently working with OCP Kenya Limited as the Financial Accountant.

Allan Alonzo

I joined Pharm Access Africa Limited in April 2012 as a monitoring and evaluation intern officer. I learnt a lot from the monitoring and evaluation manager and the whole team who were very welcoming and gained lots of valuable experience in monitoring and evaluation and was part of the team that developed the PAAL SMS commodity tracking system the first of its kind in the industry.

After my internship was completed a position of monitoring and evaluation officer assistant was advertised. After a competitive interview process I got the position and soon after I was appointed the M&E officer lead where I helped set up and roll out the Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) that was used for tracking and monitoring reproductive Health (RH) commodities in health facilities in UNFPA select Counties namely; Kilifi, Kasarani (Ruaka Sub County Nairobi) and Homa Bay.

I worked in this position for the UNFPA 7 th country programme and Kasarani, Homa Bay, Kilifi, Kisumu, Naivasha, Nakuru and Migori for the 8 th country programme up until 30 th August 2017. Following adoption of the system in the above areas, reporting rates have significantly improved from an average of 46% to over 90% in the facilities that are using the SMS reporting system.

During my tenure at Pharm Access Africa Limited I enjoyed the great management, Mentorship and overall culture the very youthful, casual vibe. I enjoyed the team meetings that we had every Monday mornings to discuss goals and where we were at with the project.

Allan currently working with Family Health Options Kenya in the Monitoring and Evaluation department.

Jack Indusa Adaji

Jack Indusa Adaji joined in PAAL on July 2012 as a Commodity Security and Logistics Officer based in Nairobi.

He worked in the PAAL reproductive health project TUPANGE, a consortium funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and led by JHPIEGO, an international NGO affiliated with Johns Hopkins University with a consortium of partners including National Council of Population and Development (NCPD) under the Ministry of Planning and Devolution, Marie Stopes International (MSI) and PAAL whose responsibility was contraceptive commodity security

“I was tasked to work with the private sector partner clinics and hospitals to capacity build them on Commodity Security and the logistics of the day to day handling of commodity, storage, distribution, correct ordering of commodities.”

Jack left the PAAL family in Sept 2014 to pursue other interest and has worked with a number of humanitarian organization in different capacities.

“It was while working at PAAL that I gained more interest in working with the NGOs and the humanitarian world because of the imp[act the I saw we were impacting the community around us.”

Lucyline Riungu

Lucy worked at Pharm Access Africa Ltd (PAAL) in the period 2009 to 2010 as program officer. Once her contract came to an end, Lucy was retained as a consultant to coordinate the Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW) project for the Rotary club of Nairobi in 2010 and 2011.

“Working at PAAL and the Rotary club project opened a new perspective about my strengths and what I was capable of achieving particularly in carrying out new tasks.”

Lucy then proceeded to Silafrica Kenya limited as a sales executive and later grew to the position of sales supervisor. Currently she is the senior sales officer at Crown Paints Kenya PLC.

“I love my job and owe my exposure at PharmaAccess Africa Ltd to my ability to excel in this role. I am Excited to see what more life has in store for me.”