Samer Kassem : “From Mauritius, we manage 80 sites around the world”

The Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Global (Mauritius), a trading entity of global pharmaceutical brands, gives his impressions about the health sector in Mauritius. According to him, local talents are not fully used.

BUSINESSMAG. In the first place, could you tell us a few words about the activities of Aspen Global?

We are the IP owner, supply hub and trading entity of global pharmaceutical brands — more than 80 medicines and some infant nutritional brands. We also work on business development, which means that we acquire pharmaceutical products and companies after securing funding for such products. Furthermore, we are the holding company of about 60 Aspen entities. From Mauritius, we manage 80 sites around the world.

We sell in more than 150 countries to third party distributors in addition to our own offices. Our offices and distributors around the world then sell to wholesalers, hospitals and pharmacies.

BUSINESSMAG. In what ways is Mauritius interesting from a foreign investor’s point of view?

First of all, Mauritius is the most stable economy in Africa with the most encouraging governmental approach towards foreign investment. Besides, there are many talents here who are not utilized. If such raw talents are properly trained, they have the capacity to work on global business and compete with talents in New York, Paris or Dubai.

Today, 80 % of our staff is Mauritian and some of them are in senior management positions. This is a very important aspect for sustainable growth in Mauritius.

BUSINESSMAG. What about using the island as a springboard into Africa?

Aspen, as a group, is very strong in Africa. We are the largest pharmaceutical company with headquarters in the Southern hemisphere. However, the main focus of our Mauritian office is global business with a small percentage of our sales to Africa. We sell much more to Europe and North and South American markets. We set up our office in Mauritius as a springboard into the world and not only Africa.

BUSINESSMAG. Is the financial outlook of Aspen Global (Mauritius) for 2015 positive?

We have closed the financial year for 2015 in June. We continue the double digit growth that we have been enjoying since inception. We have many exciting opportunities in the pipeline for organic growth in addition to potential acquisitions.

BUSINESSMAG. According to you, how is the pharmaceutical market faring locally?

Although in relative terms, Mauritius is a very small market for the pharmaceutical business, I believe it is a healthy one. The pharmaceutical market in Mauritius weighs 90 million USD. It dropped from year 2012 to 2013 but it seems to be growing since 2014. I believe that this drop was mainly triggered by the world economic crisis.

BUSINESSMAG. Do you think the public and private sectors are investing enough in the health sector?

Yes, I believe so. In general, health services in Mauritius are good compared to other emer-ging markets. From a coverage perspective, it is even better here than in the United States. Every person in Mauritius can go to a hospital and get the needed treatment for free. We would not have this in many developed countries.

However, this sector in Mauritius can benefit from more innovation. Innovation requires Research and Development (R&D). R&D requires massive investments. I believe Mauritius can play a role but I would not see it as a global player in this field without major investments.

BUSINESSMAG.You must admit, though, that innovation is being given growing importance in Mauritius…

The efforts of the Board of Investment (BoI) in that field outside and inside Mauritius have to be acknowledged. Last year, I was present at a conference called BIO Africa which was organized by the BoI. It was an effort to encourage R&D and other healthcare investors to come to Mauritius.

It is possible for Mauritius to become a R&D Hub but it is very expensive and will take a long time. One out of 1,000 molecules that go through R&D ends up to become successful. So you need to lose 999 molecules. Those 999 molecules and the associated funds go to waste or you can consider it as an investment on that one successful molecule. To put things into perspective, global companies invest billions of dollars on R&D — budgets for the past few years can go up to 10 billion USD. The budget for the pharmaceutical sector in Mauritius is less than 100 million USD. It is a very expensive field to go on full-fledged R&D. What Mauritius can do is to partner with big R&D companies and attract them to invest and operate here. The genetic diversity of Mauritians can play an important role in attracting advanced clinical trials which may help the country to play a role in this domain.

BUSINESSMAG. About one third of the pharmaceutical products available on the Mauritian market are imported from India. What is your standpoint on that issue?

Indeed, India is the main supplier of pharmaceutical products with 30 % of the Mauritian market supplied by Indian companies, followed by France, Switzerland, UK and Germany. I must say that you can get good quality pharmaceutical products from India depending on the manufacturers as there are many Indian companies in this domain. I must also add that pharmaceutical products from India are cheaper. If proper qua-lity controls are in place, I would recommend keeping the same strategy. However, quality should never be sacrificed for price in a domain like pharmaceuticals.

BUSINESSMAG. Mauritius has the vision to become a Medical Hub. Is this a realistic project, in your opinion?

According to me, Mauritius has room for multiple large scale aspirations. One of these is medical tourism: there are some good hospitals here but if this becomes a focus area, it will need more investment.

BUSINESSMAG. You said earlier on that talents are not fully utilized in Mauritius. Do you think this is the main reason behind the brain drain problem?

I believe Mauritians leave for better working conditions and standard of living. If companies operating locally make them job offers that can rise up to their expectations, they have no reason to stay abroad. We successfully managed to repatriate a few Mauritians who were living in foreign countries and they are currently in management positions.