Richard Ssekamatte appointed Exphar Country Manager for Uganda

Exphar, a Belgian pharmaceutical company that specializes in sterile and non-sterile generic drugs, has appointed Richard Ssekamatte as its Country Manager for Uganda.

Mr. Ssekamatte is a pharmaceutical sales professional with 15 years of experience and a record of driving growth and profitability in transnational pharmaceutical companies in East Africa. Prior to being appointed Country Manager with Exphar, he worked as a Business Development Manager with A. Menarini Farmaceutica Internazionale, Italy’s largest pharmaceutical company.

He also worked as Sales Leader with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Uganda; as well as Medical Sales Representative with Phillips Pharmaceuticals Uganda Ltd. He brings to the new role rich expertise and experience, in scientific knowledge, market analysis, demand creation, sourcing and supply, sales and salesforce management as well as market penetration.

Exphar manufactures a wide range of medicines for anti-parasites, ophthalmology, cardiology, antimalarials, painkillers, antifungals and anti-flu. It also makes gastroenterology, metabolism/vitamins, urology, gynaecology and antibiotics drugs.

In his role as Business Development Manager with A. Menarini Farmaceutica Internazionale, Ssekamatte was central to driving the company’s market penetration strategies, curving out significant market share and achieving a 70% growth in the company’s overall sales volumes in 5 years.

He successfully launched 8 new products into the local market, including Nebilet (Nebivolol) and Bifril (Zofenopril), Spasmomen(Otilonium Bromide), Ketesse( Dexketoprofen Trometamol), Priligy(Daxepotine).

As Sales Leader with GlaxoSmithKline, GSK Uganda, he contributed to the compounded annual growth rate of 23% in the company’s turnover, from a low of USD 3 million in 2012 to a high of USD 15 million in 2017.

This success was driven by the successful introduction into the Ugandan market of new drugs such as Pneumococcal (Synflorix) and Rotavirus (Rotarix) vaccines onto EPI. Before GlaxoSmithKline, GSK Uganda he also worked as a Medical Sales Representative with Phillips Pharmaceuticals Uganda Limited. Richard, holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Makerere University, Kampala and an MBA from the Uganda Management Institute (UMI), also in Kampala.