ISEG MBA student receives award from the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE)
31-12-2014
The "Ideas Contest" promoted by ANJE, (National Association of Young Entrepreneurs) distinguished as one of the winners the mobile application
PharmaPhoto developed and presented by
Pedro FialhoThe idea was one of the winners of the ideas contest promoted by the national young entrepreneurs association.
The PharmaPhoto mobile App is an application developed for pharmacies and aims to make it easier for the final customer (consumer) to place an order.
The desired action is for consumers to send a photo of their prescription or the product they wish to buy, in a very simple way and in just 3 steps, to their usual pharmacy and from their smartphone or tablet, via
PharmaPhoto Mobile App.
The receipt of this information occurs in the pharmacy's email, and the consumer is contacted by the pharmacy to arrange delivery to the indicated address or pickup at the store (click and collect).
How did you come up with the idea of developing this app?
In my parents' village - located in the interior of the Alentejo - the local pharmacy, and for economic reasons, had to leave the community and move to the city. In conversation with my aunt, I asked her how she did it to get her medicines and she explained that she had to take the only daily bus to the city or stay a few days without taking them. With the aforementioned displacement, the nearest pharmacy is now about 20km away, and the village is isolated in terms of access to medicines, with the majority of the population being elderly and in constant need of therapy.
Within the MBA at ISEG we worked on some projects, like mobile applications (project inc.), creation and development of business ideas, and naturally the idea of associating technology to solve my aunt's problem came up, creating an easy communication channel between her and the pharmacy in town. I went to the pharmacies and got confirmation that they were interested and that they already provided a delivery service to isolated villages but that by sending the prescription information in advance their work would be made much easier.
What does it consist of and how can it be useful to consumers?
It consists of a mobile application that allows the user, using a smartphone or tablet, to contact the local pharmacy and in 3 simple steps request an order to their address, be it of medicines or other health products. By sending a photo of the prescription or a text message from the patient, the pharmacy receives this information and processes it properly.
Many patients, or those responsible for them, are unable to travel for various reasons or limitations, so a simple method of accessing their medications is created for them.
In addition to benefits in convenience, comfort, and time-saving, we can also see improvements in therapy results, because the obstacle of mobility (or lack of it) is thus circumvented.
What stage of implementation are you at right now?
We are working on the development of the alpha phase, which will consist of launching exactly in the municipality to which my family's village belongs - Elvas. We expect to start this pilot test in February, and we are currently building a partnership with the Municipality of Elvas to support us in this phase, particularly in the dissemination among the population.
What are your expectations for this Application?
After Elvas, the project will be "open" to all municipalities nationwide and expanded internationally, to countries where this Application is a viable solution.
