A Discussion with Dr. Apryle Horbal, CEO and Founder, VetNOW

“Kenya feels like a country on the verge of some really big things. And so working here and getting to know the people here has been fantastic.”

We recently caught up with the CEO and Founder of VetNOW in Githunguri, Kiambu County Kenya. Her company is dedicated to Transforming Global Veterinary Healthcare. The company’s app is in field testing and will be launched in October 2024.

Where are we right now?

We are at a dairy farm in Kiambu County in Kenya. It's very important that we're here today because this is a farm that is going to be one of our customers. They are farmers that grow and produce dairy and cattle here in Kenya. It's really important so we can get to know our customers so we can experience what the farmers are experiencing on a regular basis and see how the vets are working here as well – so we can make sure that our software and our apps and our services really help them in the long run. 

How will VetNOW benefit farmers like these ones?

VetNOW is going to help these farmers by allowing them to access veterinary care more easily. So, the farmers that are out in the countryside often have trouble attracting veterinary care, either because they're too small to pay them a large amount or they're too far out in the countryside to have a regular veterinarian and a regular connection. VetNOW is going to help those farmers to reach veterinary care when they need it, get better advice on animal care when they need it, and make sure that they have verified products and best practices in raising their animals.

And VetNOW is going to make all of that easier so that at the end of the day the farmers can produce more milk and more meat and more products.

How will VetNOW benefit the vets and VPPs who care for these animals? 

Vets that are practicing in Kenya right now sometimes struggle with being paid regularly by the farmers. They spend a lot of their time on the road as opposed to actually providing care for the animals. By doing things via telemedicine or remote care, when possible, they'll be able to maybe stay at home or at least not travel as much while still providing services. Using the VetNOW app will also let them be paid more regularly as it integrates with digital payment systems. It will also help them keep better records and keep track of the products that they're using too. 

VetNOW will provide access to high quality veterinary care at a lower cost for farmers. It will help veterinarians stabilize their profession, improve the profession, provide better services, and at the end of the day, the goal is to really improve the access to markets for farmers and producers in Kenya. 

By keeping better track of the diseases that are being treated, by keeping better track of the medicines being used, and keeping better track of the animals overall – that will open up both local, regional, and even international markets to Kenyan products. 

Why are you starting field testing in Kiambu and Nakuru counties?  

Kiambu and Nakuru are really good examples of agriculture across Kenya with lots of different mixtures of different crops, different animals being raised – dairy, meat production, chicken production. Being able to touch all those agricultural sections is very important as we have to make sure that our software and our product are really perfected for all those different types of farmers and the vets who serve them.

Next year, in 2025, the intent is to spread across the entire country of Kenya and we're very excited to do that, too. 

So, the field trials and the testing that we're performing in Kiambu and Nakuru counties will really allow us to work out the best way for our software to service Kenya. Our software has been in operation in the United States for almost five years now, but our entry into Kenya is new and so we know there are lots of similarities but also differences. The field trials that we're performing for the remainder of the year will really allow us to make sure we're fitting what people here need.

What is the status of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Kenya and how can VetNOW begin to help with anti-counterfeiting efforts? 

 We have learned through our visits to Kenya and our interactions with the vets and VPPs here on the ground that counterfeit products are quite an issue. This includes counterfeit contraband, bad labeling of products, and incorrect administration instructions. It's to the level, depending on who you talk to, that between 40 and 80% of animal-use products are affected by this.

That’s a big problem. VetNOW is helping by, first of all, creating tools that allow those products to be better identified and tagged when they're fake. That means incorporating technologies like scanning of QR codes and barcodes on the products. Another element is AI integration that will allow the labels to be appropriately identified – these will help to call out counterfeit products. 

The system will then allow better tracking and tracing of where those products are being found. It will allow appropriate intervention to make sure that these are kept out of the market. On the other side of the coin, just in terms of appropriate product usage, VetNOW is going to ensure that veterinarians are able to better supervise veterinary paraprofessionals and advise farmers on the ground so that we're able to make sure they're using the appropriate product. For instance, using an anti-inflammatory when they need to instead of an antibiotic, or avoiding steroids and other hormones when they're able to. By having that appropriate knowledge and advice available when they need it, VetNOW will allow better maintenance and better control of the products that are being used.

Anti-counterfeiting efforts will take massive amounts of collaboration and coordination. 

Indeed, indeed! In addition to providing our own toolkit, VetNOW is also working very closely with the regulatory boards here in Kenya, including the Kenya Veterinary Board, the Kenya Veterinary Medicines Directorate, and other agencies that control the registration of both products and veterinary professionals. We're making sure that we help them wherever possible and that we also follow their best practices in all of our work as well.

For instance, by working with the Kenya Veterinary Board we are making sure that VetNOW will only be available to appropriately registered trained veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals to make sure that we're ensuring the quality of care that the animals receive.

In addition to the government entities, tell us about the power of VetNOW’s partnerships. 

Yes, absolutely. VetNOW is only able to execute on this program because we're partnered with several other organizations, both internationally and regionally. First of all is the Africa Veterinary Technicians Association here on the ground in Kenya and also in 18 other countries on the continent. They are the ones that really make sure of the veterinary paraprofessional standards within the country. 

So having them directly involved with this is really making sure that we have the access and the ability to work with veterinary paraprofessionals on the ground anywhere we go, which is fantastic.  

Our relationship with NADIS is very exciting as well. NADIS the National Animal Disease Information Service. They have built a complementary technology that allows remote clinical sign recognition so that veterinary paraprofessionals that are working out in the field  – often by themselves  – have the ability to better recognize the diseases that they're seeing in the field. Then they can communicate their thought process to the veterinarians who are supervising them, and then make sure that they follow the best diagnosis and treatment recommendations for those diseases.

It's not a diagnostic tool and it’s not going to replace what the veterinarians are doing and it's only available to those regulated veterinary professionals. But it will help make sure that the thought process and the diagnosis process is much more controlled and refined than what’s currently being used.

And lastly, GALVmed is an essential partner to all three of our organizations in this. They have been fantastic and so very supportive of this program. They've helped us to develop a program that is going to allow us to be successful first in Kenya and then across Africa to help to digitize animal health in Africa. That’s the goal of the program that we're working on with GALVmed.

They are our financial supporters, they're our in-country project managers, and beyond that they are the experts in this field who are really allowing us to develop this solution for the continent. By working with all of these partners, that's really ensured our success in the implementation of the Digitizing Animal Health in Africa program.

On a personal note, what has opening a business in Kenya and working on the ground here been like for you these past seven months? 

Kenya has been a fantastic experience for me! You'll see when I travel here I walk around with a backpack that has an “Ask me why I love Kenya?’ button on the back of it. Kenya feels like a country on the verge of some really big things. And so working here and getting to know the people here has been a highlight of my professional career.

There's a lot that we can help with in terms of food production, in terms of stabilizing food production and ensuring food security for the country  – and then for the continent as well. The real goal is to introduce the technologies that will unleash the smarts and the work ethic of the Kenyan people to really thrive in livestock production.

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