By: Goshu Melisew
The Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Service (EPSS) has won the prestigious “SMB Transformation Project of the Year” award at the ERP Today Awards 2025, marking a major milestone for Ethiopia’s digital transformation in public health logistics.
The award recognizes small and medium-sized businesses (organizations generating under $1 billion in revenue) that have delivered outstanding results through strategic deployment of enterprise technology, demonstrating strong execution, measurable business impact, and wider social benefits.
EPSS secured the global recognition for its ambitious project, “Pioneering Digital Transformation in Ethiopian Public Health Logistics”. The project involved replacing fragmented legacy systems with a modern, integrated SAP S/4HANA enterprise platform to digitize and streamline the country’s entire pharmaceutical supply chain.
Briefing the media, Director General of EPSS, Dr. Abdulkedir Gelgelo, said the award reflects both technological success and institutional transformation.
“This recognition highlights not only the successful deployment of SAP S/4HANA, but also EPSS’s ability to execute a large-scale, multi-stakeholder, technology-enabled transformation program with strong governance, effective quality assurance, and measurable contributions to public health logistics,” he said.
He further noted that the achievement aligns with Ethiopia’s national reform agenda:“The recognition of the digital transformation of EPSS reflects Ethiopia’s broader commitment under the Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy to build a digitally enabled, transparent, and efficient public sector.”
The transformation was born out of necessity. A 2019 operational assessment revealed critical bottlenecks in the old system, finding that 42% of business processes added no value and 60% of workflows were hindered by unnecessary manual handoffs, causing delays and severely limiting visibility across the medicine supply chain, he highlighted.
In response, EPSS launched Project SMILE Streamline, Measure, Innovate, Lead, and Empower a comprehensive reform program that migrated operations to a unified digital platform.
The initiative established a foundation for integrated planning and procurement, transparent financial management, improved inventory tracking, and the coordinated nationwide distribution of medicines, the Director underscored.
Award judges at the ERP Today Awards 2025 highlighted the project’s scale and tangible impact, noting that EPSS’s transformation extends beyond organizational efficiency to directly improve access to essential medicines for millions of Ethiopians, according to Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Service.
The initiative was implemented in collaboration with key partners, including The Global Fund, with advisory and technical support from Deloitte Consulting, which provided project management and governance oversight, Dr. Abdulkedir Gelgelo.
The director General father noted the ERP-enabled transformation is more than a technology upgrade, describing it as a national reform to strengthen accountability, improve service delivery, and ensure timely access to essential medicines.
With the recognition, EPSS aims to position itself among Africa’s most advanced pharmaceutical supply institutions, leveraging digital systems to improve health outcomes nationwide.
Medical supplies valued at 13.9 billion Birr from the revolving fund and 50.1 billion Birr from the health program, totaling 64 billion Birr, were distributed to health facilities during the current budget year so far. Of this total amount, medical supplies worth 13 billion Birr are specifically medications for HIV, TB, and Malaria, EPSS disclosed.
