Adedayo Adefarakan already had a successful ice production company back home in Nigeria before he came to the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program. You can find his ice products - like dry ice, packaged ice tubes and ice blocks - in commercial locations all over the federal capital territory.
Having nailed the domestic space, Adedayo wanted to scale his operation internationally but also wanted to explore more education before scaling his operation internationally.
With an electrical engineering undergraduate degree and an MBA already under his belt, he extensively researched which program could help him fill some knowledge gaps he felt he still had. The MBET program seemed like the best fit for him.
“I read the course outlines and all of them were interesting to me. When I started losing sleep going over them in my mind – I knew this was something I had to explore.”
It didn't take long for Adedayo to put into action what he was learning in the classroom. Inspired by new concepts in Professor Shavin Malhotra's class he started thinking about his business differently.
He identified two key issues of the pharmaceutical industry; transportation of temperature-sensitive vaccines and storage of pharmaceutical samples. And so, he created Phamachill and its hero product - Pharmabox.
Pharmabox is a smart thermal box that monitors, logs and reports geo-temperature data and raises an alarm if there are temperature anomalies of the sensitive biopharmaceuticals. Providing real-time data to help minimize damage to sensitive materials and risk to patients.
In turn this real-time data allows patients and health care workers make informed decisions and those responsible for transportation of pharmaceutical products to adjust earlier in the transportation of their products, saving them from the very real threat to life and financial losses due to spoiling.
You have to extract as much value as you can from this program. This program allows you to aggressively reposition yourself into a more competitive state. It allows you to think and grow, to reach the next level of your goals.
He credits his program with getting him to think outside the box. He's had the opportunity to think about his business differently and it's allowed him to explore options he would not have done before. "You have to extract as much value as you can from this program. This program allows you to aggressively reposition yourself into a more competitive state. It allows you to think and grow, to reach the next level of your goals."
As for what's next, Adedayo is already a few steps ahead. He's exploring options to expand Pharmachill and start a dry ice company here in Southern Ontario.