IN the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, States and countries battled each other for scarce medical supplies in what governors and executives called a high-seas black market, exposing the woeful inadequacy of the global supply chain. At the same time, a Zimbabwean billionaire and logistics expert from across the continent built what has become a one-stop shop for African nations and medical facilities in the market for everything from personal protective equipment to diagnostic test kits, ventilators and even vaccines. “My job was to figure out how to make sure 55 countries got access to a desperately needed resource which was in extremely short supply,” said Strive Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean telecom magnate who was named the African Union’s special envoy on supply chains. Less than a year after its inception, the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) hosts more than 600 suppliers selling products that can help combat the coronavirus through an interface that is no more complicated than Amazon.com. Access is limited to countries, health systems, non-governmental organisations and donor organisations like Unicef. Middlemen are not welcome. Those involved in the product’s development and those who have watched its early operations say it could become a model for the world, even after the pandemic subsides. It connects customers with suppliers across the globe, and African manufacturers with customers in search of their wares. “Our birth really stems from the fragmented nature of how supplies were allocated on the continent,” said Chidinma Ifepe, a supply chain expert who heads buyer management for the platform from her home in Nigeria. The AMSP “came to actually bridge the gap between supply and demand.” The platform is owned by a trust and operates through the African Export-Import Bank. The trust’s largest shareholder and main beneficiary is the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, headquartered in Ethiopia. Masiyiwa recruited a panoply of African supply chain and technology experts from across nations that have not always worked well together in the past. Ifepe is Nigerian. Co-founder Fatoumata Ba is Senegalese. Another top executive is South African. In interviews, those leading the platform say their diversity has aided their success. “We have been able to put together a team of extraordinarily talented Africans, and it’s something we have been extremely proud of,” Ba said. In a recognition of the threat the pandemic poses, none of the 30 or so people who work on the platform have met in person, though they are constantly connected by video chats. The coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and spread across Europe and the Americas beginning in 2020 came late to the African continent. By the time the first surges erupted, beginning in South Africa, wealthier nations had snapped up a huge chunk of the medical supplies that health systems and front-line care workers would need to protect themselves and treat their patients. African nations also found themselves at the mercy