IDA Foundation is an independent social enterprise providing medicine and medical goods to healthcare organisations worldwide, at the best price possible. They recognize that in today's world, essential medicines and medical goods remain out of reach for too many people. IDA bridges those gaps so that healthcare providers have access to quality products at a fair price. They distribute over 3000 different health products to customers and partners in over 130 countries. They work with international and local NGOs, large funding organisations, ministries of health and central medical stores, and smaller charity or mission hospitals.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, they are a global organisation with over 275 employees representing 21 nationalities. They have offices in India, China, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as representative agents in over 30 countries. They pride themselves on their professional, diverse and multicultural team, which is passionate about their mission.
At IDA, they feel a strong sense of responsibility to act with integrity and to respect all those who have a stake in their success, including their customers, employees, suppliers and other partners. Transparency and communication on compliance matters is vital. It lets their employees know what is expected of them. They encourage them to speak freely about any issues. Externally, transparency is crucial to create a culture of trust with their customers, suppliers and other business partners.
Their motivation to achieve their mission has a profound effect on the way they work. The IDA Code of Conduct serves as a guide for their business, but it also reflects the nature of their organisation and what they stand for.
IDA's story began in 1972 with a group of pharmacy students at the University of Amsterdam who were determined to do something about the lack of access to quality essential medicines in the developing world. They established IDA Foundation, originally made up of a handful of volunteers and staff who worked in a small office in Amsterdam, shipping medicines to hospitals and medical centres in Africa. Within a few years, IDA’s activities had grown, requiring more office space and a warehouse. In 1985, they officially opened their location in the north of Amsterdam, where they are still today.
IDA established an office in China in 1997, and in 2006 they expanded to India. Their Mumbai office now employs more than 100 people and handles purchasing, quality affairs, and logistics with their manufacturing sources in India and China. Other organisational milestones include being selected as the procurement agent for the Global Drug Facility (GDF) in 2007, and later for the Global Fund's Pooled Procurement Mechanism, in 2012. They continue to hold both of these roles today. More recently, in 2015, IDA was part of the Chemonics consortium that was awarded the USAID Procurement and Supply Chain Management (PSM) programme.
