This content features a conversation between two pharmacists about the journey of opening a community pharmacy in Nigeria, focusing on the inspiration, practical considerations, financial aspects, and lessons learned from a newly established pharmacy owner.
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earlier this year 2022 hi with two other
friends of mine you know we just wanted
House of community practice we were
tired of seven people like we wanted to
become our own bosses so we had the idea
we had inspiration so we had a
conviction it was time for us to start
our own Community Pharmacy in Nigeria
but personally as God would have it you
know God just changed my plans you know
the way God works now so I had a change
of plan along the line while my two
other friends eventually went ahead to
open their Community Practice this year
I wanna get closer
and guess what where I am presently
belongs to one of those two friends of
mine so today we are basically going to
be hearing from my friend how she was
able to resign from a 7 30 a.m to maybe
8 30 p.m job to start our own Community
Pharmacy and then all young pharmacists
out there can find this video very
useful or if they have the dream you
know to be their own bosses someday so
welcome with me pharmacist love she's
been a friend from way back so welcome
with me on the podium Pharmacy slow
you're welcome hi let's just dive
straight into the business of today
Found Love if I may ask you what
inspired you to resign from your job and
to start a community practice I would
say it's passion that prompted me to
open up my it has always been
um something I've wanted ever since I
entered pharmacy school so everything
I've been doing what working in a
community setting just like she has said
I've always been a community person all
my life like ever since I graduated from
pharmacy school so everything I've done
all these steps I've taken has always
been geared towards opening mind so when
it was set time like I've gathered a
little and I support was coming from
here and there I just said that's okay
this is the time boom I started wow wow
my friends Drive is quite different from
my drive because I when I wanted to
become My Own Boss what was driving me
was the fact that I was done with
Community Practice I was done working
for others I just wanted to be my own
boss and have control over my time and
the fact that you know sometimes when
you overstay when you overwork you spend
extra time at work you don't get
compensated in fact you don't even get
to thank you meanwhile if you are one
minute or two minutes or 10 minutes late
oftentimes you have to clock in and
clock out and if you are late at the end
of the month in deduct from your salary
I was just you know I was just on at
that moment and that was what was
driving me to want to hold my own
Community Pharmacy so for my friend I
guess it's different because she had
everything planned out being that her
dad is a pharmacist who is a pharmacist
in fact around 2014 2015 we had our IIT
at our uncle's place and that was where
we became very
um talking about strategic location
because oftentimes we hear young
pharmacists say they are looking for
strategic locations to staff their own
Pharmacy so what were the things you
considered when you were looking for a
place to rent what were these strategic
Imports now that you were particularly
about when you were looking for
somewhere to rent for the location from
what I gathered it should be somewhere
between commercial setting and also
residential setting so so that there
will be during the morning Duty we have
in our hands you have enough sales and
also in the evening as well so you
should not be fixed one side it should
be balanced if you can get somewhere
that is very very balanced so that
that's a huge plus then it should be
somewhere accessible like a junction
somewhere where you know not yeah I mean
you're not restricted to only people
living in a particular place or there's
only same faces you keep seeing all the
time so it should be somewhere where you
keep seeing new faces and people that
are just going I mean somewhere very
accessible where you get to meet
different people every day
so like she rightly said good road
Network and like somewhere easily
accessible and also it should be between
it shouldn't be densely residential
before now I thought it was firstly
residential area somewhere close to the
market and all that so it's not Market
possible that has commercial activities
going on and I remember working with one
boss that intentionally opened his
Pharmacy along the entrance of a major
estate in ibadan it was targeting only
the residents of the estate okay
meanwhile he did his disability studies
according to him and along the line I
just discovered that these patients were
not coming the residents were no
entering and one of them had to open up
to me that the reason why they are not
coming is because they believe that my
boss has come to like start them and
they would rather go out and buy their
items outside where they don't know
their status
and the funniest thing about this client
is oh if they now go outside and confirm
that your is that we okay the shame some
of them the shin will not make them to
come back and tell you that okay we are
sorry actually your prices are okay they
will just like bone off like okay and
I'll get it somewhere else like without
coming back to you so when you're
considering location be mindful don't
don't don't don't focus on just a
category of people population your
demography must be wise like you should
focus no income earners below average
average above average and the reach so
size your location somewhere where you
have all these categories of people not
for people that got it right during
covet period there are people who were
basically at home so this was the
residential people they were enjoying
that time because commercial activities
were not going on so now imagine someone
that cited this former senior a
commercial setting that's that's a big
problem a huge loss so just try to
and something similar to what you're
selling so that you won't have people
start comparing prices around and all
that yeah so uh one other thing that I
have heard is that if it is at around
the major bus stop then it's a plus to
you because when people take bikes they
can easily highlight and that bus stop
when people take cabs they can highlight
so if you have these sure people will be
more so if you have a um if you get a
shop around a major bus stop that's also
a plus you and then talking about
hospitals around or maybe Laboratories
around that's very good so it is
because some hospitals will stop their
medications by themselves they might not
patronize you well I don't I won't say
it actually it minus or it's where it of
course everything and its own advantage
and disadvantages but it's more of a
plus because what you just need to just
reach uh which you compromise okay if
you're getting from us you'll be getting
this particular discount or something
something like that so it's just
something and if they are more like not
just one so you have you can select from
a lot of them that are right so and also
laboratory somewhere you can refer then
you can refer back to you as well so
it's a prostitute thank you very much
now talking about finances now like you
started early this year or like mid this
year how much would you say it cost you
to start off this cute it's cute because
it has the basic things that a Community
Pharmacy should have it is cute and I
love it I've been this my third time
coming here the first time I was here
she was so busy I had to reschedule and
the next time I came I had issues with
my microphone and I had to come again
today and it's been busy you know we've
been going on and off like that so this
is a cute place like how much did you
start with talking about rent talking
about infrastructures putting all these
chefs in place and others how much did
you spend like in total okay
um while starting and I think I had like
oh I think three three him that's the
medium that was earlier this year too
sometimes goes on you know you'll get um
just by the grace of God so people will
come to support friends and family so I
can say what actually finished this um
set scene is like four million and
that's asaps yeah
or just have an idea so like and it also
depends on the location that you are a
rent size that you are looking for just
like she says this is like almost 30
square meters exactly exactly this place
is exactly
so if you are renting a bigger shop it
might be more expensive so depending on
the location and the size and The Taste
but with like for him you can still
start something but if you want to start
and assuming you want to start just now
you'll be spending like let's say maybe
five him or 6m because these prices are
not smiling now so playing forever since
I was there if you have like 3M 3.5 mm I
would encourage you to buy it please
just start looking for a strategic
location following the definition of
strategic that we have mentioned here
now let's talk about regrets you have
any regrets or any lesson that you have
learned so far and or you will discover
that have you discovered that you made a
mistake that you would like to you know
write the mistake and you would want to
advise any young pharmacist against
making such mistakes when they want to
open their own Pharmacy okay I would
rather put it to be what I've learned so
far because uh just like I said before
um I worked with in a Community Pharmacy
where I was coming from so I've learned
a lot from there because it's also in a
new premise I registered the place newly
so I've gathered a lot from well the
owners I mean the experiences I've
gathered has really helped me so I won't
call them regrets because I've already
seen this like foreseen how startup
looks like so what I would say is
Staffing I had issues with Staffing
because while I was starting or majority
of the staff that I got to a student
because as was on strike so there was
thinking that okay I've skipped through
this year like as it's not going to
follow the abstract and then all of a
sudden as a colleague so all my stuff
all of them since I was left alone it
was frustrating that I was diet I just
felt like closing the youth and they're
like I'm so tired I can't continue again
but I just keep at it and then yeah I'm
better now I'm better now so uh I would
say we should look for
for your Staffing it should be very that
one is very very important and you
should make their working condition and
condition for them to stay not like you
the Staffing every other month they are
about so Staffing is very important and
also a resource for your items whether
drugs or also the supermarket items so
you try to check to friends or
wholesalers now you don't stick to one I
just believe that someone is like that's
the best price person is giving you
because I I I I had issues with that I
thought there was no particular retailer
that uh I mean wholesaler that I uh I I
got small majority of my products from
so it was later I discovered that wow
the difference was so clear it was so
huge I remember we were complaining and
you know as the start for picker you
must be very careful with your pricing
so that people will not just park the
place as being expensive and they will
not even bother patronizing you again I
know word of months in Nigeria what the
man can kill you they don't even know
what is going on so I just had to like
in fact there were some times I had to
sell the same price just to bring it up
because when I was seeing the
differences I mean I comparing to others
a lot I was saying like 500 defense on
one item like it was so much sometimes I
just had to say like a loss of us using
other consultation field and others to
cover it up but then so that one opened
my mind like I don't trust anybody says
I don't get my attention from one
particular ocean so it was Ocilla so I
just tried to check through all of them
and see the price that is favorable to
me and uh so I'm sure when people come
and start you know clients now you start
saying oh are you sure this is your
prices somewhere I will go this place
and just you're free man I'll probably
slide it on it you can compare so in
terms of stocking yeah shop around um
don't be lazy because it's not easy
serious don't say you want to buy all
your products
exactly like yourself
because people will compare that when
it's natural
and so you must be on your head games at
least if they're going to compare there
shouldn't be that UI or World difference
okay you mentioned you talked about
stuffing and in one of my videos here I
talked about how pharmacists can make
life easy for one another in the sense
that one thing that I dislike I detest
so much about Community Practice is the
weekend course particularly imagine me
working eight hours Monday through
Fridays on a weekend I'm working on
Godly 14 hours on a Saturday so what do
you think what do you want to do
differently because I am sure we've
discussed it what do you want to do
differently now that you are an employer
you are your boss and you are because
you're just starting you're managing
this place for yourself by yourself you
are your superintendent pharmacist but
when time is coming when you'll be so
big that you won't be able to sit here
you need to employ it what do you intend
to do to make life easy for your staff
because she talked about making life
easy for
um to our domestic staff like the sales
process so that you won't have frequent
turnovers so what you want to do
differently because in my video I talked
about working like 12 hours three to
four days in a week and having the rest
of the week to rest everywhere where
I've worked before opening my I only
work eight hours so I've never had even
weekends so I've never had experience of
working at a stretch or working 12 hours
so there about so and I don't want to I
don't think I can practice that because
I never experienced this apart from the
fact that okay now I'm the boss so I
have to be here almost 24 7. in as much
as this place is open but for a time
goes on that we need to employ someone a
pharmacist of us because I believe in
productivity not just the length of
hours that you're working so I did and
the number of hours that will be
productive that's what I need so I don't
need you to just be there as figure it I
need this to be working and I know we
are human so it's ours is eight hours
for me so we are not matches and then
Mondays through Fridays and eight hours weekends
in fact I wish that our employers would
be giving us call allowance for weekends
you make where you make a wages for
salaries for weekends
that would really make more sense so
um what would you advise people to stuck
with their pharmaceutical products from
would you advise them to buy from
representatives from new reps medical
sales reps or to go and buy from
wholesalers from experience which one
seems to be cheaper to you I know the
method of payment for reps is quite the
flexible in the sense that you can buy
and not pay anything you can even do
sales or return which you are you might
not be able to do with wholesalers or in
terms of pricing what have you
discovered to me yeah so far all the
rest I've dealt with their prices are
almost the same as the wholesalers so
but the issue I had when I opened was
the ground has been spoiled so then
ocelands were not ready to just release
their goals for you without you paying
like 90 of
just carry the one that you know you can
pay for at the moment so until you be a
big trust with them like after
purchasing for like five months or
something consistently that's when they
can now release their goods to you and
then you pay back before you order
another one so for me I I have to follow
them oh sellers verbs every point is
because I needed help at that moment
because while our the experiences I
gathered from my boss my previous boss
was just because we won the wholesalers
and since I have a senior colleagues
that can vouch for me that can stand in
for me but when the whole thing started
I got that I found out that the game has
changed entirely you just have to pay
everything that you want to get they
know they are not ready to allow
anything to stand for that situation
then you should patronize reps more so
then yes that was I said I all of them
came through for me so I had to call my
friends that were reps and I refer to
peoples that I've known before in what
week can you help me out I need these
things so for them I mean God just helps
me they were so compassionate enough
they didn't give me any exorbitant price
they gave me the correct price so and
gave me time to pay uh to pay off so if
you're a young pharmacist you need to
develop good relationship with everybody
especially people yeah I would
eventually work you need their help if
you plan to open your Community Pharmacy
you might see it's a lot that you must
still meet at some point in life so you
have to build good relationships with
people and that leads to the question
why because I found out that Community
pharmacists maybe in ibadan they don't
like to pay Representatives they do
community pharmacists prefer to all reps
that are similarly doing them favor by
giving them items drugs on credits why
did they prefer to all reps and at the
same time they will carry their Cash and
Go to wholesalers go and purchase and do
cash and carry now that you are on the
because okay I can say both everywhere
I've walked they don't go rest so I
don't think I've ever experienced that
so for the me to understand the reason
videos please seriously I don't know
because I can't I can't relate why will
you do that first like someone trying to
help because I know how all of them
stood for me and they gave me good they
gave me drugs free not like free like to
pay later companies price so why will I
I don't know why will I pay them back in
a bad way like not paying them I guess
we will supply Goods that are about to
expire like maybe spiders and they will
slash the price and these people will
find it difficult to pay they would have
finished selling all these drugs so see
finally what advice do you have for
young pharmacists out there that are
probably still doing the internship or
serving or still Gathering experience
what advice do you have for them
especially those that are business
oriented and want to open their
Community Pharmacy in the future okay
um I wish myself as a case study I
already knew that um I'll be starting up
my Community Pharmacy
so what I did is I was so strategic I
wasn't really particularly about the PO
first the pay is also part of it like
okay let me give you an example I've
always worked with a big pharmaceutical
when I know it was time for me to now
start up something I needed experience
on how to start up and what I need to do
what I need to put in place because okay
I try asking all those big big
pharmacists but they know their
experiences are faded like they can't
remember how they started again and I
could not relate they'll be like ah I
started in a very small place and at
that time square meter was not um fixed
so it's anywhere you get you can start
off so I cannot relate I needed someone
I can relate to someone that just
started there I mean not quite long so
what I did was to look out for a new
premise I wanted to end this pharmacist
and I opted him for him to work it so
while I was there I didn't look for it I
didn't lose focus I was asking relevance
questions before the person will forget
because it's normal I was asking okay
how much you're saying is how did it go
if it is community I would advise that
you start you you go to where or you
work with someone that is just starting
maybe two or three years that can
explain how things at you because it's
not as rosy as you think you get
hands-on experience and person will be
really you will be ready to help to also
um I mean um we'll be able to reward you
from the person's experience then refer
you to possible people that can help you
out when you're ready to go so thank you
so much for your time I don't want to
bother us about PC and Revelations
because of course you can always read it
we can really tell people
to find out so thank you guys so much
for watching we really appreciate you do
well to subscribe like and share this
video so that I can reach people who
truly need this particular information
in this video thank you so much
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