A pair of University of Florida College of Pharmacy rising third-year students learned the business, leadership, emotional intelligence, and personal finance skills necessary to become successful independent pharmacy owners at the 2024 National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation, or NCPA Foundation, Pharmacy Ownership and Leadership Academy, or POLA. Held June 24-28 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, POLA welcomed 40 students from 27 colleges of pharmacy across the nation for a weeklong, immersive academy designed to teach the fundamentals of pharmacy ownership.
Representing the UF College of Pharmacy, Gainesville-based Pharm.D. candidate Katelin Rockey and Jerelle Garcia, an Orlando-based Pharm.D. candidate, engaged in team-building activities, networked with Little Rock independent pharmacy owners, and prepared and presented team-based business plans for their dream independent pharmacies.
Garcia said attending POLA left him feeling more certain than ever of the best career path for his future. He was inspired to apply to the event after attending the NCPA annual meeting in Orlando and UF’s Pharmacy Ownership Forum.
“Before POLA, I’d already decided I wanted to pursue independent pharmacy ownership. I have a personal vision: I want fulfillment, and I think I could find that fulfillment by having something not only for me, but for my family in the future, and by leaving an impact in the community. I feel that owning an independent pharmacy is the best way to leave your mark,” said Garcia, who will serve as the NCPA president for the UF College of Pharmacy’s Orlando chapter this fall. “POLA gave me the confidence to pursue this path, especially all the networking we did with pharmacists and hearing how they built up their own businesses.”
Rockey said she’s been interested in independent pharmacy ownership ever since completing a community pharmacy rotation at an independent pharmacy, an opportunity that taught her the importance of building a business based on mutual trust.
“It was an awesome experience getting to see the relationships the pharmacists had built with the patients and those the patients had built with the technicians. I wanted to be able to do something like that, where people trust us so much. I think the best way to achieve that is to build your own team and start your own pharmacy,” said Rockey, who also serves as a professional practice skills lab teaching assistant at the UF College of Pharmacy.
Among the first lessons the students learned during POLA were courses in self-awareness and emotional intelligence, critical components of building a successful independent business, Rockey said.
“When you own your pharmacy, you’re essentially building your own team, and you need a team that is going to be loyal and trusting. It’s important to create that kind of bonded team where every member feels valued and their opinions are important. Even if you don’t agree with the opinion, it’s about making sure that they feel heard,” Rockey said.
The students tested their bravery and team-building abilities with a trip to the Arkansas 4-H Center, where they tried their hand at zip lining and a high ropes obstacle course. Garcia found the challenge to be a perfect analogy to the journey toward owning a successful independent pharmacy.
“With independent pharmacy, you have to be all in or nothing, because if you go into it half-heartedly, you’re not going to succeed. It’s sort of like how, when you go up onto the high ropes course, you have to commit, because once you’re up there, you’re stuck,” Garcia said. “When you own a business, you just have to push through and do your best.”
Rockey and Garcia spent the last day of POLA collaborating with colleagues to create and present a business plan, a finished product that will give these students a leg up should they enter the NCPA’s annual Student Business Plan Competition. Garcia said this opportunity inspired him to build a similar competition at the UF College of Pharmacy to ensure all UF pharmacy students can build the skills they need to forge successful careers. “As the incoming NCPA president, I’m passionate about bringing the business plan competition into UF so that we can not only represent our school in upcoming competitions at NCPA annual, but usher in the next wave of aspiring business owners by giving them confidence in the process,” Garcia said. “Whether you want to go all the way to become a future owner or are just there for fun, participating in a business plan competition builds the soft skills needed to go into any profession.”