BUIES CREEK, North Carolina – Four third-year student pharmacists will compete in this summer’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. This competition promotes interest in independent community pharmacy ownership by motivating student pharmacists to create business models necessary for buying existing independent community pharmacists and/or to develop a new pharmacy from the ground up.
Devin Barlowe, Andrew Chinnes, Nicholas Marples, and Sheena Murray’s business plan titled Essentials RX Drugs, Diner and Dietitian was selected as the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences’ best business plan for the 2015-2016 academic year. Their business plan is part of an assignment that begins during the first year of the doctor of pharmacy curriculum with Robert Cisneros, PhD, associate professor of pharmacy practice, and culminates in a second-year financial management class led by James Boyd, PharmD, MBA, professor of pharmacy practice.
This project will be submitted to the NCPA for consideration, and three projects from a national applicant pool will be selected in July at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Meeting in July. From there, the three finalists will receive complimentary registration, travel, and lodging to the NCPA Convention in October, where their projects will be presented live to be evaluated and scored to determine an overall winner.
Campbell’s selection process includes a panel of judges from within the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences in addition to outside judges from Mutual Drug Company, located in Durham, North Carolina. Comments from external judges include:
- “I’m always impressed with the effort and work that your students put into these business plans.”
- “Please let each of the teams understand that their work is superior to 90% of the business plans we see in the industry from pharmacists who are willing to risk everything to either buy or startup a pharmacy”; and
- “This training allows them to ask the right questions and hopefully incorporate proper planning to make the difference between a failed business venture and a successful one.”