Bukky George is the Chief Executive Officer of one of the most successful retail pharmaceutical company, HealthPlus Pharmacy. She was deprived of many things while growing up, hence she has a deep hatred for failure. Four years after graduating as Best Student from the School of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, she incorporated HealthPlus, an integral retail pharmacy, a company, which today has over 300 staff and 30 outlets in Nigeria. HealthPlus diversified into retail of beauty products few years back with the launch of CasaBella. This registered Pharmacist with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria spoke with some journalists recently on her success story. Senior Reporter ANTHONIA SOYINGBE was there…
Bukky George
You’ve succeeded beyond expectations, though it seemed like you ran before crawling, when you incorporated HealthPlus four years after school. What was the driving force?
My family background was the force. I’m the ninth child in a polygamous family of 36 children and we were very poor. My mother was working as a matron at College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, and she had to raise her three children by herself. That gave me drive to want to be the best at what I do and also change our fortune. I think poverty is good though, because it has made me strive. Almost everything I wanted, including the things my friends had, we just couldn’t afford. I gave my life to Christ on campus and learnt to be more trusting and less angry. I so much loved pharmacy that by the time I was graduating from school, I realised there was a lot of fixing to be done in the industry. So, each time I paid my offering in church, I told God to show me the way forward. At that time, I was working in SmithKline Beecham. Before then, I had worked in May & Baker for 10 months. The name, HealthPlus, eventually came in a vision. I’ve since then educated and empowered myself with mentors and organisations like Awesome Treasures and Women in Business Management & Public Life, WIMBIZ.
How did you set the ball rolling after the vision came?
I don’t want to sound too spiritual, but at the same time, my story is not complete without the God factor. Immediately I heard the word from God, the next thing was to get a good location, because for retail, location is very important. Finance was also critical; but I already had a culture of saving. So, what I went in search of was support. I also had to learn the A-Z of pharmaceutical business.
How were you able to stand out in an industry where the survival of professionals is persistently threatened by quacks, particularly in this part of the world?
Fortunately for me, during the first few years of HealthPlus, I travelled to the UK and got the privilege of working in London’s landmark pharmacy, John Bell and Croyden. The experience was quite enlightening. So, that made me desirous of being different from the average community pharmacy we had in Nigeria at that time. A particular customer once asked me how come one of my drugs was N250 when a nearby chemist was selling at N200. I tried to explain to him that I’m a professional who gives counsel during sales, without charging for consultation. One day, I took a trip to the said chemist and by the time I got back to my pharmacy, my shoulders squared and when people questioned my prices afterwards, I simply told them to compare apples with apples because I just could not compromise my passion for excellence. One other way we differentiated ourselves was in customer service and in training, making sure our facts were up to date. I also have an addiction, which is ‘reading’ consistently. All these account for our growth and expansion. As a matter of fact, by the first quarter of 2014, we would have had 35 outlets. Our target is to have 100 stores by 2020, and we’re seriously working on that.
What are the challenges of running your kind of business in this part of the world?
Human resources. I believe that if you have a fantastic idea, money will follow you. So, while others say finance, I say it is human capital, because, if you’re very prudent and run your business properly, people would buy into your ideas and invest in your business. Unfortunately, our education has gone to the dusts; the educational system is at an utter low. I’m an employer of labour and I must say it’s so difficult getting good staff. We have a problem with values; people don’t have integrity, but want to make money quickly without paying their dues. I therefore have to deal always with shrinkage, pilfering, laxity, bad attitudes, to mention a few, which make one want to give up on one’s vision sometimes.
What gender barriers abound in your business?
You’re throwing that question at the wrong person. I’ve never seen my gender as an advantage or disadvantage. Maybe because I started my career as a medical representative in the pharmaceutical industry, marketing drugs to medical doctors. I was actually very target-driven. So, every month, my name was on record for being the best medical representative. I was actually in corporate engagements for about four years before launching out.
Beside your thirst for excellence, don’t you think a principal skill also added to your growth?
I know I could be very methodical and careful. I particularly have attention for small details, and that’s actually the hallmark of a retailer, because retail is detail. So, I’m not surprised I’m in retail. Some other people know how to network while some are born leaders; and don’t be surprised that they may become politicians.
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