Abi Sarangan is a community pharmacist and pharmacy owner, and has worked in many settings, principally in outpatient mental health. She’s just celebrated her one-year anniversary of pharmacy ownership and in this interview, shares the ‘rollercoaster ride’ (her words!) of entrepreneurship.
What was your journey to becoming a pharmacy owner?
When I was a teenager, a friend suggested work experience in our local community pharmacy … and I loved it! From there I studied it at university, then went on to work in a hospital, a GP and finally back in a community pharmacy in a management position. My heart definitely lies in community because you can be the start point and the end point of someone’s healthcare and support them along that journey.
It was during covid that the seeds to buying a pharmacy were first planted. For me, and this might resonate with many pharmacists, covid was very stressful and very rewarding at the same time. My team and our patients have always meant so much to me (I call them my ‘pharmily!’) and because we were inundated, I wanted to make sure no one was reaching burnout and everyone still got the care they needed – I used to go in at three o’ clock in the morning just to label and package medicines! But during that time, I was living and breathing pharmacy 24/7 and I started to see my own vision for what a pharmacy could be …
What was the single biggest challenge during the startup process?
For me, the biggest challenge was balancing opening a pharmacy – and all that process demands – with being a new mum. It had quite an emotional toll on me because I felt I wasn’t fully present at home, and had this sense of choosing between giving it all to my new family or giving it all to my new pharmacy. As women, we get pulled between homelife and work, like being split into two! However, I’m very, very fortunate that I have a strong support system who helped me massively, particularly my husband and my dad.
What steps did you take to look after the existing pharmacy team’s wellbeing during the acquisition process?
When you’re buying a pharmacy, you’re not allowed to go and talk to the existing team, even though in my case, I already knew them (the pharmacy I bought was just across the road from the one I was working at!). But once everything was formalised, I went in to chat with them and acknowledge it’s a big change and processes were going to change but reassure them that no one was going to lose their job, I would find out what was important to them and we were in it together. Even now, that’s still our approach – reflect on the negatives and positives, learn and adapt as a team.
What steps did you take to look after your own wellbeing during the acquisition process?
I’ll have to be honest – I was so focused on looking after my family and my team that, wrongly, my own wellbeing took a back seat. I wanted to be my best, present self at home, I wanted to be in the pharmacy 24/7 … But what I learnt from that was to trust my team, not internalise things and take some time for myself. I think that’s really important and something I’m trying to instil in my team because you don’t recognise burnout until it hits you very directly in your face and I don’t want any of them to suffer. In our pharmacy, everyone has two days off back-to-back so that they can fully switch off and enjoy their personal time, which works because when they’re back in the pharmacy, they’re fully present, they don’t have tunnel vision and they don’t lose themselves as a person. For me, it’s still a work in process! People might think I love pharmacy too much but when I’m off, I locum! It’s only in the morning but gives me a chance to switch off from being a contractor and become a pharmacist again. My plan is to come to a financial position to be able to take an additional day off from work though, which I can use to fully decompress.
What does owning your own pharmacy allow you to do differently?
Being a contractor allows you to implement your own vision for a pharmacy. For us, that means being a healthcare hub and providing services in a way that works for our community, where people can have access to additional services, rather than us being on the sideline of health provision. It also gives me freedom and flexibility to think of my own solutions to issues rather than always needing permission or guidance from a manager. And finally, it enables me to give some of the responsibility to my team because we have built trust and growth and I know when I’m not there, they run it amazingly.
Did financial independence play a role in your decision to own a pharmacy?
When I was growing up, my parents worked really hard but we weren’t very financially well off. My dad used to say to me: “work hard and you’ll be rewarded”, and I started my career like that, but I was working seven days a week and completely stressed and exhausted. I came to realise that his generation’s way of thinking isn’t always practical, whereas this generation is about working smartly, and for me, that was investing in a business and giving myself (and my children) the step up I needed to work towards financial security. Owning a pharmacy might not be giving it to me right now, but it’s an investment I’m making for five or ten years down the line.
Above all, I’d like to help give people the most important wealth they’ll ever have … their health.
Abi Sarangan
Have you faced any challenges as a woman in pharmacy ownership?
Pharmacy can be a very stressful and very demanding, and women often face even further obstacles. Then on top of that we’re usually the ones juggling work and family life. There’s a network of pharmacy contractors and it’s my safe space where I can ask the dumbest questions and they’ll just get answered with no judgment and no stigma. These people are fantastic and so uplifting; they’ve been my saving grace really.
What advice would you give to women considering entrepreneurship in healthcare?
If you feel a pull towards ownership, don’t dismiss it as a daydream. If you have the means to do so and you’re not afraid, go for it … go for it with a full heart, your eyes open and your finances in place, but go for it all the same!
What was the moment or milestone you hit that made you realise “I’ve done it!” and helped to remove feelings of doubt?
Ownership isn’t an ego thing for me … it’s always about the people, so I’d say it’s an accumulation of all the lovely interactions with our customers. Like when they say they heard of us through word of mouth, or they’ll bring in flowers and chocolates because we spotted a sinister-looking mole and they went on to have it removed, or we get a good review online, or a regular patient who’s at suicide risk tells us they’re “staying around” because of our interactions and our support. I’m so proud of the community we’ve built; people will just come in for a chat and we really do feel like an integral part of their daily lives. Even the word ‘community’ is so important to me … we’re not a neighbourhood pharmacy, we’re so much more than that … we are a community. And every single community pharmacist would be able to tell you their own stories about a patient at suicide risk that they support, an elderly patient they go the extra mile for, a regular patient they worry about if they haven’t seen for a while, a customer who we recognise needs that little bit more of a social interaction.
What legacy would you like your pharmacy to leave in the community?
I think it’s not that I would like to leave a legacy, but I’d like to be part of the legacy which continues … a memorable pharmacy were people feel safe, know we’re here for them and will always be here for them, believe that we’re all part of the community and we all belong in this community. Above all, I’d like to help give people the most important wealth they’ll ever have … their health.
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