I am a budding entrepreneur who wants to go into Wholesale/Distributorship and Retail in Pharmaceuticals.Any advise on how to go about this will be most appreciated.
N.B I am not a pharmacist.

Where are the pharmacists in the house?
Help a brother out.

Hello, i am not a pharmacist, but i am interested in the retail. Can we talk? olumuyiwa.lusi@gmail.com

Thanks for the response.I've sent you a mail.

Hello drsalaks.

Have you considered setting up an online pharmaceutical platform where drug manufacturers are connected directly to the thousands of stores/ chemists/ hospitals, etc, that we have in Nigeria? In this case, you own next to little physical assets, while offering huge value for the two in terms of B2B, making it easier for the stores/ chemists, etc to get their drugs, even at a much discounted rate, and improving the manufacturers profitability, while making your margins.

You can check out www.angelstartups.com.ng. Sign up as an Investor for free and look through viable startups under Healthcare to invest in.

Cheers.

If you are not a pharmacist, you can only do wholesale... retailing is meant for pharmacist alone because they are supposed to be there to inform the patients on how to use the drugs.

PS: my mother, sister and cousin are all pharmacists... that is how I know.

hmm! Coming soon

teeowl: If you are not a pharmacist, you can only do wholesale... retailing is meant for pharmacist alone because they are supposed to be there to inform the patients on how to use the drugs.

PS: my mother, sister and cousin are all pharmacists... that is how I know.

Thanks for your response to my post.
I've always felt that you can employ a pharmacist to register and run the pharmacy for you while you run the business side of things.
What's your opinion on this or has this changed?

As long as you are paying her/him well, the pharmacist can run the pharmacy for you. Only pharmacist are allowed to run retail outlets. As a business man you are allowed to do wholesale. When you do wholesale, you have to employ a pharmacist that would register your premise and be the superintendent pharmacist of the premise. If you have more than one premises then you would need a pharmacist for each premise that you have.

drsalaks:

Thanks for your response to my post.
I've always felt that you can employ a pharmacist to register and run the pharmacy for you while you run the business side of things.
What's your opinion on this or has this changed?

teeowl: As long as you are paying her/him well, the pharmacist can run the pharmacy for you. Only pharmacist are allowed to run retail outlets. As a business man you are allowed to do wholesale. When you do wholesale, you have to employ a pharmacist that would register your premise and be the superintendent pharmacist of the premise. If you have more than one premises then you would need a pharmacist for each premise that you have.

Thanks again.
For the wholesale outlet,does that mean that the superintendent Pharmacist only registers the premises and does not have to be involved in the day to day running of the business unlike the retail outlets? Because am thinking that if the employed superintendent pharmacist for the wholesale premises has to run it as well,then i suppose the business can be registered for both wholesales and retails since a pharmacist is involved in the running of the business. Or what do you think?

Also would you have an idea of minimum amount required to set up a wholesale pharmacy.

It can't be registered as retail unless the pharmacist is the owner of the company (pharmaceutical council of nigeria carries raids on defaulters occasionally). The same pharmacist that registered should be involved to avoid problems from pharmaceutical council of nigeria if they come (they can shut your premises if the suspect that you are retailing and the company is not owned by a pharmacist). As long as you are the one employing a pharmacist, you would only be allowed to do wholesale. Any retail outlet must be fully owned by a pharmacist and not a business man. If you try to bend the rules, one of the pharmacist in that area would (and they always do!) report you to pharmaceutical council of nigeria and they would shut your premise for as long as 3 - 4 weeks and you would pay a fine (to teach you a lesson).

To set up, depends on your location 1 - 2 million naira should get you enough stock of drugs to start with.

drsalaks:
Thanks again.
For the wholesale outlet,does that mean that the superintendent Pharmacist only registers the premises and does not have to be involved in the day to day running of the business unlike the retail outlets? Because am thinking that if the employed superintendent pharmacist for the wholesale premises has to run it as well,then i suppose the business can be registered for both wholesales and retails since a pharmacist is involved in the running of the business. Or what do you think?

Also would you have an idea of minimum amount required to set up a wholesale pharmacy.

Hi l m in need of a pharmacist, to register my business for wholesale on vitamins only, . please contact me , p.anthony58@yahoo.com

teeowl: It can't be registered as retail unless the pharmacist is the owner of the company (pharmaceutical council of nigeria carries raids on defaulters occasionally). The same pharmacist that registered should be involved to avoid problems from pharmaceutical council of nigeria if they come (they can shut your premises if the suspect that you are retailing and the company is not owned by a pharmacist). As long as you are the one employing a pharmacist, you would only be allowed to do wholesale. Any retail outlet must be fully owned by a pharmacist and not a business man. If you try to bend the rules, one of the pharmacist in that area would (and they always do!) report you to pharmaceutical council of nigeria and they would shut your premise for as long as 3 - 4 weeks and you would pay a fine (to teach you a lesson).

To set up, depends on your location 1 - 2 million naira should get you enough stock of drugs to start with.

Thanks a million mate. You've been very helpful.
Would you happen to know a pharmacist who can register a wholesale premises for me in Ilorin,Kwara State.
Thanks

@drsalaks, be careful about this because if the pharmacist you are "partnering" with decides to leave and you have no replacement, it's either the pharmacist takes his licence along (which will leave you high and dry) or the pharmacist leaves his licence with you and you end up doing something illegal known as "register and go". If you are caught committing any of the above mentioned offences, you and the pharmacist could be in for some serious trouble.

Ade5: @drsalaks, be careful about this because if the pharmacist you are "partnering" with decides to leave and you have no replacement, it's either the pharmacist takes his licence along (which will leave you high and dry) or the pharmacist leaves his licence with you and you end up doing something illegal known as "register and go". If you are caught committing any of the above mentioned offences, you and the pharmacist could be in for some serious trouble.

Thanks @Ade5 for your kind advice

But if one is operating a wholesale pharmacy outlet, does the pharmacist whole registers it necessarily have to work as superintendent in the pharmacy.Could he not leave if he so decides to and then you employ another pharmacy to run the business.

drsalaks:

Thanks @Ade5 for your kind advice

But if one is operating a wholesale pharmacy outlet, does the pharmacist whole registers it necessarily have to work as superintendent in the pharmacy.Could he not leave if he so decides to and then you employ another pharmacy to run the business.

Drsalaks, I'm not really conversant with wholesale but I spoke with someone regarding this issue and I was told that the same laws apply in wholesale as they do in retail. Now the thing is if the person who registered the outlet initially decides to leave, it's fine, you can always get another pharmacist to use their licence. Just make sure that at every point in time, your outlet is registered. And yes, the person whose licence is used must work where the licence is being used, that's the legal way.

Ade5:

Drsalaks, I'm not really conversant with wholesale but I spoke with someone regarding this issue and I was told that the same laws apply in wholesale as they do in retail. Now the thing is if the person who registered the outlet initially decides to leave, it's fine, you can always get another pharmacist to use their licence. Just make sure that at every point in time, your outlet is registered. And yes, the person whose licence is used must work where the licence is being used, that's the legal way.

Thanks for your help @Ade5. Much appreciated

drsalaks:
Thanks for your help @Ade5. Much appreciated

You're welcome.

Ade5:
@drsalaks, be careful about this because if the pharmacist you are "partnering" with decides to leave and you have no replacement, it's either the pharmacist takes his licence along (which will leave you high and dry) or the pharmacist leaves his licence with you and you end up doing something illegal known as "register and go". If you are caught committing any of the above mentioned offences, you and the pharmacist could be in for some serious trouble.

but what if it is a wholesale type?