NCPA launches toolkit for entrepreneurs
ALEXANDRIA, Va. The National Community Pharmacists Association today announced the launch of its new Ownership Academy, a resource designed to help its independent pharmacy members through the hurdles of owning their own community pharmacies.
The Ownership Academy will occupy an area of the NCPA Web site, www.ncpanet.org/ownership. It features online tools, CE, reference materials and an array of financial, economic, demographic, marketing, management, and legal information to help pharmacists make objective decisions for their pharmacy business.
The Web offering will also include live events, including two to three pharmacy ownership workshops each year. The first of those is scheduled for May 1-3 in Pittsburgh.
More than 50 percent of those who attend this workshop go on to become pharmacy owners, according to NCPA.
“Since NCPA was founded in 1898, its primary purpose has always been to serve the unique and diverse needs of pharmacy owners,” said NCPA executive VP and CEO Bruce Roberts. “From students developing an interest in ownership via our Pruitt-Schutte Business Plan Competition to pre-buyers attending our annual Ownership Workshops and finally as owners who want to transition into retirement, the Ownership Academy will support our members throughout their careers in community pharmacy.”
Vendors including Gladson, Pharmacy Development Services and Prudential Consulting Brokerage Services are offering products and services at a discount to NCPA members via the Ownership Academy. NCPA members will also receive a quarterly electronic newsletter on the program.
On a related front, the association also announced another program for pharmacy owners today: a new corporate partnership with Rio, Wisc.-based Greenwoods Pharmacy Financial, to offer solutions to meet the financial needs of community pharmacy owners. Greenwoods is a credit corporation founded in 2008 specifically to provide financing to community pharmacy owners for acquisitions, refinancing and other funding needs. Its service portfolio includes free online banking, analyzed business checking, ACH capabilities, automated sweep product, remote capture deposit, zero balance accounts, merchant services and credit cards.
“We think access to loans is a key ingredient for pharmacy owners transitioning out of ownership and for aspiring pharmacy owners,” said Roberts.