Otago alumnus Peter Shenoda continues to grow his pharmacy chain, while supporting the pharmacists of tomorrow.
Otago alumnus Peter Shenoda (BPharm, 2010) is incredibly pleased that the internship programme at his pharmacies has a perfect pass rate.
Last month Peter was named the Services Category winner in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards for his company Bargain Chemist.
The Managing Director and co-founder of the pharmacy chain, Peter says Bargain Chemist is heavily invested in the future success of its young pharmacists.
“Bargain Chemist invested heavily in and is really committed to supporting our interns to become pharmacists. We are working hard to position ourselves as the place for pharmacy graduates to do their internships and beyond.”
He says in addition to Evolve (New Zealand’s accredited pharmacy trainee intern programme), Bargain Chemist has developed its own training platform, from which they are seeing great results.
“We regularly come back to Otago University to talk to fourth year pharmacy students and tell them a bit more about ourselves and our business and how not that long ago we were in their shoes.”
Born in Egypt, Peter came to Christchurch with his family when he was seven. He returned to complete high school in Egypt and then enrolled at Otago, as “it was the only place to do first year health science in New Zealand”.
“I loved it, yeah it’s the connections, the friends, the courses, the ease of getting around, I really, really enjoyed my time at Otago and Dunedin’s got a special place in my heart.”
Peter says he cannot pinpoint an individual favourite professor, but says many of his Otago professors went “above and beyond to help everyone through the course”.
He says while he was studying at Otago he made many close friends, and his business co-founder Atif Malkonyan (BPharm, 2013) is a fellow Otago alumnus.
After completing his studies, he interned in Timaru, but says he was very determined to own his own store. At just 24, Peter bought his first pharmacy in Methven.
“I had two part-timers and myself, that’s how it all started and today we probably have just under 700 team members in Bargain Chemist.”
He says Bargain Chemist has been in business for a decade and currently has 30 stores and is aiming to double that to 60 stores in the next few years.
“So we’re continuing to grow, our Invercargill store has just opened and just before that we opened in Rotorua as well, so we are expanding right throughout New Zealand.”
The overall New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year award winner will be announced on 11 November. Peter says the NZ winner will go forward as a finalist for the EY Global Entrepreneur of the Year award, held in Monaco next year.
-Kōrero by Kerry Dohig, Communications Adviser Development and Alumni Relations Office
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