The 12th National Student Business Plan Competition is now underway; a competition which tests the flair and entrepreneurship of students preparing for a career in community pharmacy.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s 2018 competition was launched during the Annual NAPSA Congress in Sydney. Team member of the 2017 winning entry, Monique Scott from the University of Tasmania, launched the competition by detailing her experience to her fellow students.
“The competition was extremely rewarding and taught me so much about community pharmacy ownership, I encourage all of you to give it a go,” she said.
The competition, which commenced in 2006, looks for innovation among pharmacy students who will be the future owners of Australian and New Zealand community pharmacies. It aims to encourage student teams to use their talents and energy to create innovative business ideas in community pharmacy through the development of competitive business plans.
The timeline for the competition is:
Stage Component Due Date
| Stage | Component | Due Date |
| One | Submit your Business Plan | 13 May 2018 |
| Two | Quarter Finals | 18 June – 1 July 2018 |
| Three | Semi Finals (including preliminary pitch) | 23 July – 10 August 2018 |
| Four | Finals: Live ‘Pitch’ | 8 September 2018 |
| Five | Finals: Post ‘Pitch’ Investor Meeting | 8 September 2018 |
In 2018 the competition’s focus on innovation will continue to ensure that tomorrow’s owners look for highly differentiated services that they can provide to the Australian and New Zealand markets.
The National Student Business Plan Competition is open to all students studying pharmacy in Australia and New Zealand and will provide a total of $15,000 in cash prizes to the finalists (top three teams) in addition to registration, flights and accommodation to attend the Guild’s 2018 Pharmacy Connect conference.
The competition is an initiative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and is sponsored by Sanofi Consumer Healthcare (principal sponsor), EBOS (major sponsor) with continued sponsorship from foundation sponsors Gold Cross Products and Services and Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL). The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand is proud to support the competition, now in its fourth Trans-Tasman year.
