PRIME PARAGON INTERVIEW: PHARM. MAKUO MUOBIKE

Tell us about Makuo

My name is Makuo Muobike, and I am the first of three children. I grew up in Enugu and had all of my education ​there, after which I started my pharmacy practice (internship). I left Enugu during NYSC, when I was deployed to Port-Harcourt; subsequently, I relocated to Lagos and began my sojourn around Nigeria.

I love to tweet a lot, read books, watch football, and relax in my spare time.

Having grown up in Enugu, what was the first thing that hit you when you got to Lagos? How has living in Lagos been for you? Do you miss Enugu a lot?

When I was in Enugu, it felt like I would never leave because I was happy and comfortable. I stayed with my family and had free food and accommodation. I lived the life; then, I. started my internship in Enugu, which was fantastic. However, getting a lucrative pharmacy post-internship was a daunting experience. The readily available community pharmacy practice jobs in Enugu were not as lucrative as in other states like Lagos and Abuja.

I was paid N12000 monthly for my first community practice job in 2015, working 5 hours daily. Later I got promoted to working eight hours daily for a paltry sum of N30000 monthly. So I did the maths, and I realized that this would not work; hence I decided to leave. It was survival and Nysc that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I believe once you have the willpower to leave the first time, you can go anywhere from there.

So when you were in pharmacy school, did you envisage your current career path?

This is an interesting question; while I was an undergraduate, my current role did not exist in Nigeria. When I was in school, I had friends and family who were already pharmacists; some were working in multinationals as managers or medical sales representatives, some were in the community practice . So I felt I would tow similar paths, probably own my retail pharmacy outlet or join the hospital practice, and continue being a pharmacist.

The crux of what I am trying to explain is that what I learned in pharmacy school and what I am doing are two different things. There was no way I would have known that. I would be doing what I am doing presently. Currently, I’m a Digital Business Development Manager at a health technology company. These companies did not exist then, nor did these roles exist in pharma ten years ago in Nigeria. So pharmacy school taught me how to be resilient in thinking, adaptable in my actions, and make the best use of opportunities.

Speaking about medical sales, how was your experience as a medical rep?

The early stages as a medical rep were one of the most confusing and challenging periods of my life because I was moving to a new state, fresh from community practice, while juggling NYSC. In hindsight, having a community of ex-schoolmates working as med reps helped. We worked together, shared our struggles on the job, and networked, which helped us all. Personally, my passion for the job also helped me pull through, and my openness to learning on the job.

So transitioning to being a manager in the sales job. Did you miss being on the field?

Not precisely, as being a manager was a lot better, in my opinion. It was a different tasking that entailed more mental than physical demands, strategic decisions, and motivating leadership. I thoroughly enjoyed product management, and I will recommend that role to any pharmacist looking to switch it up from medical sales.

Speaking about motivating leadership, were you actively involved in leadership positions as an undergraduate, and did it help you careerwise?

Yes, I held multiple leadership positions without realizing it. I was an assistant governor for Alvan Hall in UNN. I coached the hostel and faculty football teams in football tournaments in school, and I enjoyed those experiences. In my fourth year, I was a director of transport for PANS in UNN.

So, I realize that. I just enjoyed galvanizing people and seeing what a group of people can achieve when they have the same purpose. That is what leadership means to me.

Can you tell us how you combined pharmacy school stress with Student Union Government activism to the point you became assistant Hall Governor and PANS Director of transport in your 4th year?

Hahaha, I will be candid with you guys; my academics sometimes suffered from these experiences. Pharmacy school was very demanding, and I was a young matriculant at UNN. It took a while to learn how to manage my different interests and maintain good academic standing. But if I could do it all again, I would focus on my studies, haha!

Please run us through your experience managing people older than you as the Assistant Hall governor and Director of transport.

I like to lead by doing the job first. When hall toilets were to get cleaned, you would see me leading the wash first. Surprisingly, when others see me doing the job, they would join in.

As PANS director of transport, I had one manifesto, and that was to provide transportation for students going to clinical clerkships/rotations in a hospital in the town. I achieved this by partnering with a transport company that provided buses that took everyone to and fro daily for a very subsidized cost. I made those arrangements out of my pocket. Subsequently, I made a proposal to the PANS House of Reps to reimburse the expense, and it got approved. I believe this was because of the openness and transparency of the project, and they witnessed that it was executed and scalable. These days, I prefer to lead from the back and empower teammates to strive for greatness in any position they take up.

What was the spark, and at what point in your life did you realize Digital health Tech was the way to go for you?

I have always been passionate about technology.

My childhood dream growing up was to work in Casio in Japan. I loved the Casio brands I encountered and had a natural affinity for leveraging their technology. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the platform to build on my appetite for technology in pharmacy school. I was keenly looking forward to the pharmaceutical technology course, but I was disappointed.

In Pharmacy school, I spent so much time creating content on PowerPoint, learning how to use Microsoft excel, making music with fruity loops, and trading software on Symbian and java phones. During my internship, I was also doing locum and taking a digital marketing course.

I built on this course and started an Instagram page with my friend, where we marketed supplements and offered home delivery.

It was successful. The page’s name was Eazy drugs, and we continued running the page for a while before we got more enormous responsibilities.I maintained an interest in Digital Marketing as a product manager.

I was opportune to be part of intensive training by Digital Vidya in India. As a capstone project, we launched an international marketing campaign with 30 senior marketing executives worldwide for a global brand.

These experiences opened my eye to the applications of technology to improve outcomes in healthcare, especially in pharma.

As an online Pharmacy enthusiast, what is your take on the online pharmacy regulation recently enacted by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria? How can you advise young pharmacists to get the best out of this regulation??

As young pharmacists, we must not limit ourselves. When we started “Eazy drugs” many years ago, I and my co-founder, now in Canada, knew that what we were doing would be regulated. There were charlatans already hawking medicines on the online space, but we had to distinguish ourselves by handling consultations professionally, and our page layout was top-notch professionalism. As online pharmacists, we are to bridge the gap between the consumers and the standard brick and mortar pharmacy by providing safe and effective medications, specialty medicines sourcing, and quality medication education. Let’s package this online pharmacy so that people can learn to live with it, just like the physical pharmacy. There are profitable spaces YPs can occupy along the value chain. We should do everything with the highest standards because, in the end, quality will always win. Long-term thinking, a growth mindset, and collaboration will be the way to go here.

What are your thoughts on the new regulation of validating all medical and sales representatives?

The regulation is very understandable. This is because of the influx of criminal-minded people into the industry.

One of the reasons that regulation came about was because of reps who diverted the company’s funds to invest in their businesses. We still look forward to more robust enforcement of new and existing regulations to better the profession and give more relevance to pharmacists nationwide.

What advice do you have for YPs and final-year pharmacy students regarding choosing a career path?

Before I give advice, I want to state that I experienced two ASUU strikes. In one of those episodes, I became a site construction supervisor, and in the second episode, I became a retail attendant. I was trying to be resourceful with my time and also earn some money.

These days I have met students volunteering at companies, doing IT in industries, and learning relevant digital skills. Please, if you are affected by the strike, go and be helpful, volunteer in community premises, learn how to better your communication skills, your ability to sell products, and you can even read your books. Time is the only luxury. Use it wisely.

Use skills picked up in pharmacy school for young pharmacists. These skills make pharmacists relevant in cross-functional industries like banks, communication, and marketing. Improve yourselves, keep learning, collaborate, and do every work with zero entitlement because no one is coming to save you.