PRIME PARAGON INTERVIEW: PHARM. OLUWABIYI OYEKANMI

Interviewed by Oluwayemisi Ogundipe and Ishaku Daniel

Let us meet you.

My name is Oluwabiyi Oyekanmi, and I currently work with Sanofi as a medical sales representative. I graduated from the University of Ibadan in 2016. I come from a family of four boys, and I am the third son. Growing up in an all-boys home meant running many errands for my mum, and she ensured that all her boys cooked. I am not yet married, but I am getting married soon to my fiancée.

Tell us about your professional engagements.

I got introduced to YPG Lagos during my internship at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, which seemed cult-like because it was reserved for a particular clique that piqued my interest in the body. I then decided to be a part of that clique; a friend informed me about upcoming elections; since I wanted in, by all means, I did not vie for competitive positions like state coordinator or General Secretary. I just strategically contested for the financial secretary’s office, and I held that office for two consecutive tenures, which ended in 2019. I can boldly say that the tenure of Muyiwa Olagunju and Fumbi Okoya as National and State coordinators, respectively, helped build the current structure of YPG.

Seeing your drive to get involved in YPG, were you actively involved in politics as an undergraduate.

Not really; the only time I was politically conscious as an undergraduate was when I contested for office as the Vice-President of PANS in my third year, which I lost.

So, what changed post-graduation?

I have always loved serving. However, I am not usually at the forefront. I love being part of a team that is positively contributing.

YPG-Lagos provided that platform because I worked with a fantastic team, making leadership highly enjoyable. Aside from being enjoyable, being in charge of the YPG was a learning curve for me. I learnt how to efficiently use Google Office and liaise with different authorities to get YPs’ participation in events. As a sequel to being the financial secretary, I have been getting appointments. I was appointed the chairman of the electoral committee in 2019, where my team and I pioneered electronic voting.

What inspired the idea of e-voting?

In 2019, YPG-Lagos had a constitution review. We decided to adopt e-voting because we realized that the ballot box system was disenfranchising a lot of YPs from participating in elections. Particularly in a bustling city like Lagos, where YPs have to encounter much traffic to vote.

Adapting e-voting was challenging, especially finding the most efficient ways to accredit voters. Because for physical voting, only Lagosians will make it down to the venue, but the reverse is the case with e-voting, as any YP in any state could vote if proper checks are not in place. E-voting has been successful as the number of voters has increased from less than a hundred with physical voting to over three hundred since the introduction of e-voting. On the success of the electoral process in Lagos, I was appointed the PSN-YPG National Secretary and electoral chairman. Currently, I am the chairperson of the national conference planning committee, which is coming up in Lagos in July.

Speaking of the conference, how do we take time off to fully participate as this year’s theme is spot on and promises to be highly insightful? How did you come up with the theme? You know, a lot of YPs are working in organizations where they are not even entitled to annual leave.

Young Pharmacists have been inundated with many challenges, which made the headlines last year. Litigation between YPs and retail pharmacy owners; the proposed centralization of internship postings that excluded pharmacists; and the perceived marginalization of pharmacists for consultancy positions. So we learned the bane of challenges faced by pharmacists was policy-related.

We are bringing in key healthcare policymakers; we are bringing in people in the senate committee of health, the DG of NPHCDA. Politics in Nigeria involves much lobbying, and if we, as YPs, are oblivious to this, then we will keep being disenfranchised by policies in the healthcare system.

So regarding getting YPs full participation, the conference will be hybrid. In addition, the week of the conference is a public holiday week. We pushed out publicity for the conference very early to help YPs plan ahead.

Can you tell us about your proposed career path as a final year student and what has changed ?

In my final year, we had a career fair sequel to which I believed that hospital practice was it for me where I would counsel patients and give pharmaceutical care. Interning at NOHIL exposed me to a fantastic hospital practice experience. I would see well dressed and well-spoken medical sales representatives as an intern, and I admired them. However, I felt I would not excel with the targets, coupled with my reserved nature. All these made me opt for community practice initially, on the job. I realized that community practice itself is sales.

Along the line, the option to work with a patient-focused multi-national shifted my perspective on medical sales.

A quick one; moving abroad or staying back in Nigeria?

In a lighter mood, it is funny how I interact with colleagues on this matter, and some are anti-relocation. I am pro Japa. Like I said earlier, I am in a relationship with a nurse, and she even encourages me to pack my belongings for Japa.

At least for the exposure, young pharmacists should try and move abroad and then come back to give back to society. The economic woes alone should serve as a motivational factor. If you cannot go abroad, then look for a job that you can earn in foreign currency.

When you’re not working, what are you up to?

I make music for leisure, play the keyboard or strum my guitar, and sometimes score songs. My doing music extends into the church too. However, I’m on one committee or the other most of the time, planning one event or the other. Currently, I’m on the planning committee for the upcoming PSN-YPG conference.

What challenges face the pharmaceutical repping job?

Firstly and most important factor is pressure to meet up with targets. In this regard, I will advise that any young pharmacist who desires to go into repping find out about the company’s work culture and its demands on meeting targets. Some companies want you to meet up target monthly, while some can give you a soft pedal to make up for the lagging behind in the next month. Also, try and find out the consequences of not meeting up with the target.

Another challenge is rude dismissal by doctors who intend to detail your company’s product. One cannot state your mission in some instances, which dampens one’s confidence.

However, this hurts only within your first months of repping. Those attitudes no longer get to you as you grow through the ranks. Also, there are more merits in the repping job than demerits. For example, your confidence to address people grows, and your networking skills are updated, consequently expanding your cycle.

As someone that has been in the corridors of PSN-YPG, what benefits are there in identifying as a full member?

Some benefits include networking and access to educational webinars on pharmaceutical sales and disease conditions. Currently, PSN-YPG searches for openings and advertises on social media platforms and fights outrightly for the rights of its members. However, all these benefits cannot be gained if we do not participate.

Finally, since you are on the conference planning committee, what extra spice should we anticipate for the national conference in July?

One major event we are adding to this year’s conference is the career fair. We are bringing resource persons from the pharmacy profession and other sectors.