NCPA names finalists for student competition 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has announced that teams of pharmacy students from the University of Georgia, University of South Carolina and University of Texas have been named finalists in the 2023 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. The three teams will present their business plans in a live competition on Oct. 14, 2023, at the NCPA Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla., and the winning team will be announced on Oct. 15 as part of the first general session. “For innovative and forward-looking students like these, there’s no better part of the industry to be in than the independent pharmacy space,” said Hugh Chancy, RPh, president of the NCPA. “It’s where you can structure your business plan as you see fit to best serve the people in your community and support the team you work with. By participating in this competition, students have a head start on becoming successful pharmacy owners and entrepreneurs.” The teams will compete for first place ($3,000 to the NCPA student chapter and $3000 to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent pharmacy); second place ($2,000 to the NCPA student chapter and $2,000 contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent pharmacy); and third place ($1,000 to the NCPA student chapter and $1,000 contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent pharmacy). The Student Business Plan Competition, which is supported by Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company and the NCPA Foundation, honors two great champions of independent community pharmacy, the late Neil Pruitt Sr. and the late H. Joseph Schutte. It aims to motivate students in pharmacy school to create a thought-out plan for either purchasing an existing pharmacy or opening a pharmacy from the ground up, and to prepare tomorrow’s pharmacy entrepreneurs for a successful future.