Shadeia Younis, who was crowned Independent Pharmacist of the Year at the 2023 Independent Pharmacy Awards, talks to Saša Janković about her success…

It’s been a brilliant 2023 for Shadeia Younis, the owner of Brierfield Late Night Pharmacy in Lancashire. Not only is she the Independent Pharmacy Awards' Independent Pharmacist of the Year – the First South Asian woman to win in the event’s 13-year history – she also made the EqualityX list of Top 50 Influential Muslims in UK & Europe 2023, and won the Pharmaceutical Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2023 British Asian Professional Awards.

Since qualifying as a pharmacist 23 years ago, Shadeia has worked in almost every sector of pharmacy, from hospital and general practice, as a locum, in community pharmacy and in pharmacy management.

As if that wasn’t enough, in the last 15 years she has also taken on the mantle of owner – of five pharmacies, as well as a pharmacist recruitment agency and pharmaceutical wholesaler.

Constant challenges

“The first pharmacy branch I bought was a small village pharmacy in 2008, and I went on to buy two more standard-hour pharmacies, a 100-hour pharmacy, and a non-NHS private internet pharmacy since then”, explains Shadeia, “which is a rarity in the UK, as I think only 2% of pharmacies are owned by women.

“When I bought the village pharmacy it was about to close but I was young and determined to succeed”, she says. “I introduced services as they weren’t doing any, I reduced staff hours and cut my bills, and by the end of the first year my turnover had increased and I later sold the business at a healthy profit.”

Shadeia started a pharmaceutical wholesaling business at about the same time, followed by the internet pharmacy, and operated these for a few years before closing them down and starting a 100-hour branch from scratch – another challenge but one that didn’t faze her.

“I had four competitors within a 500-yard radius but two of them ended up closing because they became unviable, and the large multiples which owned the other two eventually asked if I wanted to buy them out as they could no longer compete with me”, she says.

Shadeia bought the two pharmacies and ultimately merged all three branches into one – her current branch in Brierfield. From here she offers a range of free services such as blood pressure checks, diabetes screening, blister pack assembly and home delivery, and she is in the process of setting up private PGDs, phlebotomy, and ear health and microsuction services.

All of this is in addition to dispensing over 14,000 items a month, which Shadeia says makes Brierfield “the busiest pharmacy in the Pendle area”.

Life-saving skills

Committed to educating and empowering her local community, Shadeia organises quarterly events on various health topics, and – especially since the onset of the pandemic – has seen her clinical skills called upon to make what have sometimes been life-saving interventions.

“We see people with critical conditions all the time because of the difficulty patients have accessing GP surgeries since the pandemic”, says Shadeia. “For example, I’ve often had patients come in who have run out of their inhalers and need an emergency supply.

“More recently, my staff picked up on a customer who brought their baby in with a severe skin reaction. The person said their GP had been recommending emollients for weeks, but my staff recognised it as a possible milk allergy and referred the customer to A&E immediately.

“Another time, I noticed a customer who was breathing so heavily I knew it wasn’t normal, so I invited him to come into the consultation room. He said he had been diagnosed with asthma but I explained that I thought it could be something more serious like a potential blood clot, and advised him to go to A&E straight away.

“He later came back to tell me did go, and the consultant told him he had a blood clot in his leg – and he thanked me for saving his life.”

Beating burnout

Despite her tenacity and career successes, Shadeia admits there have been times in her entrepreneurial journey where she has felt overwhelmed by her workload.

“One notable occurrence was during the challenging times of the Covid pandemic when our retail outlets experienced a substantial surge in sales at the same time as I was navigating the pharmacy merger and buying an additional branch”, she says, “but I didn't have a choice – I just had to do it all, and I had to keep the pharmacy open longer for our patients.

“Looking back I think there have probably been many instances where I've had burnout, but I’m so used to working non-stop and not giving up. I'm up at 3 or 4am every day and on the go until 1am the next morning, and that’s become normal for me.

“In the last 23 years I’ve only had five weeks off and that was maternity leave. I'm definitely a workaholic but I enjoy it – and of course my staff are brilliant as well, and we all love the work.”

As if this wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Shadeia is aiming to establish a charitable organisation next year to educate and empower women in Pakistan to help them break out of poverty, as well as working on another new venture focused on business coaching.

“I’ve only been on LinkedIn for about a year but I’ve posted quite a lot about what I’m doing with my business and I’ve had lots of young pharmacists messaging me for advice”, she says. “I don’t really feel like I’ve ever struggled, so I’m happy to share my experiences and give something back.”

Next on the cards, Shadeia says she would like to become an independent pharmacist prescriber and would love to buy another pharmacy but adds: “I’d only consider a busy one as they take the same amount of work as the ones that are struggling.”

Further ahead, she wants to venture into the Middle East to explore new business opportunities in the healthcare sector and real estate.

“I’m hoping to move to Dubai and I think within three years that’s where I’ll be, but Brierfield runs itself so well I’ll definitely be keeping it on.”

Pictured: Shadeia Younis (centre) with Samantha Taylor, sales controller key accounts at award sponsors Numark. On the right is Neil Trainis, the editor of Independent Community Pharmacist.