Legacy of Sparkport Pharmacy
Two lecturing colleagues, Goolam Mahomed and Solly Suleman, ventured into the business world in 1983, having being forced to resign from the Indian University of Durban Westville due to the discrimination against “non white” lecturers.
During the period of employment the two colleagues opened three community pharmacies and created employment for other pharmacist colleagues. The pharmacies were in Umgeni Rd opposite the railway station, in Chatsworth (now a franchisee) and in Pinetown all of which were eventually sold to the managers thereby empowering them.
The growth of the pharmacy was phenomenal and within 3 years our staff compliment grew from three to ten employees including a pharmacist besides the two directors .
A new concept pharmacy was launched in 1992 covering almost a 1000sq metres with many firsts including a primary care clinic employing a full time nurse, a seminar room for health education lectures, a photographic section, a beauty salon and a modern dispensary with semi private and private counselling areas. The pharmacy also boasted a modern IT system including till scanners.
Achievements
The pharmacy gained popularity and became the leading pharmacy in KZN and one of the top pharmacies in the country resulting in Goolam winning the pharmacist of the year and Solly being runner up in 1993. The group continues to win accolades and has won the best pharmacy category for the Daily News Your Choice award 6 years in a row from 2004 till 2009. Sparkport won the Best Pharmacy in South Africa large category in 2003. In 2005 Sparkport was awarded the PMR DIAMOND ARROW AWARD in recognition of its efforts in enhancing economic growth and development in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Challenges The Independant Community Pharmacies sector faces challenges in the delayed implementation of an appropriate dispensing fee.
From a business perspective this makes it increasingly difficult to earn returns that are commensurate with the level of expertise and dedication the pharmacist’s role demands. Moreover, in keeping with the principle of free enterprise, retail pharmacies are entitled to earn a fair return on their investment. Our Group is not prepared to sit back and wait for Government Legislation to play itself out, we have adapted our business model to capitalize on the opportunities the legislation has presented, as we have done in the past.
The Sparkport Group reached its next level of development i.e. expansion into – FRANCHISING Expansion of Sparkport Pharmacy, The Sparkport Group started with its flagship store in Overport in 1992 and gradually expanded into new areas when there was a change to a democratic government in 1994. In 1995 the partners realised that to increase turnover and attain greater efficiences in the budget spent on marketing and acquisition they had to increase the number of stores in two ways viz. Franchising and own branches.
The expansion therefore commenced in 1995 with the opening of a hyper-pharmacy in the city centre which was previously dominated by pharmacies that were “White Owned.” A franchise store was also opened in Chatsworth by converting an existing store. This was the beginning of the Sparkport franchise concept.
Stores were opened in the Hillcrest, Pietermaritzburg, Umhlanga Rocks and Durban North which were subsequently sold off mainly to managers as franchisees thereby keeping with our ethos of empowering the younger pharmacists. A franchise has been opened in Laudium, Pretoria West in 2009 and in 2010 Sparkport Umlazi will be launched.
The Franchise division was established in 1995 and has the following departments viz, Marketing, Finance, Medical Aids, IT, human resources and procurement ensuring maximum support to our stores and the franchisees. In fact our stores are also regarded as franchisees.The franchise division plays a very critical role in either converting existing stores or establishing new franchise stores.
