Name: Wally Maguire

University: QUT

Winner NSBPC 2011

Our success with the NSBPC saw me being offered an intern scholarship at LiveLife Pharmacies in the Whitsundays where I spent the next five years as a pharmacist manager in one of the most amazing and picturesque places in the world.

Accepting an internship in such a great location wasn’t a hard decision to make.

During this time I completed my diploma in management to grow my business sense.

Following this I was fortunate enough to be offered ownership and management with LiveLife in Bowen where over the past few years we have been creating the perfect customer experience, embracing technology, offering the best health services that we can offer, and being an employer of choice.

Our efforts to achieve these things did not go unrecognised, as we were a finalist in the 2020 Guild Pharmacy of the Year competition.

Where I am now is combining my passions for community pharmacy and business management.

Having the opportunity to live and work in the Whitsunday’s was too hard to pass up and the professional service model that LiveLife has strived towards have all been contributing factors to the pharmacist that I am today.

I don’t believe I would be where I am today if not for the NSBPC.

Networking with pharmacists at the event and getting my name out there definitely helped in securing the LiveLife scholarship in Airlie Beach that started me on the career path to where I am now.

I would definitely recommend students participate as it can open up a variety of opportunities down the track.

Good impressions go a long way in the pharmacy sector and people are always very interested in the ideas that the younger generation of pharmacists come up with.

It’s not always what you know, but who you can network with to gain that advantage over other prospective employees.

Our winning business plan entry was for Foundation Pharmacy and we created an app/website (apps were only just becoming a big thing) for medicines information (CMIs, Lifestyle factors, General counselling) and a mobile wound care service.

It was the most surreal experience going through the stages, reaching the finals and pitching our business ideas in front of a crowd in Cairns. Something I definitely will never forget.