My appointment as CEO of Alitam, by Feisal Nahaboo
I’m honoured to be named CEO of Alitam, the pioneering pharmacy consolidation which I founded back in November 2019 and have built with just three staff. My appointment last week means I can fully dedicate myself to achieving our vision of being the ‘Pharmacy of the Future’, transforming the healthcare landscape by implementing more clinical and wellbeing services, and championing our exceptionally talented and entrepreneurial pharmacists.
It’s all come a long way since a 25 minute telephone call with my relative, Abdool Kureeman, during which I realised the potential for an Overnight Multiple Merger Model to disrupt the pharmacy sector; driving up standards of care and hugely enhancing business prospects. From that moment I’ve worked tirelessly to make it happen. I’ve handpicked each member pharmacy according to specialism, jurisdiction, expertise and profit and today we have over 140 stores, across the UK and Ireland. We’ve pushed through the legal and financial requirements, working at speed, and established a vibrant forum for ideas exchange and mutual support.
My belief in this futuristic ‘Overnight Multiple Merger Model’ is unshakeable; I used it to build Xeinadin, a top ranking accountancy firm, in just 256 working days. Dubbed a ‘corporate miracle’ Xeinadin has gone on to take the accountancy world by storm, setting much higher standards for accountancy practices and inspiring a whole new generation of accountants to ‘think outside the box’ and profit accordingly. I’ve witnessed extraordinary results for member accountancy firms, and I am so pleased, after such a short period of time since inception in December 2019, to see this on the horizon for Alitam members too.
So when Sir Ken Olisa, Alitam Chairman, Lord Lieutenant of London and the Queen’s ‘right hand man’ stipulated that I become CEO, I could not have been more delighted. We are kindred spirits when it comes to running Alitam, fellow visionaries who will drive our dream forwards no matter what. We firmly believe this is the right time for Alitam to be born, that – as Sir Ken says – there’s an ‘industrial logic’ to the business plan which is irrefutable. Covid-19 has made it clearer than ever that the pharmacy sector needs to be disrupted by a brave, new visionary firm which will reset the parameters, redefining the role of the pharmacist so they are seen forevermore, as they were during the pandemic, as cornerstones of primary care.
I’m also delighted to have the backing of the rest of the Board, and all our outstanding member pharmacies; our close-knit group possesses an energy and drive which I rarely see elsewhere. I have been so inspired by the dedication, intelligence and wisdom of each of our pharmacists – it’s humbling to witness them work so hard, day in day out, when many GP services remained closed. I am blown away by the amount of crucial work they do, serving their communities carefully at all times. It’s also inspiring to watch them adopt new clinical services and in-store offerings, capitalising on their entrepreneurial side in order to bring greater health and wellbeing to all. They’re already cross-fertilising ideas and bouncing ideas off each other. It’s sped up the implementation of innovations such as dispensing robots, which free up the staff to spend more time caring for customers.
Yes, my role as CEO will be largely focused around tasks such as: steering the group strategy; implementing new product and service lines; driving cost efficiencies and new income streams; and heading up the M&A team. But the endgame is that, by creating the trusted, visionary high street pharmacy Alitam, more lives will be saved, rates of infection will be lowered, clinical issues will be spotted early on and treated efficiently, secondary care services will be protected – and suffering from physical and mental problems will become greatly reduced. This is the mission I hold in my heart at all times as CEO of this inspiring company.
We will not fail.
