Pharmacy students invest in their future

A Pharmacy Investment Club (PIC) at the University of Waterloo is preparing students for careers in an evolving profession that may not always include working at the community pharmacy.

“The club is based in reality and deals with business aspects of pharmacy that can’t be handled in the regular course,” says Roderick Slavcev, an assistant professor in pharmaceutical science and club advisor. “Students use their own money, and develop real risk profiles and real strategies and make their own investments.”

Pharmacy grads embrace opportunities in industry

Slavcev wants graduates to have solid management skills so they can embrace new opportunities as executives and administrators in hospitals or businesses that deliver pharmacy services.

The investment club is the only one of its kind in Canada that is run solely by pharmacy students.

About 90 pharmacy students and 40 alumni have about $9,000 in assets, part of which is invested in a portfolio developed by the club members. Members pay $100 for a share to belong to the club.

“The main reason for the club is education, but having some money invested makes it real and makes it fun,” says club president Nabil Kanji.              

Kanji said the club tends to have a moderate or low-risk strategy and that’s reflected by the five per cent return that the club earned over the last three years.

The club, which started in 2009, provides an extracurricular component to the comprehensive business curriculum at the school, says Slavcev.

It arranges for frequent presentations and seminars with professionals in the business and is sponsored by Sun Life and Scotia Bank.