– Oleg Viktorovich, this year is your company’s anniversary: 30 years since its foundation. But you refused to celebrate it….
Yes, we did. We directed the funds in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, setting a goal to raise UAH 1,200,000 with our charitable contribution, as well as donations from staff and customers. And we achieved our goal! We managed to allocate one million two hundred and forty-five thousand nine hundred and twenty hryvnias for the needs of soldiers of combat units of the Special Operations Forces of the AFU. From this amount 1 050 000 UAH was transferred by the company, 114 625 UAH were collected by our employees, and 81 295 UAH were transferred by the customers of “DS” pharmacy chain with their bonus points.
– The company didn’t just help with funds, as far as I know.
On several occasions, we donated pharmaceutical goods through volunteers to the residents of the temporarily occupied Kherson region, which is currently experiencing an acute shortage of medicines. We supported the activities of the organizations “Codity4life Ukraine Charitable Foundation” and “Light of Reformation Charitable Foundation” in providing necessary medicines to temporarily displaced persons in the Ternopil region and Kharkiv. Our employees in Lviv and Uzhgorod once again made and delivered nutritious energy bars made of nuts and dried fruits to Ukrainian soldiers in the war zone, joined the work of Lviv volunteers “Brigada Politeh” in weaving camouflage nets for the AFU. And we also funded the patriotic project “Stolen Ukrainian Songs” on the radio “Lvivska Volna”, dedicated to exposing the imperial ideology of Russians about Ukrainian songs and musical works, which at different times have been re-lit in Russian or simply declared native Russian cultural heritage. Adding it all together, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian aggressor in February, the total amount of our company’s charitable contribution in joint efforts with other philanthropists is more than 4 million hryvnias.
– The weighty contribution of a team united in the fight against our country’s perennial enemy…
How could it be otherwise? I have always wanted Ukrainians to get rid of their inferiority complex and reject all excuses and accusations. 30 years ago, when I created this company, I dreamed of doing something significant in my life and sincerely wished to break out of the authoritarian Soviet system together with my business, to be economically and socially independent. That’s when I had a goal – to prove not by words but by deeds that we can be flexible, innovative, creative, successful and competitive. To show that we can set trends, change quickly, learn, achieve results and take responsibility.
– For these 30 years you have really done a lot to achieve the goal: the network of pharmacies “D.S.” has a good reputation and takes a worthy place among the leaders of the domestic pharmaceutical market.
And at the same time, we must realize that we need to continue our mission and beyond. Pharmacy is not a holding company of emotions. People come to us with problems, frankly, with misfortune.
And it is important to me that pharmacists do not just sell medicines, but show attention to the client, care, give quality advice, help and even dare to dissuade, if necessary.
When a pharmacist sees a prescription from a doctor with incompatible medicines, he or she may not think about it and simply dispense the medicines – it’s not really any of his or her business. Or he may advise the person to check the data, consult the doctor again, point out the possible error and inform about the risks. Pharmacy is a field that needs a human being. And although our contemporaries prefer online shopping, there is still a large category of people who find it important to come to a pharmacy and get professional help from a person, from a specialist.
People need empathy, the right relationships. People need people. And they always will.
– You once said that you took your business out of its comfort zone. What did you mean by that?
For Ukrainians, especially for Galicians, it is very difficult to go beyond their territory. Here we are in our comfort zone, we have our own subculture, and, in our opinion, its value is truly understood only by us.
So I decided to show that businesses from the west of Ukraine can scale, be successful, set the tone, be willing to learn the diversity of our state and at the same time spread patriotic and Christian values.
I wanted us to carry out soft Ukrainianization, when we would bring the principle of customer service in the state language to regions where it was not customary. And we gradually started to expand the geography of D.S. pharmacies. It was a big challenge and a colossal labor. But we learned to build trust of clients, learned to delegate work, established the system. And today the network is represented in 15 regions of Ukraine.
– What made it possible to get clients outside your native Galicia?
Through concrete actions. In dispensing medicines, we have taken into account both rational and emotional factors. When a client is comfortable, understood, helped, provided with quality pharmacy care, and cared for, he or she feels safe.
This aspect is key in building trust in an individual pharmacist and the network as a whole. During the time when the company was expanding, I saw a lot of interesting people in different areas of Ukraine.
Our country is very diverse, and you have to be able to see the advantages in that.
We should be able to bring the best that we have to others and learn to accept from others what they have. Not to break everything, not to impose our own, but to respectfully get acquainted with all the beautiful things that exist in our country, to preserve the color, to create unity, because all Ukrainians are very different, but we have more in common than differences.
– These postulates are extremely important today
Yes, at a time when our state is fighting back against the enemy in a full-scale war, we must create this unity even more. But we must be realistic and act locally first in order to be able to think globally later. The first and most important task that the company now faces is to keep its people, because they are the core of the company, its main resource and its greatest value. We must also carefully optimize costs, adapt to challenges, and by no means separate ourselves from social processes.
Businesses cannot exist in their bubble in times of peace, and not even in times of war!
We must do everything to take care not only of ourselves, but also of the environment in which we are, to be together with society, to be together with the state and to fight for the victory of Ukraine together.
For the record
The company started its activities in Lviv with a few pharmacy outlets, a small office and a storage room. Today 375 pharmacies, including franchise pharmacies, operate under the “D.S.” sign in 111 settlements of 15 regions of Ukraine, and the company has deployed several regional offices and its own modern pharmacy warehouse. The chain is among the TOP of the domestic pharmacy market, has gained a good business reputation, and in addition to financial reporting, it has introduced the concept of social reporting.
