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Independent Pharmacy Entrepreneur
B Y D A N I E L P. S M I T H
With 15 Hayat Pharmacy locations in southeast Wisconsin, Dr. Hashim Zaibak has built a mini-empire of independent pharmacies
Hashim Zaibak, PharmD ’99, swears there’s no secret sauce. Just an earnest desire to help the underserved.
Hashim Zaibak, PharmD ’99
Photo by Barry Donald
“If that can even be considered a secret sauce,” quips Zaibak, who founded Milwaukeebased Hayat Pharmacy in 2011 and has shepherded its growth into a 15-store, 150-employee operation serving some of the Milwaukee area’s poorest zip codes.
With an unrelenting focus on customer service, health education, medication adherence and community partnerships, Zaibak has built one of the Midwest’s largest independent pharmacy operations.
“It’s a blessing from God and maybe a little luck that things have fallen into the place Lead the nation in pharmaceutical research that impacts health the way they have,” says Zaibak from his Milwaukee offi ce on a sunny June day.
Developing a foundation
Born in poverty-ridden Gaza to a family that later fled the Middle Eastern region amid rising conflict, Zaibak came to the U.S. in 1992 to begin studies at Moraine Valley Community College in Chicago’s southwestern suburbs. Though Zaibak held visions of becoming an engineer, his father urged him to pursue pharmacy.
“My father wanted to become a pharmacist, but circumstances didn’t allow that. His dream was to see one of his five children become a pharmacist,” says Zaibak, who, as the eldest Zaibak child, felt especially compelled to give pharmacy a shot.
In 1995, while still acclimating to U.S. culture and the English language, Zaibak began pursuing his PharmD degree at UIC. He confesses he felt overwhelmed by the high caliber of those around him, including peers who held bachelor’s and master’s degrees and even one with a PhD.
Yet, Zaibak was no less motivated to succeed and eager to learn.
“I had teachers and peers who pushed me and am forever grateful for the education UIC provided,” he says.
“I want to continue entering underserved areas and having a real impact on people and their lives.”
Landing a summer internship with Jewel-Osco in 1997, Zaibak enjoyed his first taste of community pharmacy. He relished working face-to-face with customers and considered the community pharmacy setting the best way to make a long-term impact in individual lives.
“I loved being able to connect with people on a personal level,” he says.
Two days after graduating from UIC in May 1999, Zaibak moved to Milwaukee to work for Jewel-Osco. There, he progressed from staff pharmacist to pharmacist in charge, primarily working in inner-city Milwaukee locations where health literacy languished.
“I felt I was making a difference with people who needed the services I could provide,” he says.
When CVS acquired free-standing Osco stores in 2006, Zaibak joined CVS, managing some of its busiest and most challenging Milwaukee stores before becoming a district supervisor responsible for 22 CVS pharmacies across Wisconsin and Michigan. All the while, he was adding to his toolkit, gaining an advanced degree in community pharmacy, retail operations and management that, unbeknownst to Zaibak, was preparing him for an unexpected opportunity.
Entering the entrepreneurial ranks Near the end of 2010, a group of independent physicians contacted Zaibak about their new clinic on the outskirts of downtown Milwaukee. The physicians thought an on-site pharmacy would create a more seamless, convenient experience for patients and that Zaibak, with his deep experience in community and retail pharmacy, stood an ideal partner.
Though intrigued by the opportunity, including the clinic’s mission to serve neglected populations and the chance to run his own pharmacy, Zaibak struggled with the decision. He hesitated to abandon the stability CVS offered – a steady salary, four weeks paid vacation, insurance and other rich benefits – for the unknown. With three children and a mortgage, the entrepreneurial risks proved unsettling.
“I was scared,” Zaibak says, “but then I remembered that I didn’t come to the United States to have an average life. I came to do something more.”
On January 17, 2011, Zaibak opened a pharmacy inside the Procare Medical Group clinic in Milwaukee’s Valley Pigsville neighborhood. The doctors’ established client base combined with the convenience of an on-site pharmacy and Zaibak’s business acumen generated immediate results.
Months later, another independent physician approached Zaibak about replicating the on-site pharmacy model at his new clinic as well. Zaibak accepted and adopted a new name for his now-burgeoning business: Hayat Pharmacy. Meaning “life” in Arabic, the Hayat name characterized Zaibak’s mission to support healthier living.
With attentive in-store service and programs like home delivery, Zaibak began building an unapologetically patient-centered business. Today, online reviews often praise Hayat’s personal service and use words like “awesome” to describe their experiences in Hayat stores.
Hayat’s clinical pharmacists get involved with MTM, both through telephone calls and in-home visits, while packaging solutions, such as a single bubble pack that carries all the medications for specifi c at-risk patients, help boost adherence and house accounts offer patients fl exible payment options. More than 4,000 current Hayat customers, meanwhile, utilize the Simplify My Meds program, an innovative National Community Pharmacists Association-sponsored effort that synchronizes prescriptions and minimizes pharmacy visits. Hayat even created a YouTube channel with health education videos designed exclusively for Milwaukee’s sizable Rohingya community.
Whereas ROI, cost-effi ciency and liability frequently guide the decisions of his corporate competitors, Zaibak leverages his independence to make decisions based on his own calculus. His pharmacies, for instance, don’t sell alcohol or tobacco products, a decision Zaibak made not only on religious grounds, but also to promote healthier lifestyles.
“For us, it’s simple: how can we offer better options to help our patients lead healthier lives?” he says.
Building a respected business
Hayat’s customer-centric philosophy has stimulated a loyal following across southeastern Wisconsin.
“Once people feel that you’re not there exclusively for the money, that you care and are there for the right reasons, then they tell their neighbors and friends,” Zaibak says of his customers.
That same good will extends to healthcare partners, including payers and physicians, who continue approaching Hayat with collaborative opportunities given Hayat’s proven success with clinics. Though Hayat does operate some stand-alone pharmacies, most Hayat pharmacies sit inside clinics, which Zaibak says helps to jumpstart the business while providing an enhanced value proposition to patients.
“The reputation we’ve established is driving our expansion,” says Zaibak, who looks to have 20 Hayat Pharmacy locations operating by the end of 2020.
But Dimmy Sokhal, Hayat’s chief clinical officer, attributes the company’s growth to something else: Zaibak’s leadership. She says Zaibak has built a collaborative company that empowers staff to be at the forefront of practice, while Zaibak himself has remained actively engaged with patients. Sokhal, in fact, has watched Zaibak approach people and convince them to quit smoking.
“He’s someone who wants to connect with people and wants to help them be their best selves,” says Sokhal, who joined Hayat in 2014. “That type of leadership is powerful.”
To that end, Zaibak visits his pharmacies regularly and conducts one-on-one meetings each week with employees across the blossoming Hayat empire – drivers, technicians, pharmacists and cashiers alike – to help ensure employees are engaged with their work and that Hayat captures every possible opportunity to improve.
Confident in the field of independent pharmacy as well as Hayat’s own future, Zaibak sees endless opportunities to improve patient care in Wisconsin, a massive state with its share of pharmacy deserts and a long runway to improve medication adherence and residents’ overall health.
“I simply hope we can be a part of the solution,” Zaibak says. “I want to continue entering underserved areas and having a real impact on people and their lives.”
That, after all, is the secret sauce.
