In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, our hosts Andrew Romeo and Anthony Sapountzis sit with Kavita Nadan, Co-Founder & Director at Locumate. In this episode, the discussion centres around the platform, how it has evolved since its launch and what are the plans moving ahead. With Locumate, Locums can find the perfect shifts, get paid on time, and get access to additional educational resources to help them grow their career as Pharmacists.
Something that Kavita has always been passionate about has been helping the students. She shares how, as a student herself, she did not have the answers and thinks that through platforms like hers, she can help students look beyond the obvious. She wants to invest in students because they are the future. If we don’t start at that student level and get them passionate about the opportunities, they will not be passionate about it down the track.
Talking about how Locumate came into being, she shares her pain of not being to hire locums at the right time and the right prices. There were issues: hiring them being such a manual process, their rates being based on where they were coming from, and inability to keep track of the feedback, among others. She shared her concerns with Surge, who, being a tech architect, did what he knows to do best: he searched for what such a process would look like in an ideal world. Having found that the ‘ideal’ was missing, he sat down and designed one. To do so, they talked not only to the Locums but also to the pharmacists and soon figured out that the pain was felt on both sides. They then built a prototype and took it to the market and the overwhelming response was, “When can we get the actual thing?”
And down the journey, they realized Locuming could be a viable career choice. They realized that Locumate could be more than just an app—it is transforming the industry’s mindset. It is building a community for our Pharmacists and our locums and highlighting the work and the transparency around what this work involves.
Kavita advises that when it comes to executing an idea, there is a need to think realistically and do the following:
- Have a good support network
- Invest in experts
Topics Covered
- Working in the community
- Career opportunities for students
- Locumate: from idea to execution
- Listen to your customers
- Opportunities in the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Learnings
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
- “Being in a community, I always wanted to work in the community. I loved that aspect of being able to work with people.” (2:50 – 2:56)
- “I did do placements at hospitals, and I found it to be quite disconnected in the level of connection that you make with your patients. Right? Here you can follow a patient all the way throughout. And it’s sad in some cases where you lose patients, but it also gives you a sense of reward and fulfillment to be able to help that person.” (3:02 – 3:21)
- “But I am always of the sense that if anything is not working or if I want to change something, I always go, how can we do it better?… It’s something that I think Pharmacies should consistently be asking—whether it be just a process in their Pharmacy or something even bigger.” (4:26 – 4:43)
- “Something that I’ve always been passionate about is just helping the students.” (7:05 – 7:09)
- “I really do want to invest in the students because they are our future.” (7:47 – 7:54)
- “For me, I think if we don’t start at that student level and get them passionate about the opportunities, they are not going to be passionate about it down the track. It all then links back to the retention and the big dropout of students from our profession.” (8:48 – 9:03)
- “When we went down that journey, we realized—you talk about locuming being a career, you talk about, especially in hospitals, having those transactional interactions with people—we realized that this was what was happening with a lot of locums as well. And that’s also when we decided—this is bigger than just an app, this is actually changing the mindset of the industry, this is building a community for our Pharmacists and our locums, and this is really highlighting the work and the transparency around what this work involves.” (14:23 – 14:57)
- “Some of the best ideas come from real adversity. We find that some of the biggest companies are made in times of recession, and COVID was a time of uncertainty…massive uncertainties, especially in the sector you are in. And from the global perspective, you’re probably the only retailers other than supermarkets that were open.” (15:28 – 15:49) – Andrew Romeo
- “Ultimately, we really want to highlight the benefits of locums, especially in this market right now where we are struggling with staff, we are struggling to get people whether it’s Pharmacy assistance; or even Pharmacists, you know. And especially to rural, regional areas where these Pharmacies need a break.” (25:46 – 26:00)
- “Our main is to create better Pharmacists, and that’s what we are always going to provide—whether it be through the students, it’s going to be through training and development of our early career Pharmacists; even to Pharmacists who are nearing the end of their career—it doesn’t matter. But there’ll be something available for you to stay in this profession.” (27:33 – 27:52)
Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)
- Working in the community (2:50 – 3:21)
- Students and career in Pharmacy (6:47 – 9:15)
- How Locumate was conceptualized (9:20 – 15:00)
- The execution of Locumate (16:21 – 19:28)
- Listening to your customers (23:53 – 24:33)
- Different opportunities (27:33 – 28:17)
- Key learnings (29:20 – 32:33)
Useful Links
Connect with Andrew
Connect with Anthony
Connect with Kavita
