Qol Co., Ltd. President and CEO/Pharmacist Shinobu Karasawa

"We aim to be a familiar pharmacy where you can ask any questions"

Qol Co., Ltd. President and Pharmacist　Shinobu Karasawa(Karasawa Shinobu)

■ Profile
After graduating from Meijo University's Faculty of Pharmacy, he worked as a hospital pharmacist. He then joined Qol Co., Ltd. as a part-time pharmacist. In 2020, he became the company's president and CEO, managing Qol pharmacies, which have expanded to approximately 600 stores nationwide.

When most people think of a pharmacy, they probably imagine it as a place to get medicine. However, Shinobu Karasawa, CEO of Qol Co., Ltd., which operates pharmacies nationwide, says, "I want the pharmacy to be the first place you go if something happens." We spoke to Karasawa, who aims to create a pharmacy where people can feel free to ask for advice, about the appeal of his company and the future of pharmacies.

■ Aspiring to be a pharmacist, a familiar presence

Both of my parents are pharmacists, and my mother ran the only small pharmacy in town. The store was a "gathering place" for the town, with people always coming to talk to my mother about medicine, or just general conversations and things they wanted to ask for. From an early age, I felt that my mother's work was not just about medical care, but also about helping people and bringing joy to them, so it was a natural progression for me to go on to pharmacy school and become a pharmacist.
I went to Meijo University, a comprehensive university, but the School of Pharmacy was in a separate building, so I spent my time at university surrounded by students aiming to become pharmacists. I was able to spend my student life with good friends, sharing research results with them, and I still keep in touch with them to this day.

■My connection with Qol began with the words of my mom friends

After I got married and retired from my job as a hospital pharmacist, I was talking to some mommy friends and when I mentioned that I had been working as a pharmacist, they said, "What a waste! You should at least do it part-time." For the first time, I realized that my job was one that people would say was a waste, so I started working part-time at Qol Pharmacy, which was close to my house. With the advice of my mommy friends, I returned to work, and by chance, the part-time job I was working at was Qol Pharmacy, which is how I ended up joining the company. I still meet up with my mommy friends from that time, and they say, "I never thought I'd become president" (laughs).
Before I became president, I was constantly raising my children and caring for my mother, and I relied on the help of those around me. I was blessed with kind people who gave me advice and I felt the importance of meeting people as I was assigned to part-time, full-time, and responsible work. When I was appointed president, I was surprised and anxious. However, President Nakamura of Qol Holdings gave me some advice: "Whenever you wonder if what you are doing is really right, apply our important corporate philosophy, 'We are committed to the quality of life of everyone. Anytime, anywhere, for you,' and use it as a guide for your decisions as president." This advice made me feel like I could do it on my own.

■ Employees working together, facing the same direction, even if their work is different

I believe it's important to see employees working hard at pharmacies, so I visit 5 to 15 stores a month. By visiting, I sometimes notice things like, "This store has a step, so it would be better to fix it." Employees from headquarters also visit the site, and sometimes have many opportunities to talk on the phone, so I feel that the headquarters and the site have a mutual understanding structure. The function of headquarters is to further improve and smoothen the function of the site. That's why it's important for headquarters employees to have a desire to understand the site. At first glance, they may seem to be doing completely different work, but they're actually looking at the same thing. I think that's what makes Qol unique.
I think the title "president" makes people nervous. That's why I make various efforts to be fair and to make people feel closer to me, such as by visiting stores. I aim to be a scary but warm-hearted president, in other words, a "scary-warm" president. It's important to make people nervous, thinking, "That's a little scary. I'm going to show this to the president, so I need to check the documents carefully," but I also want to be a warm and friendly boss that people can always talk to and trust.

■ Qol is a company where you can realize your dreams

Qol is a company that encourages challenges. I think what makes it appealing is that the various ideas that employees come up with are quickly put into practice. One employee came up with the idea for an initiative called "Childcare University." This is a study group for local mothers who have various concerns when raising children. Qol Pharmacy teaches how to use and store medicines, and also invites other companies to hold study sessions such as Shiseido's talk on sunburn in children and Asics's on how to choose your child's first pair of athletic shoes. With the aim of becoming a pharmacy that mothers raising children can rely on, this Childcare University has been running for over 10 years.
Another traditional item at our company is the bibs bearing the Qol name. They were originally created based on an idea from an employee during the COVID-19 vaccination at Tokyo Dome, and were also worn during this year's Noto Peninsula earthquake. At the time, the first floor of the Qol Pharmacy Notocho store was flooded by the tsunami, and the pharmacy was unable to reopen immediately. However, since ours was the only pharmacy nearby, our pharmacists opened a pharmacy in the clothing room of a junior high school, which was being used as an evacuation shelter, and opened the medicines delivered to the shelter and explained them to the victims.

We want to be a pioneer and leading company when new medical treatments begin.

In the future, healthcare will become increasingly digitalized, with advancements like online medication instructions and electronic prescriptions. Until now, when providing medication instructions face-to-face, pharmacists would hand out medications to patients and explain how many tablets to take. However, when patients have to check their medications themselves after receiving online medication instructions, they face challenges like not knowing how to take them or feeling uncomfortable asking the pharmacist. When new innovations emerge, we should strive to make them even better than they were before. Therefore, we regularly gather our employees to hear their opinions about any inconveniences they may have experienced with the introduction of online medication instructions, and we always show patients the front and back of each prescription when explaining them online. While these may seem like small things, we are careful not to leave behind what we've been able to do up until now, even as conveniences increase. I believe pharmacies will continue to evolve into different forms in the future, but even in these new forms, we will continue to strive to be a trusted, effective, and safe pharmaceutical treatment for local residents.

■ Aiming for first access to medical care

I have always wanted our pharmacy to be a place where people can feel free to come and ask for advice when they have medical problems. To that end, we have set up health support pharmacies and are working to make it possible for people to come without a prescription. Qol is also unique in collaborating with other companies, such as Lawson and Bic Camera. I would like to continue collaborating with companies in the future, and make our pharmacies more accessible and accessible to everyone, such as in towns and train stations. Our challenge going forward is to transform pharmacies from "places where you bring your prescription" to "places where you can ask about anything."

■Message to students

I hope you will like your current university and continue to maintain those relationships with your friends throughout your time at university and even after you graduate. As you become an adult, you will have work-related relationships. I believe that if you have a good relationship with the other person, you will be able to do a good job. I come from a small, pharmacy-related community, so I often spent time with my friends from back then, and I have the experience of being able to do a good job because of those good relationships. University is a time when you are able to make your own decisions, so please cherish the friendships you have made over the long four years you have spent together.

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