Muzondiwa UMuzondiwa Urges Mentorship, Ethical Pricing and Unity to Secure Pharmacy’s Future in Zimbabwe

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s pharmaceutical leaders must bridge the generational divide between experienced and younger pharmacists through deliberate mentorship and responsible pricing to secure the profession’s long‑term sustainability, according to Wisdom Muzondiwa, who presented a comprehensive vision for professional unity. 

He noted that experienced pharmacists bring wisdom, networks, clinical judgement, leadership and historical perspective, while young pharmacists contribute innovation, technology, digital transformation, energy and new business models—complementary strengths that should not be seen as competing but as reinforcing each other.

On pricing, Muzondiwa warned that a price war is a false victory, explaining that a 1% change in price can have a far greater impact on profitability than a 1% increase in sales volume. Using illustrative figures, he showed that a 1% price increase could boost net profit by 11.8%, whereas a 1% volume increase yields only 1.6% net profit growth. 

He stressed that price should reflect the real value and cost of safe pharmaceutical care—including professional expertise, medicine quality, safe storage, regulatory compliance, qualified staff, patient counselling and business sustainability—and that lowering prices ultimately forces cuts in staffing and service, eroding professional value and weakening the entire profession.

Muzondiwa called on professional associations to promote mentorship programmes, develop ethical pricing guidance, encourage respectful dialogue and strengthen conflict resolution. He urged regulators to reward ethical practice, promote professional unity and encourage continuous ethics education. 

For young pharmacists, he advised learning before criticising, seeking mentors and upholding professionalism; for experienced pharmacists, he emphasised mentoring intentionally, welcoming innovation and developing future leaders.

His vision for Zimbabwe is a profession connected by trust, not divided by competition—where hospital pharmacists collaborate with community pharmacists, young pharmacists are mentored into leadership, senior pharmacists are celebrated for developing successors, businesses compete on quality rather than destruction, and patients see pharmacists as one united profession. 

“Unity is not the absence of competition,” Muzondiwa concluded. “It is the choice to compete without destroying the profession. Let ethics become the language that unites every pharmacist in Zimbabwe.”