Arnal Krishn Singh had his career planned out from a very young age. Although he was born and raised on a farm in Lovu, a suburban area just outside of Lautoka city, his interest lied in the health sciences and providing safe and effective medication use. He had his heart set on becoming a pharmacist and opening up his own pharmacy.

Today, Singh operates the Getwell Chemist in Saweni, Lautoka.

Singh is the eldest of three brothers. His youngest brother is a Doctor at Labasa Hospital while the middle sibling is a farmer and takes care of the family farm in Lautoka.

“My late grandfather was a school teacher who had a passion for farming. My grandmother who is now 81 years of age, looked after the home, the kids and frequently helped my grandfather on the farm. My father used to help my grandfather on the farm and decided to make a living out of it,” he said.

Singh attained his primary education from Lovu Sangam Primary School and his secondary school education at Natabua High School.

Having had his career planned out, Singh only applied for one programme at the Fiji School of Medicine (FSM), now College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS); the Bachelor of Pharmacy. Leaving his family behind, he embarked on a new journey on his own in a new place with new people.

“It was very interesting and came with a constant choice of rights and wrongs. Being away from home and parents meant I had a lot of freedom. There was a bit of culture shock as well living in the city – night life etc. I made some really good friends though and our friendship is still going strong,” said Singh.

With the interesting life came some challenges as well.

“I didn’t really face many problems from primary school through to high school. The major challenge when I got to tertiary level at FSM was the transition of life moving away from my home to live in Suva. The cost of living in Suva was a hurdle that had my friends and I budgeting weekly expenses as if our second major was Accounting,” said Singh.

Singh also had constant pressure from home to perform well at school.

“Considering I am the eldest of three brothers, my parents pushed me to ensure that I was doing well at school to be a good role model for them (his brothers) to look up to,” added Singh.

As a student, Singh was actively involved in other activities such as the Pharmacy Students’ Association (PSA).

“In Years two and three, I was the Vice President and President, respectively, of this student body (PSA). Thus, I had to balance studies well with the responsibilities of the welfare of the pharmacy students as well as organisation of events such as the Open Day, Year One Welcome and Year Four Farewell,” said Singh.

After graduation in 2011, he started a holiday job at Tappoo City Chemist as a part-time Sales Assistant. After a few weeks, his boss at the time, Mrs. Namrata Tappoo offered him a position for internship which he gladly accepted.

He got registered as a Pharmacist in 2013 and continued working at the Tappoo City Chemist until 2015.

Singh had plans to be an entrepreneur one day and he worked on this dream of his from day one.

After all the preparations were done, he officially started business in April, 2017. He opened up a pharmacy in a rural community, Saweni in Lautoka.

“I always wanted to open up a pharmacy in an area where such a facility was not available or readily accessible to the community,” he said.

Singh credits his success to God, saying that God has been a guiding strength in his life and career.

He met his life partner at FSM and they got married in 2017. His partner is also a pharmacist and initially helped set up his business.

Sharing the lessons he learnt in school, Singh says, “charity begins from home and that is the first lesson I learnt from my parents. My mother always encouraged us as a family to love one another and be kind and gentle towards each other. Having to work on the farm daily after school and in the holidays was quite strenuous. This taught me the importance of hard work and time management.”