West Africa’s first and fastest growing fitness chain is launching a digital platform that will be providing fitness services to people globally, its Founder and CEO Foluso Ogunwale said.
The digital platform, expected to launch by the fourth quarter of 2022, will provide innovative on-demand fitness content for its clients, with an interface designed for maximum versatility and easy to use at “an affordable cost,” Foluso Ogunwale said. More importantly, the iFitness digital platform is different from all others on the market, we have worked on our differentiation strategy and made sure that we are bringing something of value that other apps aren’t providing yet. We are inspired by this, we are happy that we have another opportunity to reach many millions of people on a global scale, said Foluso.
According to the CEO, iFitness aims to encourage millions of people not only in West Africa but globally to live healthier and happier lives“ and these digital platforms are one of the ways we see ourselves helping users to connect to an existing community that has chosen fitness as a lifestyle. Our mission is to provide a fun, youthful, and functional fitness experience that promotes a culture of health and wellness.”
Subscribers on the platforms could turn their spaces into a workout stations through an array of cardio, toning, HIIT, and stretching content. The platforms will also feature no-equipment and minimal equipment workouts, as well as options for those who already have a state-of-the-art gym setup at home.
Currently, iFitness, West Africa’s fastest-growing fitness chain, is backed by private equity funding secured through CardinalStone Capital Advisers, a Lagos-based fund manager. iFitness gyms currently have over 50,000 registered members and will be providing more than 1,000 jobs by end of Q1, 2023.
“We are the fastest growing gym chain in Nigeria and West Africa. Our growth started in 2017 from a 150-square-meter gym with just 5 staff members. In a new market where fitness was not common, it took quite a lot to demonstrate proof of concept to partners and investors. The Nigerian market had not experienced a fitness experience that was common, affordable, youthful, and vibrant before iFitness started.
“Now, we are building fitness communities alongside our gyms, so people are finding friendships, connecting with people of like minds, and generally embracing the culture of fitness more than ever before. It’s a big thing,” Bukola Ogunwale, Shareholder at iFitness, said.
The digital offering comes after a surge in home-based workouts followed the widespread COVID-19 impact that crippled the $96.7 billion global gym industry as a result of lockdown orders. Nigeria’s fitness industry, whose total revenue in the health & fitness segment is projected to reach $6.64m by 2022, according to Statista, is still trying to find its footing after the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed most gym owners’ projections and expansion plans.
iFitness was founded in 2015 with the vision of building the company to “become the preferred fitness chain in Africa by 2023,” according to Ogunwale.
The fitness chain is currently West Africa’s first and fastest growing fitness chain, with 20 branches by December 2022 across Nigeria, including Lagos and Abuja, the nation’s capital. The company will also be expanding for the first time into neighboring West African countries this year, he said.
“Our expansion is not in itself just a spread of branches, but to foster a large community of people who have chosen healthy living as their lifestyle,” Ogunwale said.
