Meet the power couple boosting wellbeing in the region

Dubai-based health and wellness start-up Fit On Click is now looking to grow across the GCC following its growth in the UAE market, according to its founders. 

The website, which began in 2015 as an aggregator for fitness facilities and fitness professionals in the country, now has over 2,000 listings, and additionally provides services such as hiring personal trainers. Their offline services include employee wellbeing programmes and corporate sports tournaments with more than 100 corporate clientele.

Founder and CEO Ben Samuel attributes the company’s exceptional growth from a team of a husband and wife, who started Fit On Click from their home, to a culture of bootstrapping.

“We started Fit On Click with no investment,” he explains.

“Not having funds to throw at problems forces you to develop a street-smart mindset. Bootstrapping made us better problem solvers, kept us lean and focussed, taught us how to allocate resources creatively, and prevented us from taking anything for granted.

“Most of our out-of-the-box services and lightbulb moments were born during these times, because when you bootstrap, it forces you to get good fast.”

Contrary to Ben’s nature of being a risk-taker, his wife and co-founder Neha Samuel, who serves as the company’s COO, ensured they took “calculated risks” before they both quit their careers.

Initially, Ben continued to work in Dubai while Neha focused purely on the business. Once the money started to come in, they both plunged into it full time.

New to Dubai, it was not easy starting and running a sustainable business in the UAE, they both admit.

But they credit the government’s strong focus on health and wellness as being a major driver for growth.

“The government not only supports happiness and corporate wellbeing in the nation, but strongly advocates it,” explains Neha.

Support from a mentor and their family’s belief in their vision also helped the young entrepreneurs expand their business, she adds.

Serving individuals through their online platform, and working with numerous corporates as well as government entities, Fit On Click also received a Business Excellence award in 2017 from the Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) and RAK Department of Economic Development (RAK DED).

Moving forward, the company is looking towards curating more employee engagement programmes and sports tournaments for corporates across the country, and boosting its calendar.

“We understand the demand in UAE for such events and hence we aim towards launching one corporate tournament every second month this year,” says Neha.

“Our 2019 calendar includes eight various sports tournaments, further ending the year with a Corporate Carnival – inaugural edition for 110 corporates.”

There are a number of “intrinsic beneficial factors” for corporates that participate in such tournaments, she explains.

“These events are like hopeful escapes/getaways for employees from their day to day corporate routine which comes with high and healthy residual values. Indulging employees in something they are passionate about improves their quality of life, which scientifically helps generate creativity, competitiveness and more confidence.”

She adds: “All these benefits ultimately help the organisation in the long run as the employees are happier, healthier and motivated at work.”

Ben also confirms that following the potential and growth seen in the UAE, the company looks forward towards opportunities to launch operations across the wider region.

“We are planning to launch in other GCC countries where there is a need.

‘We are in our fourth year now in Dubai, and these three years in the UAE have been a testing period for us. We have tested the online platform and offline services intensively, and people have responded really well,” he confidently states.