Training: Les Mills is training Indian staff in Body Vive and Body Balance, as qualifi ed local instructors are hard to fi nd
VIVAFIT – TRAINING PROVISION
ENTRY TO INDIA: 2011 NUMBER OF SITES: 1 master franchise (5 more planned) EXPANSION PLANS: 1 club a month in current franchise
“T
he booming economies of the BRIC markets generally, plus the fact that
India is really a virgin market for fitness, make it very appealing,” says Pedro Ruiz, CEO of Portugal-based women- only franchise Vivafit. “The fact it’s English-speaking is also important for our training and our culture.” He continues: “According to IHRSA,
only 0.02 per cent of the Indian population are currently gym members – and even then the typical member is a young fi t man. But Indian women need and want fi tness, and not having men in the club fi ts with their culture. For most of these women, it’s probably their fi rst exercise experience in a health club – possibly even their fi rst exercise experience ever. “As in Europe, we market to the
sedentary population, but we target high and middle-high class instead of middle class – our circuit-only membership costs US$48 a month, with gold membership at US$61 a month.
august 2011 © cybertrek 2011 “The biggest challenges
are human resources and customer service. It’s very diffi cult to fi nd experienced or qualifi ed instructors as there’s practically no fi tness labour market. Without the support of Les Mills, which has come into India to offer training in Body Vive and Body Balance, we would have been without instructors. We need to train from scratch. “In terms of customer service, there’s
very little formal training. For example, in many local clubs, classes rarely start or end on time, with staff punctuality also bad. We’re having to provide this sort of know-how and training ourselves – being on time and starting classes on time is really something we’re innovating in India. “To help overcome these diffi culties,
the master franchisee has hired one of our experienced instructors for eight months. The franchisee and her club manager also spent three weeks training in Portugal, and our international consultant spent fi ve weeks in India for the opening.”
Ruiz continues: “Setting up a
business in India isn’t easy – it’s very bureaucratic compared to England, although in Portugal and Spain we’re quite used to bureaucracy. “Construction was also slow,
with many workers having little experience. Time frames are generally different, priorities are different. Modern leadership and management is an issue. And simple things like road traffi c are a nightmare, making it diffi cult to stick to timetables. Essentially, although having a master franchise set-up helps with local contacts, as all ownership is Indian, it’s hard to impose European standards on them. “On a more positive note, people are
educated, respectful of traditions and religion, and crime is not a problem.”
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 53
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