Korede Balogun: Entrepreneur redefining fitness industry

Hassan Olukorede Balogun is the co-founder of Fitness Montane, a start-up that provides fitness tips and workout routines for individuals in Lagos.

Korede and his friend Buhari Jemilu were inspired to start the business out of an idea they had to create a fitness page on Instagram. According to Korede, he and Jemilu opened an Instagram page to showcase themselves doing workout fitness routines for the purpose of getting likes and appraisals from friends, but instead of getting appraisals from people visiting the page, they were getting requests asking for possible training fees.

Owing to the huge volume of requests, Korede and Jemilu decided to run it as a business and, in 2016, they established Fitness Montane.

“Fitness Montagne started just as an idea to create a fitness page on Instagram just to showcase ourselves and everyone in the fitness world. We later started posting fitness tips and workout routines. After receiving a lot of requests on costing, we decided to make it a business and engage in online training,” Korede said.

To encourage more youths to partake in fitness workout, they organised a free fitness boot camp last year, which was sponsored by some organisations.

”We organised a free fitness boot camp which was sponsored by some establishments. The first boot camp program was a success. It included programs such as trainings on daily exercises, self-defence class, dance class, and diet talk,” he said.

The architect-turned-entrepreneur said that his and his partner’s initial start-up capital was spent on subscription and maintaining the company’s website.

Korede and Jemilu currently have six full-time staff members.

He stated that the business has grown since starting owing to the fact that a lot of Nigerians are interested in fitness. “We noticed that many Nigerians are interested in fitness but either they don’t have the time to take part in workouts or they cannot afford it,” Korede said.

Answering questions on the challenges facing the business, Korede stated that high cost of internet subscription and hosting of a website remain the major challenges.

He called on the government to provide enabling environment for businesses and start-ups to grow, stating that if businesses do not spend on providing basic infrastructures for themselves, prices of various services such as data subscription would be far cheaper than what they are now.

Also, he urged the government to grow the country’s fitness industry, stating that it has the potential to create jobs and contribute to the nation’s economic growth and development.

“The government needs to recognise the merit of fitness and try to establish more accessible and available fitness outlets for everyone, and develop agencies which would be in charge of sensitisation of the public on this matter,” he further said.

Speaking on their expansion plans, the young entrepreneur said, “We intend to make the company go far, I mean round the country as a whole, and help Nigerians recognise the merit of keeping fit.”

On his advice to other entrepreneurs, he urged them to always invest in what they have passion for. “I think young entrepreneurs should invest mainly in what they have passion for. We should let our passion be our drive and invest our time into it and with patience, watch it blossom into something greater than we anticipated,” he said.

Josephine Okojie