May 18, 2025 • 39 mins
"I think the why is so important, but it's always not really being asked. Most people want to know, 'What's your growth look like?' or 'How is this offering different from another offering?' Those are the questions we get most of the time. But going back to the real why we actually do this in the first place is the most critical question if you ask me. For myself personally, it is all about having a positive impact in society. We have chosen to go down the route of wellness, fitness, and longevity to have that positive impact, which we believe is extremely important and a strong one whereby I'm personally putting a lot of energy, funds, and capital behind it to ensure we educate the community and society to establish and adopt healthy and active lifestyles that will only benefit the entire population." - Allen Law
Fresh out of the studio, Allen Law, co-founder of MOVE Repeat, chairman of REVL, and principal of Seveno Capital, joins us to explore the holistic approach to wellness, fitness, and longevity across his entrepreneurial ventures. In the conversation, Allen explained his journey from "accidental hotelier" to longevity entrepreneur, outlining the six pillars of longevity. He emphasized that the gap isn't in knowledge but in action, highlighting how his upcoming 38,000 square foot facility in Singapore brings medical, fitness, recovery, sleep, and nutrition services under one roof to help people change their lifestyles. Allen discussed how MOVE Repeat has acquired three brands operating in 50+ studios across five countries and shifted from traditional subscription models to pay-as-you-go to ensure consistent customer satisfaction. Last but not least, Allen describes what great would look like for his fitness, wellness and longevity businesses.
Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Quote of the Day by Allen Law
[01:00] Introduction: Allen Law and his career journey
[04:00] Career Lessons Shared: The importance of first principles and purpose-driven business beyond financial success
[05:45] The six pillars of longevity: sleep, exercise, nutrition, avoiding harmful substances, social connections, and stress management
[08:00] Move Repeat's expansion to three brands across five countries with over 50 fitness studios
[11:45] Change of Business Model from Subscription to Pay as you go in Fitness Clubs focused on customer satisfaction
[18:15] The holistic approach to wellness and why focusing on just one pillar isn't enough
[20:00] Allen's upcoming 38,000 square foot facility combining medical, fitness, recovery, and nutrition services
[26:00] Bridging the gap between wellness knowledge and action through lifestyle change support
[31:00] Using science and data tracking to show measurable improvements in health metrics
[32:00] Democratizing wellness to make longevity accessible for the 50% rather than the wealthy 5%
[35:00] Community building as the foundation for growth in wellness businesses
[38:00] Closing
Profile: Allen Law, Co-Founder, MOVE Repeat, Chairman, REVL Training, Principal, Seveno Capital, Founder, Park Hotel Group.
Allen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenlawphg/
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. The proper credits for the intro and end music are "Energetic Sports Drive." G. Thomas Craig mixed and edited the episode in both video and audio format. Here are the links to watch or listen to our podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I think the why is so important,but it's always not really being
asked. Most people want to know or
what's your growth looks like, how is this offering different
from Anna offering? So those are the questions we
get most of the time. But going back to the real, why
we actually do this in the 1st place is the most most critical
question if you ask me. For myself personally, it is all
(00:22):
about having a positive impact in the society.
We have chosen to go down the route of Wellness, fitness and
longevity to having that positive impact, which we
believe is extremely important and a strong one, whereby I'm
personally putting a lot of energy funds and capital behind
it to ensure we educate the community, the society to
(00:42):
establish and adopt healthy and active lifestyle and that will
only benefit the entire population.
Welcome to Analyze Asia, the premier podcast dedicated to
dissecting the powers of business, technology, and media
in Asia. I'm Bernard Yang and everyone
wants to live longer. How does longevity combined with
(01:03):
Wellness and fitness help us to live longer with me today?
Alan Law, Co founder of Move Repeat chairman of Revel
Training, principal of Savino Capital, founder of Park Hotel
Group and Ellen, first of all, abig thank you to you and Grand
Park City Hall for hosting me here and have this face to face
(01:24):
interview. So to begin, welcome to the
show. Thank you.
Yes. So your journey actually from
hotel magnet to a Wellness entrepreneur is pretty
fascinating. So I always want to start off
with origin stories. Can you share how your business
career began? Yeah, it's I started with hotel,
it's kind of I call it a accidental hotelier in the
(01:47):
sense. So my family originally is in
garment manufacturing, then theyFrench out to fashion retailing
and real estate back in Hong Kong during my grandfather's
days. But as the generation grow, our
family have one very good familyphilosophy whereby we only have
one family member in one business unit.
(02:08):
So as that generation grow from my grandfather one to my dad's
generation six of them to my generation now is 20 over of us
and the next generation I cannotkeep count already.
So basically the idea for the family is to grow a business
that you can somehow related to.But yeah, it's a separate
(02:30):
business and then it become a seating venture and a business
group on its own. So for me, I started to with
hotel, but then in recent years I've started to see businesses
in in the Wellness and longevitymedicine field.
So and then hoping to bring it to a much bigger platform and
stand alone as a business venture on this one, yeah.
So your background is very fascinating.
(02:51):
So you step into leadership at Hotel Group at just 24 years
old, OK. And then you transform it and
turn it into a regional hospitality leader.
Reflecting on that experience, what leadership lessons did you
internalize earlier on, especially from observing your
family in business? I see that with my wife, with
her family business. So I think it will be very
(03:12):
interesting thing to think about.
Yes, I was literally a fresh grad from uni, I studied in UK
and I just got a call from my parents and that they have
invested in a hotel property in Hong Kong and they have no
intention of learning how to runa hotel.
So I'm the next generation and just graduate and I got the call
from my father and say OK, now it's the time for you to come
(03:33):
back and Start learning about hotel business.
So that's when I take the next flight home and literally drown
myself in the hotel. I started with almost like a
fast track management training program typically will take 24
months period. I can't complete it within nine
months. I'm doing 2 shifts every day
within the hotel. At the end, I have actually
(03:55):
wrote a proposal to the family and say now I see a tremendous
opportunity for tourism in general across Asia at that
point in time. And and for us being in real
estate, we see that putting moremoney and funds behind investing
in hotel is a good move. And that's when I got the family
(04:18):
to set aside poor funds for me to invest further in in hotel
business. Wow.
And that was just less than one year after I've joined.
Yes, because I remember you telling this very interesting
story in King's College, right? Yes, King's alumni.
Well, my wife was the alumni I and I happened to sit in as a
spouse and that talk that you give about how you set up the
business from your entire entrepreneur journey was very
(04:40):
inspiring. So I've got to ask you this
question before we get to the real big subject.
Based on your shift from hospitality business now to
Wellness, fitness, and even longevity business, what are the
lessons from your career journeythat you can share with my
audience? I will.
Say, getting your hands dirty. Go back to principle.
What is the business set out to do?
(05:03):
What is its ultimate goal beyondfinancial success?
Of course, in business, every business have its own PL. it has
its cost to pay and obviously every business want to make
money. But that is to me is just
financial sustainability. It's just a given for any
business, but what makes a successful company is ultimately
(05:27):
you fall back onto what is your ultimate purpose, what is the
impact in the society and once we have that, why very being
very solid, then when it come tothe what and the how, it will be
a lot easier. Yeah, then there is really good
advice. I think first principles
thinking is what you are alluding to.
And so I want to get to the mainsubject of day and want to talk
(05:48):
about the Wellness, fitness, longevity to your different
businesses. So I want to start for the
benefit of the general audience out there, could you share how
you define the business of Wellness, fitness and longevity?
I think during our lunch before this conversation you spoke
about the six pillar framework on longevity.
Can you walk us through the different pillars and explain
(06:08):
how the framework actually informs your strategy around the
business in the longevity, Wellness and fitness segment?
Yes. So the Wellness and longevity
view is quite wide is, but then ultimately we go back to, as I
say, the principle, what are thefoundation of living a healthy
long life. That's what Wellness and
(06:29):
longevity means. And ultimately, if you follow
the lifestyle medicine principle, which they have six
key pillars and some of which I will say all the audiences and
the public will actually know, but somehow it's getting tough
for people to actually execute. So the first one is sleep well,
yes, literally just sleep well, so.
(06:51):
Yeah, I was asleep, right? Obviously if you don't get a
good sleep then it will affect the rest of your day.
So then next is actually is you need to do some form of physical
exercise. Everyone knows exercise is
actually healthy for us and it'sproven by many science research
behind it and it not just helping us keep a healthy body,
(07:11):
but then it help us in our mind getting sharper as we go along
our day in making important decision as well.
And then next is the big one is your food, your intake.
So do we go with the healthy diet or do we go with the junk
food that is easily accessible today's?
So those are the food choices that we made in lifestyle
(07:34):
medicine survey or research. They would say you probably make
over 100 decision just on food alone, whether I should look at
this food or should I eat that food or how much should I eat
and when should I eat there. Just in one day you'll have
hundred of these questions and to decide on and ultimately
these small decisions you make on a daily basis will affect
(07:54):
your food choices as well. Then then some other pillars
like avoid harmful substances like your cigarette, your
alcohol and drugs that is almostgiven.
And then having a positive social connection is critical
for mental health as well. And last but not least is a
stress management. We are all somehow cook up in a
(08:16):
very stressed environment, especially those living in the
city. I think we are, most of us are
working in a very high stressed environment, but how do we
manage that and how do we de stress will be one of the
important process that we need to put in place.
As well, I totally agree. The one on stress management,
because I think that was once I went to the US stay in the
behaviour and there was a stressmanagement course.
(08:37):
And actually it helped me to even take away the heartburn
that I was having. And that was really a very good
way of managing it. But I want to go down to the
what is the potential market opportunity and how are your
businesses say move, repeat level and even Savino Capital,
there's poised to try to make a difference in these three
(08:58):
segments. Yes.
So we started with exercise first we jump into our fitness
and I've Co founded move repeat,yes, two years ago and and we
have acquired the largest yoga chain in Singapore, Yoga
Movement and and last year I bought Yoga movement to Hong
Kong as well. And and the intention is to
continue a a chain operation in Hong Kong as well and then
(09:21):
subsequently in the North Asia. And we also own the strong
Pilates Singapore franchise as well.
And early this year we have announced the acquisition of
Revel training from Australia. So currently move Repeat, we
have three brands operating in five country with 50 over
studios. So because you shift from the
hospitality sector to the fitness, Wellness and even
(09:44):
longevity, what drove that transition?
And how did your experience fromthe Park Hotel Group actually
shape the way you approach, move, repeat, Revel and the
other businesses that you acquired so that you can scale
it so quickly? Yeah.
So I was running part of health group back then.
And then we look at Wellness, which part of the Wellness that
(10:05):
we are already involved in. So all of our hotel will have a
gym, have a pool, some resort hotel will have spa treatment
and yoga session etcetera. So kind of fitness and fitness
offering is already part of the hotel.
It's just a very small business office and in in the hotel
industry we call it the minor operating department.
(10:26):
Actually it's so minor. Interesting.
Yeah, so minor that we actually call it the minor operating
department. But but then I was thinking, OK,
since we are already have some limited know how in in the
fitness area and why don't we start looking into how we can
grow that fitness segment as a business on its own.
That's how Move Repeat was born.And yoga movement is actually I
(10:47):
was practicing there at that time for at that time.
I love their culture, I love their brand, I love that surface
delivery. So I got in touch with their
founder and we've got a deal done.
Wow, there's it. So I guess The thing is that it
spends 5 brands. You have 50 studios across five
countries. I think scaling is always one of
the most difficult part, but probably because you already
(11:09):
have the previous experience of scaling hotels, so this is
actually much more easier. Yes, scaling to me is actually
not the difficult part to be honest.
Wow. The importance is actually
having your initial concept right in the industry.
You probably call it the proof of concept.
You make sure your First off is good.
(11:30):
And then of course we all make mistakes, especially for the
first one. We need to continue to fine tune
whereby you have established a model whereby you actually can
multiply. And then for let's say for yoga
movement, strong Pilates as a revel training, they have all
established A proven model whereby they have already
multiplied to a certain extent within the initial geographical
(11:52):
location. So with that actually for me
it's just taking something that is already well established and
taking it beyond their home market.
So I think that is to me it's the easier part and especially I
have experience in different jurisdiction, understand some of
the local rules and regulation and nuances is actually making
(12:13):
the enroll to a new market a loteasier and consider reduced risk
as we move into the new market. So now what we are focusing on
for move repeat is actually building that community at each
of the market that we operate. And actually you'll be surprised
how many other visitor actually come to our location, our
(12:34):
different location and then theyactually interested to become
our franchise in other new market as well.
So it's actually having that foundation of a community
whereby your community themselves are so satisfied with
the offering and they want to bring you to somewhere else that
you are not there yet. So I think with that buy in from
(12:54):
from the customer on the ground,it is tremendous on the right of
what we we believe and what we are doing day-to-day.
So I think you have yoga movement, you have reveled more
repeat, you have Pilates, you brought together really what I
call diverse modalities. What is the thinking about say
building an ecosystem or scaling1 dominant brands?
Do you essentially would try to leverage their diversity to have
(13:19):
a much more centralized economies of scale or do you
think of them as able to help tofulfill the fitness Wellness
pillar of the six pillars that you talk about?
Yes. So each of the brand will have
its own growth strategy, but move repeat, what we do is we
help each of the brand to take out some of the non essential
(13:42):
items, for example, some of yourback of house administrative
work, some may be HR related matters and some may be a
marketing strategy. So some of these we take it at
the move repeat level whereby welet the brands to focus on what
they're good at and continue to deliver that service excellence
at each of the studios and continue to train their trainer
(14:05):
and instructors to deliver a newprogram and new block of
training for different brand. As we move along, what Move
Repeat as a group collectively is actually helping the brand to
take out some of the nuances that they would probably like
someone to outsource to someone,but then they're leaving that
important part to continue themselves.
(14:25):
So Move Repeat provide that platform.
Of course, we continue to look at other modality and brands as
we move along with move Repeat to add in different brand into
the portfolio. And we will see a strategic
growth in the near future whereby we actually have a
sizeable collection of brands and operations across the world.
And at that point in time, we potentially will introduce some
(14:49):
form of membership or cross or credit system whereby you can
just be a move repeat members and you can access all the
various brand. That there will be pretty much a
lot what customers would want given all these different
modalities and but you can actually draw them through just
that one brand itself. So because you are the chairman
(15:09):
of Revel, right? What's the vision for that
brand? Yeah.
So for Revel themselves, it is, I would safely say it's one of
our fastest growing brand withinthe portfolio.
We are expecting to double our size in I think next 12 months
and and in three years down the road they're expecting to grow
(15:30):
revenue 6 folds. So, so the growth trajectory for
raffle training is, is tremendous.
So, so our team headquarter in Australia is working extremely
hard in, in making sure our backend can support that growth.
Yeah. So it's so to us, it's the
demand is there. So how we ensure our supply
chain and operation can support that growth.
(15:52):
Yeah. So, so that that's the important
part actually. What Drew?
You to that model then and I mean there's also like
localization require Australia is very different but not really
that different from Singapore interms of city based, but maybe
to some other jurisdictions. We have differences, yeah.
How do you think about the taking these global trends and
then localizing it then? Yeah.
(16:12):
So the global trend and at leastfor Revel training is that it is
a stream and conditioning group exercise.
So, so you see the trend is you get more and more people
joining, for example, High Rocksas a fitness competition and a
lot of our members will want to be trained for their games.
And Revel training ourselves actually conduct internal games
(16:32):
as well. So, so recently in Singapore, we
collaborate with Robbie 7:00 andhad our Ravel games at the
National Stadium of Singapore actually.
There's a pretty good fitness. Yes.
To do, yeah. Exactly, So a lot of people
understand it's not just about burning that calorie which
typically you'll see in running or cycling, but people now
(16:54):
recognize that you do need to incorporate some form of
strength training as well, whichrevel is the best fit that you
have both strength as well as the cardio portion that you
train both side. So the global trend is
definitely supporting what will training is.
Actually, what is the interesting part about consumer
behaviour, whether it's in Singapore, Australia or even the
(17:15):
Greater Asia Pacific, stand out to you?
Like specifically how people arenow engaging with fitness,
lifestyle and even Wellness. What are the trends like?
So I think the trend is actuallypeople want variety Last time
the model is each of the fitnessbrand will try to tie you in
(17:36):
with let's say a 12 month contract.
Please sign up this subscription, 12 months lock in
contract. You're with us all the time,
right? Yes, so that's the old model.
So for us, we don't believe in contracts.
We sell you even one single class.
You can just come in for drop inone class.
But if you want cheaper options then you buy.
Maybe commit 5/10/20 classes. I'll be like a pay as you go.
(17:58):
Yeah, yeah, literally. So that also forces forces us to
be on our feet all the time because at any point in time, if
our service is not satisfactory to the consumer, they won't come
back. That's a form of customer
obsession, right? Yeah.
So that help us and our entire team to focusing every session
counts, every customer satisfactory counts instead of
(18:22):
the old days like you sign a contract, this guy come in or
doesn't come in whether he's happy or not happy, no one
really cares. So we have went away from that
model and literally focusing everything about customer and we
ensure you that you are satisfied that you want to come
back. It's not like it's not because
you are being tied down with a contract.
(18:43):
So I'm going to ask you this question then.
What is the one thing you know about the longevity, fitness and
Wellness business there? Very few do.
Everything I know is probably the industry would know also,
but the one that I think it stands out is the word
holistics. I think the market currently
most focusing one piece of the puzzle.
(19:05):
So let's say for the exercise brands, they would like or about
exercise, they may try to touch a little bit on maybe nutrition
your let's say your private trainer made say or you need to
eat healthier while you train you maybe or increase some
protein intake, for example. So, so, so they may try, but
ultimately each of the offering is pretty niche in one pillar of
(19:28):
what we earlier mentioned about the longevity pillars.
So for me I think the importanceis not about one pillar, but how
about locate holistically all the six key pillars and how are
each inter correlated to each other.
And almost back to the earlier question was like if you don't
(19:51):
sleep well, how do you expect togo on your day proper as well?
So exercise is important, but asimportant as recovery and sleep,
correct? You don't recover.
How how do you go and exercise tomorrow again?
I. I I've been dated at least
myself now to sleep 8 hours a day because it it really has a
lot to do with the energy in thenext day.
(20:14):
Yeah, yeah. So to me, it's all about
holistic Wellness. You need to focus on all the key
pillars and not just one. You may not be excellent in all.
It's fine. You take a small step on each of
them instead of taking one extreme.
Yeah. So that will be my advice and
approach. So I know you're now venturing
into the longevity. So with a new business, I, well,
(20:36):
I was stealth mode. So can you share a little bit
about the upcoming launch, But how does it really complement
the broader move repeat vision? Yeah.
So, so it's exactly what I shareabout holistic.
Our next venture is all about holistics.
So, so a lot of people ask me, oh, what are you trying to do?
What, how is it different from the market offering?
(20:58):
To me, what we are trying to offer is you can find the same
type of offering, but you may need to go to six, 7-8 different
places. But what we are trying to do now
here is we bring all this in house in one location with one
brand, one team to look after all the 6-7 things that you
(21:19):
potentially need to go outside for.
Including the medicine part, right?
Yes. So we have longevity clinic
focusing on lifestyle medicine with medical doctor and our
chief scientific officer endorsing the protocol and the
research and then how we literally prescribe a lifestyle
(21:40):
to the individuals and giving them the advice.
What active steps they can do toimprove their health.
And then we incorporate a healthcoach to guide you along your
Wellness journey and and facility.
We have including your exercise,whether it's your Pilates, yoga,
gym, etcetera. And then we have a recovery area
(22:01):
from your contrast therapy to your to your cryotherapy and
your oxygen chamber etcetera foryour recovery.
And then we also are working with sleep specialist and
consultant to guide you and teach you how to incorporate
sleep into your daily life as well.
And not to mention about food, which is a extremely important.
(22:21):
Part so you can have a nutritionspecialist.
Too. Yes, we have a dietitian and
nutritionist helping us to craftthat menu for our FMB offering
as well as providing consultation to meet each
person's meats. As we know everyone taste buds
are very different and most of us also want a variety of
cuisine as well. We don't stick with one cuisine,
so we keep trying to different Christine on different days of
(22:44):
the week. That's how we encourage the team
to ensure we provide that variety suitable to the
individuals preference and circumstances as well.
Yeah. My wife and I took some of these
practices and we do more personally, it looks like you're
taking the whole thing to scale like you have the entire end to
end. So but from customized with
everyone. So there seems to be a strong
(23:04):
movement of startups businesses now entering into the longevity
sector. I think Singapore is a pretty
big hot beat. I was just talking to because
I'm part of the indoor network with all the tech executives,
the exchange network. They are now looking into the
longevity startups to invest. Then there is Michael Health
locally through Y combination inthe US and I also know a pretty
well known venture capitalist intown, former Co founder of
(23:27):
vash.com is also involved in looking into this business.
But there seems to be what I call different spectrums looking
from healthcare, fitness, technology point of view.
What are your perspectives in terms of reconsulting these
different strengths through the way you're thinking about
longevity business? Yes.
So you now need to add in a final.
(23:48):
Oh yeah. Capital, you know, we have to
get the debt where we are. Where the fund is 100% focus in
longevity and health spend. That's right.
So, so we, we actually have received so much interest from
the from various start up in thelongevity field and that's why
we actually set up this fund. We see actually a funding gap,
despite what you mentioned that there are few funds out there
(24:10):
would put money behind it. But there's literally a funding
gap to fund some of these stars up and great ideas.
So we are trying to provide thatbe the fund that can have a
extreme focus and know how in inthe longevity field to to
backing these ideas. And at the same time at our end,
having scientists and researcherto endorsing whether the ideas
(24:33):
and project behind it potentially can be a successful
one or can be even. Integrated into the business as
part of the start country. Work with Collaborate as well.
Actually, it's not a requirement, but potentially as
you see as our Wellness, fitnessand longevity portfolio growth,
for sure there will be synergy across different brands within
the portfolio as well. Although it is strictly not a
(24:55):
must, but I think most of the partners we do see us as a
better choice of funding partnerbecause other than money and
capital, you get the know how and support from our wider
portfolio. I should probably bridge the XA
team. With you and have.
A conversation on that, but I want to talk about that 38,000
(25:15):
square foot, the whole facility that you are gonna in Singapore,
it's actually very significant step because you gonna put all
the medical, the fitness, the Wellness all in one place.
I want to get your sense of how do you think about the medical
science, the clinical expertise embedded in the design and
delivery because you walk me through the place and then we
are talking about it. And then I was like, wow, this
(25:36):
is very interesting way of thinking about how do you design
A space to do everything. Yeah.
So, so I would say is first of it's kind in Singapore, if not
in Asia. So you you'll find very little
similar setup outside. So, So what we do is we go back
to first principle is what do wewant to achieve.
(26:00):
So basically we go back to condense down to the real things
that we want to achieve is that we want to cause positive impact
to 1's health span and the more people we can help, the more
successful we are. Yeah.
So that's our belief. So then for us is we go back to
(26:21):
see is it the knowledge gap? Then we say, no, it's not.
People actually know what is important to live a live a
healthy life. That's right.
People know, but then go down tothe outcome.
But how come so many of us are not living a healthy life?
(26:42):
Yeah. And having a lot of chronic
diseases. And you see that the data and
the trends is just going to get worse.
Correct. And what we see is that the gap
is actually between the knowledge and action.
And the hardest part is actuallychanging one's lifestyle.
(27:04):
You have to change your lifestyle and routine.
Everyone say I'm busy, yes, I don't have time, I don't have
money to do this and that. But if we think back ourselves,
let's say sometimes I do what I call 0 based analysis for
business, basically assuming we have nothing today and we are
(27:24):
going to build a business and what does it look like, right?
So let's apply it to our lifestyle.
Let's say we just woke up and wehave nothing planned.
What will we do? Then we start laying on.
It's like, OK, I may want to do some meditation when I start,
maybe a yoga session to start off and then I eat a healthy
breakfast. Then I start my work.
That's right. For example, things like this,
(27:45):
you may start thinking differently instead of like, oh,
now I just like dive into my e-mail and then start and check
my phone first. That's right.
So, so perhaps we can all dial back and say, OK, if we apply a
serial based analysis to our ownown routine, how we look like,
if we want a healthier outcome, then that's how our built
around. We have a large team of experts
(28:08):
and professional to actually help people to design their
routine on a daily basis. And then we be the buddy with
you to carve sometimes need to encourage you, sometimes we need
to remind you and sometimes we may need a nudge you a bit also.
So ensure you make that lifestyle change because
lifestyle change are difficult. That's right, they are difficult
and sometimes you literally needa buddy to go along this journey
(28:31):
and and sometimes you have cheatdays.
It's fine, no problem, but it's literally how you incorporate
all these into your daily life. Yeah, it cannot be very it
cannot make it too hot. If it's too hot you will just
like or one month later everything forget back to.
I noticed this in fitness training right?
You get a fitness coach because not because of the fitness coach
is actually to remind you to getto there or even strength
(28:54):
training. Yeah, yeah.
You don't need a culture. Have you count how many reps of?
Yeah, actually. To push you to do more weights
and on that I want to get back to the Savino capital because
you are almost, you build a business, a hotel business to a
chain and then you're able to scale.
You have almost the mindset of aentrepreneur, right when you
(29:17):
evaluate let's say the same investments in longevity space.
And I don't think that has actually is very different from
how you how you think as an entrepreneur, what specific
traits and qualities you look infounders or the market segments
within longevity or even in the other two segments that you will
find most compelling. Yeah.
(29:37):
So typically we look at for Sivano first is because we have
a very clear mission in mind. So the first, the thing we
filter is actually does the startup or the founder mindset
in line with what we set out to do, which is to improve health
span. Does it meet this requirement
(29:59):
first? OK, so that's the first filter.
Then it come down to the second one is actually is how's that?
How do we see the founder mindset in terms of really
delivering that human health spend benefit?
Or are they just looking at creating a nice story and maybe
(30:20):
making quick money out of it? So we really need to drill down
as to what is the real intent. Is there some deeper story
behind it whereby it will be thekey driver and energy behind
that founder even because every startup will face many
challenges and whether this founder can fall and get out
fast and have that determinationto go all the way is going to
(30:43):
make a success or failure for this organization that we
potentially investing in. So I think having a deep
understanding of the founders philosophy and mindset behind
why he want to do this startup in the 1st place is the second
most important for us. So what are your long term
visions to integrate technology and science into?
(31:04):
I think should be a cross a Wellness, fitness and a long
javity business, right? Because it's a very
multidisciplinary business. And you're right, it the
holistic word, which is the one thing that is really that you
identify. So what are the mental models
that you need to have in order to navigate such a
multidisciplinary business? Because I think we had a
discussion where we there's a technology guys coming in
(31:27):
looking in from a technology point of view.
Then there are the medical people coming in from the
medical point of view. How do you see it?
Yes. So first and foremost our
offering will be anchored by science.
So, so we want to ensure whetherwe do or whether we advise other
people to do science back and evidence base.
So, so there'll be form of tracking.
(31:49):
So data is important to us. How is your biometric site as of
today And then after you go through certain program and
diagnostic and protocol with us,then how does your new set of
numbers of like 3-3 months on the row, row for example?
So we want to ensure we are not just here to talk about how good
it can be. We want to show people
(32:11):
realistically and scientificallyand what's the data look like.
If you go through certain steps with us, we believe that those
data will come back to be the main driver for people to
wanting more and progressing through their health journey
with us. I will be remiss because I think
during that lunch conversation we have one of the things I
(32:31):
really clearly remember that youwere you were talking to, it
means the emphasis on community.Yes.
So I really want you to talk about this.
How do you envisage the role of community in promoting all this
kind of holistic health across your different ventures?
Because I think if you think about the place and the yoga
movement, they are all communitybased.
Growth, yeah. So if you look at today's
(32:54):
longevity offering out there, I will safely say most are
targeting the wealthy top 5 percentile of the population and
it's some even marketed is you, you spend this 100,000 a year,
you don't even you're not even not just getting a healthier
self, but you have this status as well.
(33:14):
So it's a very elitism somehow. But what we are trying to do is
actually trying to with the helpof technology and AI, we try to
democratize our offering so thatwe can bring down the cost and
open up our offering to probablymiddle 50 percentile to be in in
the position to afford a healthier.
Options that we and improving the Blue Zone in Singapore, even
(33:36):
the region as well. Yeah, if for sure, we do
strongly believe that the science is strong, the action is
weak. And if you say getting into a
improved health state for a population level of a Blue Zone
is actually achievable, it's very achievable.
The really stumbling block is how do we create a model whereby
(34:01):
it's easy enough for people to start making small changes and
that's more changes with the data back they see in a certain
certain months to come, they themselves will actually see,
they become the advocate of it. Yeah.
So the more people are going to it end up become the social
norm. The old days, the social norm is
(34:23):
you go to a bar and drink and have a chat, right?
Yeah, you see the alcohol cell has been reducing and we hope to
see the social norm of actually going to a yoga studio or going
to a gym or going to a healthy diet is actually the place we
will have our social connection.Agree and in fact now people
don't even want to drink alcoholanymore they want non alcoholic
(34:46):
taste like and that took away I think 24% of the actual.
Alcoholic. Alcoholic business, Exactly.
Most of the big big the alcohol brand now are selling non
alcohol version of the same thing.
Yes, yes. So I, it will be, I would like
to ask this. So what's the one question that
you wish more people would ask you about whether it's Revo,
Move, repeat or any businesses or even longevity?
(35:09):
What was the one question that you wish people would ask you
more? I would say is the why behind
why we are in this business. Then why are you in this
business? I think the why is so important,
but it's always not really beingasked.
Most people want to know or what's your growth looks like?
(35:31):
How is this offering different from Anna offering?
So those are the questions we get most of the time.
But going back to the real, why we actually do this in the 1st
place is the most most critical question if you ask me.
For myself personally, it is allabout having a positive impact
in the society. We have chosen to go down the
(35:51):
route of Wellness, fitness and longevity to having that
positive impact, which we believe is extremely important
and a strong one, whereby I'm personally putting a lot of
energy funds and capital behind it to ensure we educate the
community, the society to establish and adopt healthy and
active lifestyle and that will only benefit the entire
(36:12):
population. So my traditional closing
question, what does grade look like for Revel, Move, VPN, all
the businesses, I think even including Savino Capital for the
next few years? Yeah.
So it's definitely the idea of community building, whether it's
for Savino, it's the building that investment community behind
supporting small businesses in their journey in the same field
(36:35):
or like raffle or yoga movement or that we continue to build
that community that engages withthe individuals and sharing why,
for example, yoga is beneficial to them or why a string
conditioning training is beneficial for them.
I think continue to build that community is ultimately the our
(36:57):
most important task. And with that, the growth of the
organization will only grow withyour community growth.
If our community don't grow, theOrganism will just be stagnant.
Your demand is kept I. Totally like the approach
because one of the things you highlighted in one of the six
pillars is the important for social interactions.
Yeah, and that community part isactually very, very hard.
(37:19):
The 1st 5 pillars I think is possible, but the community part
I think it's that one of the really the strength of what you
are thinking. Yes, I think it's actually the
cup, the magic touch yes into it.
It's almost like the old days saying is word of mouth is the
best marketing. Yes, right.
So literally is if you build a community that single user or
(37:39):
customer are so happy with what you're offering, they will for
sure tell their friends and family.
And even for myself, I can do yoga anywhere.
I can like just roll out a mat in my backyard and I can do my
yoga. But the question is when I enter
to the yoga studio, the vibe, the energy we share within the
studio is totally different. So that community, whether it's
(38:00):
in form of verbal or even informal in verbal.
So just being within the same space, you can actually sense
that energy within the room. And and then when you're
chilling out at the lunch area, you come chit chat with some
others that are either new to the to Wellness and exercise or
someone is already many years practicing as a Yogi.
(38:21):
The conversation you see is actually a very +1 and
encouraging one for the entire community as well.
So I always urge my friends or associates that you have to just
take the first step. The first step of engaging with
some of these Wellness community.
That's all you need. You'll feel the viable, you'll
(38:41):
get the positive energy out of it, and you will want to do more
yourself. That is a very.
Good way to close. The great question.
So Ellen, Many thanks for comingto the show so quickly.
In closing, two more short questions.
Any recommendations which have inspired you recently I've.
Recently read this book called The Whole Story by the Whole
(39:03):
Food founder John Mackey. So is indeed quite inspiring for
how he started the whole food and now he actually engaging in
similar business that we are going to operate in in what he
call love dot life. Yes, so it's also similar
lifestyle offering encouraging healthier lifestyle choices and
the facility to support that. So it's very encouraging, a
(39:26):
book. To read that's an interesting
book is I actually bought the book but I haven't started
reading it yet. So final question, how can my
audience find you? I would say easiest would be my
LinkedIn profile and my regular update in my LinkedIn.
Eleanor, you you'll find me there.
And you can definitely find a podcast everywhere, across
everywhere. We just hit our 100K subscribers
(39:46):
just this week. And Ellen, Many thanks for
coming on the show. I look forward to continue the
conversation. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I think the why is so important,but it's always not really being
asked. Most people want to know or
what's your growth looks like, how is this offering different
from Anna offering? So those are the questions we
get most of the time. But going back to the real, why
we actually do this in the 1st place is the most most critical
question if you ask me. For myself personally, it is all
(00:22):
about having a positive impact in the society.
We have chosen to go down the route of Wellness, fitness and
longevity to having that positive impact, which we
believe is extremely important and a strong one, whereby I'm
personally putting a lot of energy funds and capital behind
it to ensure we educate the community, the society to
(00:42):
establish and adopt healthy and active lifestyle and that will
only benefit the entire population.
Welcome to Analyze Asia, the premier podcast dedicated to
dissecting the powers of business, technology, and media
in Asia. I'm Bernard Yang and everyone
wants to live longer. How does longevity combined with
(01:03):
Wellness and fitness help us to live longer with me today?
Alan Law, Co founder of Move Repeat chairman of Revel
Training, principal of Savino Capital, founder of Park Hotel
Group and Ellen, first of all, abig thank you to you and Grand
Park City Hall for hosting me here and have this face to face
(01:24):
interview. So to begin, welcome to the
show. Thank you.
Yes. So your journey actually from
hotel magnet to a Wellness entrepreneur is pretty
fascinating. So I always want to start off
with origin stories. Can you share how your business
career began? Yeah, it's I started with hotel,
it's kind of I call it a accidental hotelier in the
(01:47):
sense. So my family originally is in
garment manufacturing, then theyFrench out to fashion retailing
and real estate back in Hong Kong during my grandfather's
days. But as the generation grow, our
family have one very good familyphilosophy whereby we only have
one family member in one business unit.
(02:08):
So as that generation grow from my grandfather one to my dad's
generation six of them to my generation now is 20 over of us
and the next generation I cannotkeep count already.
So basically the idea for the family is to grow a business
that you can somehow related to.But yeah, it's a separate
(02:30):
business and then it become a seating venture and a business
group on its own. So for me, I started to with
hotel, but then in recent years I've started to see businesses
in in the Wellness and longevitymedicine field.
So and then hoping to bring it to a much bigger platform and
stand alone as a business venture on this one, yeah.
So your background is very fascinating.
(02:51):
So you step into leadership at Hotel Group at just 24 years
old, OK. And then you transform it and
turn it into a regional hospitality leader.
Reflecting on that experience, what leadership lessons did you
internalize earlier on, especially from observing your
family in business? I see that with my wife, with
her family business. So I think it will be very
(03:12):
interesting thing to think about.
Yes, I was literally a fresh grad from uni, I studied in UK
and I just got a call from my parents and that they have
invested in a hotel property in Hong Kong and they have no
intention of learning how to runa hotel.
So I'm the next generation and just graduate and I got the call
from my father and say OK, now it's the time for you to come
(03:33):
back and Start learning about hotel business.
So that's when I take the next flight home and literally drown
myself in the hotel. I started with almost like a
fast track management training program typically will take 24
months period. I can't complete it within nine
months. I'm doing 2 shifts every day
within the hotel. At the end, I have actually
(03:55):
wrote a proposal to the family and say now I see a tremendous
opportunity for tourism in general across Asia at that
point in time. And and for us being in real
estate, we see that putting moremoney and funds behind investing
in hotel is a good move. And that's when I got the family
(04:18):
to set aside poor funds for me to invest further in in hotel
business. Wow.
And that was just less than one year after I've joined.
Yes, because I remember you telling this very interesting
story in King's College, right? Yes, King's alumni.
Well, my wife was the alumni I and I happened to sit in as a
spouse and that talk that you give about how you set up the
business from your entire entrepreneur journey was very
(04:40):
inspiring. So I've got to ask you this
question before we get to the real big subject.
Based on your shift from hospitality business now to
Wellness, fitness, and even longevity business, what are the
lessons from your career journeythat you can share with my
audience? I will.
Say, getting your hands dirty. Go back to principle.
What is the business set out to do?
(05:03):
What is its ultimate goal beyondfinancial success?
Of course, in business, every business have its own PL. it has
its cost to pay and obviously every business want to make
money. But that is to me is just
financial sustainability. It's just a given for any
business, but what makes a successful company is ultimately
(05:27):
you fall back onto what is your ultimate purpose, what is the
impact in the society and once we have that, why very being
very solid, then when it come tothe what and the how, it will be
a lot easier. Yeah, then there is really good
advice. I think first principles
thinking is what you are alluding to.
And so I want to get to the mainsubject of day and want to talk
(05:48):
about the Wellness, fitness, longevity to your different
businesses. So I want to start for the
benefit of the general audience out there, could you share how
you define the business of Wellness, fitness and longevity?
I think during our lunch before this conversation you spoke
about the six pillar framework on longevity.
Can you walk us through the different pillars and explain
(06:08):
how the framework actually informs your strategy around the
business in the longevity, Wellness and fitness segment?
Yes. So the Wellness and longevity
view is quite wide is, but then ultimately we go back to, as I
say, the principle, what are thefoundation of living a healthy
long life. That's what Wellness and
(06:29):
longevity means. And ultimately, if you follow
the lifestyle medicine principle, which they have six
key pillars and some of which I will say all the audiences and
the public will actually know, but somehow it's getting tough
for people to actually execute. So the first one is sleep well,
yes, literally just sleep well, so.
(06:51):
Yeah, I was asleep, right? Obviously if you don't get a
good sleep then it will affect the rest of your day.
So then next is actually is you need to do some form of physical
exercise. Everyone knows exercise is
actually healthy for us and it'sproven by many science research
behind it and it not just helping us keep a healthy body,
(07:11):
but then it help us in our mind getting sharper as we go along
our day in making important decision as well.
And then next is the big one is your food, your intake.
So do we go with the healthy diet or do we go with the junk
food that is easily accessible today's?
So those are the food choices that we made in lifestyle
(07:34):
medicine survey or research. They would say you probably make
over 100 decision just on food alone, whether I should look at
this food or should I eat that food or how much should I eat
and when should I eat there. Just in one day you'll have
hundred of these questions and to decide on and ultimately
these small decisions you make on a daily basis will affect
(07:54):
your food choices as well. Then then some other pillars
like avoid harmful substances like your cigarette, your
alcohol and drugs that is almostgiven.
And then having a positive social connection is critical
for mental health as well. And last but not least is a
stress management. We are all somehow cook up in a
(08:16):
very stressed environment, especially those living in the
city. I think we are, most of us are
working in a very high stressed environment, but how do we
manage that and how do we de stress will be one of the
important process that we need to put in place.
As well, I totally agree. The one on stress management,
because I think that was once I went to the US stay in the
behaviour and there was a stressmanagement course.
(08:37):
And actually it helped me to even take away the heartburn
that I was having. And that was really a very good
way of managing it. But I want to go down to the
what is the potential market opportunity and how are your
businesses say move, repeat level and even Savino Capital,
there's poised to try to make a difference in these three
(08:58):
segments. Yes.
So we started with exercise first we jump into our fitness
and I've Co founded move repeat,yes, two years ago and and we
have acquired the largest yoga chain in Singapore, Yoga
Movement and and last year I bought Yoga movement to Hong
Kong as well. And and the intention is to
continue a a chain operation in Hong Kong as well and then
(09:21):
subsequently in the North Asia. And we also own the strong
Pilates Singapore franchise as well.
And early this year we have announced the acquisition of
Revel training from Australia. So currently move Repeat, we
have three brands operating in five country with 50 over
studios. So because you shift from the
hospitality sector to the fitness, Wellness and even
(09:44):
longevity, what drove that transition?
And how did your experience fromthe Park Hotel Group actually
shape the way you approach, move, repeat, Revel and the
other businesses that you acquired so that you can scale
it so quickly? Yeah.
So I was running part of health group back then.
And then we look at Wellness, which part of the Wellness that
(10:05):
we are already involved in. So all of our hotel will have a
gym, have a pool, some resort hotel will have spa treatment
and yoga session etcetera. So kind of fitness and fitness
offering is already part of the hotel.
It's just a very small business office and in in the hotel
industry we call it the minor operating department.
(10:26):
Actually it's so minor. Interesting.
Yeah, so minor that we actually call it the minor operating
department. But but then I was thinking, OK,
since we are already have some limited know how in in the
fitness area and why don't we start looking into how we can
grow that fitness segment as a business on its own.
That's how Move Repeat was born.And yoga movement is actually I
(10:47):
was practicing there at that time for at that time.
I love their culture, I love their brand, I love that surface
delivery. So I got in touch with their
founder and we've got a deal done.
Wow, there's it. So I guess The thing is that it
spends 5 brands. You have 50 studios across five
countries. I think scaling is always one of
the most difficult part, but probably because you already
(11:09):
have the previous experience of scaling hotels, so this is
actually much more easier. Yes, scaling to me is actually
not the difficult part to be honest.
Wow. The importance is actually
having your initial concept right in the industry.
You probably call it the proof of concept.
You make sure your First off is good.
(11:30):
And then of course we all make mistakes, especially for the
first one. We need to continue to fine tune
whereby you have established a model whereby you actually can
multiply. And then for let's say for yoga
movement, strong Pilates as a revel training, they have all
established A proven model whereby they have already
multiplied to a certain extent within the initial geographical
(11:52):
location. So with that actually for me
it's just taking something that is already well established and
taking it beyond their home market.
So I think that is to me it's the easier part and especially I
have experience in different jurisdiction, understand some of
the local rules and regulation and nuances is actually making
(12:13):
the enroll to a new market a loteasier and consider reduced risk
as we move into the new market. So now what we are focusing on
for move repeat is actually building that community at each
of the market that we operate. And actually you'll be surprised
how many other visitor actually come to our location, our
(12:34):
different location and then theyactually interested to become
our franchise in other new market as well.
So it's actually having that foundation of a community
whereby your community themselves are so satisfied with
the offering and they want to bring you to somewhere else that
you are not there yet. So I think with that buy in from
(12:54):
from the customer on the ground,it is tremendous on the right of
what we we believe and what we are doing day-to-day.
So I think you have yoga movement, you have reveled more
repeat, you have Pilates, you brought together really what I
call diverse modalities. What is the thinking about say
building an ecosystem or scaling1 dominant brands?
Do you essentially would try to leverage their diversity to have
(13:19):
a much more centralized economies of scale or do you
think of them as able to help tofulfill the fitness Wellness
pillar of the six pillars that you talk about?
Yes. So each of the brand will have
its own growth strategy, but move repeat, what we do is we
help each of the brand to take out some of the non essential
(13:42):
items, for example, some of yourback of house administrative
work, some may be HR related matters and some may be a
marketing strategy. So some of these we take it at
the move repeat level whereby welet the brands to focus on what
they're good at and continue to deliver that service excellence
at each of the studios and continue to train their trainer
(14:05):
and instructors to deliver a newprogram and new block of
training for different brand. As we move along, what Move
Repeat as a group collectively is actually helping the brand to
take out some of the nuances that they would probably like
someone to outsource to someone,but then they're leaving that
important part to continue themselves.
(14:25):
So Move Repeat provide that platform.
Of course, we continue to look at other modality and brands as
we move along with move Repeat to add in different brand into
the portfolio. And we will see a strategic
growth in the near future whereby we actually have a
sizeable collection of brands and operations across the world.
And at that point in time, we potentially will introduce some
(14:49):
form of membership or cross or credit system whereby you can
just be a move repeat members and you can access all the
various brand. That there will be pretty much a
lot what customers would want given all these different
modalities and but you can actually draw them through just
that one brand itself. So because you are the chairman
(15:09):
of Revel, right? What's the vision for that
brand? Yeah.
So for Revel themselves, it is, I would safely say it's one of
our fastest growing brand withinthe portfolio.
We are expecting to double our size in I think next 12 months
and and in three years down the road they're expecting to grow
(15:30):
revenue 6 folds. So, so the growth trajectory for
raffle training is, is tremendous.
So, so our team headquarter in Australia is working extremely
hard in, in making sure our backend can support that growth.
Yeah. So it's so to us, it's the
demand is there. So how we ensure our supply
chain and operation can support that growth.
(15:52):
Yeah. So, so that that's the important
part actually. What Drew?
You to that model then and I mean there's also like
localization require Australia is very different but not really
that different from Singapore interms of city based, but maybe
to some other jurisdictions. We have differences, yeah.
How do you think about the taking these global trends and
then localizing it then? Yeah.
(16:12):
So the global trend and at leastfor Revel training is that it is
a stream and conditioning group exercise.
So, so you see the trend is you get more and more people
joining, for example, High Rocksas a fitness competition and a
lot of our members will want to be trained for their games.
And Revel training ourselves actually conduct internal games
(16:32):
as well. So, so recently in Singapore, we
collaborate with Robbie 7:00 andhad our Ravel games at the
National Stadium of Singapore actually.
There's a pretty good fitness. Yes.
To do, yeah. Exactly, So a lot of people
understand it's not just about burning that calorie which
typically you'll see in running or cycling, but people now
(16:54):
recognize that you do need to incorporate some form of
strength training as well, whichrevel is the best fit that you
have both strength as well as the cardio portion that you
train both side. So the global trend is
definitely supporting what will training is.
Actually, what is the interesting part about consumer
behaviour, whether it's in Singapore, Australia or even the
(17:15):
Greater Asia Pacific, stand out to you?
Like specifically how people arenow engaging with fitness,
lifestyle and even Wellness. What are the trends like?
So I think the trend is actuallypeople want variety Last time
the model is each of the fitnessbrand will try to tie you in
(17:36):
with let's say a 12 month contract.
Please sign up this subscription, 12 months lock in
contract. You're with us all the time,
right? Yes, so that's the old model.
So for us, we don't believe in contracts.
We sell you even one single class.
You can just come in for drop inone class.
But if you want cheaper options then you buy.
Maybe commit 5/10/20 classes. I'll be like a pay as you go.
(17:58):
Yeah, yeah, literally. So that also forces forces us to
be on our feet all the time because at any point in time, if
our service is not satisfactory to the consumer, they won't come
back. That's a form of customer
obsession, right? Yeah.
So that help us and our entire team to focusing every session
counts, every customer satisfactory counts instead of
(18:22):
the old days like you sign a contract, this guy come in or
doesn't come in whether he's happy or not happy, no one
really cares. So we have went away from that
model and literally focusing everything about customer and we
ensure you that you are satisfied that you want to come
back. It's not like it's not because
you are being tied down with a contract.
(18:43):
So I'm going to ask you this question then.
What is the one thing you know about the longevity, fitness and
Wellness business there? Very few do.
Everything I know is probably the industry would know also,
but the one that I think it stands out is the word
holistics. I think the market currently
most focusing one piece of the puzzle.
(19:05):
So let's say for the exercise brands, they would like or about
exercise, they may try to touch a little bit on maybe nutrition
your let's say your private trainer made say or you need to
eat healthier while you train you maybe or increase some
protein intake, for example. So, so, so they may try, but
ultimately each of the offering is pretty niche in one pillar of
(19:28):
what we earlier mentioned about the longevity pillars.
So for me I think the importanceis not about one pillar, but how
about locate holistically all the six key pillars and how are
each inter correlated to each other.
And almost back to the earlier question was like if you don't
(19:51):
sleep well, how do you expect togo on your day proper as well?
So exercise is important, but asimportant as recovery and sleep,
correct? You don't recover.
How how do you go and exercise tomorrow again?
I. I I've been dated at least
myself now to sleep 8 hours a day because it it really has a
lot to do with the energy in thenext day.
(20:14):
Yeah, yeah. So to me, it's all about
holistic Wellness. You need to focus on all the key
pillars and not just one. You may not be excellent in all.
It's fine. You take a small step on each of
them instead of taking one extreme.
Yeah. So that will be my advice and
approach. So I know you're now venturing
into the longevity. So with a new business, I, well,
(20:36):
I was stealth mode. So can you share a little bit
about the upcoming launch, But how does it really complement
the broader move repeat vision? Yeah.
So, so it's exactly what I shareabout holistic.
Our next venture is all about holistics.
So, so a lot of people ask me, oh, what are you trying to do?
What, how is it different from the market offering?
(20:58):
To me, what we are trying to offer is you can find the same
type of offering, but you may need to go to six, 7-8 different
places. But what we are trying to do now
here is we bring all this in house in one location with one
brand, one team to look after all the 6-7 things that you
(21:19):
potentially need to go outside for.
Including the medicine part, right?
Yes. So we have longevity clinic
focusing on lifestyle medicine with medical doctor and our
chief scientific officer endorsing the protocol and the
research and then how we literally prescribe a lifestyle
(21:40):
to the individuals and giving them the advice.
What active steps they can do toimprove their health.
And then we incorporate a healthcoach to guide you along your
Wellness journey and and facility.
We have including your exercise,whether it's your Pilates, yoga,
gym, etcetera. And then we have a recovery area
(22:01):
from your contrast therapy to your to your cryotherapy and
your oxygen chamber etcetera foryour recovery.
And then we also are working with sleep specialist and
consultant to guide you and teach you how to incorporate
sleep into your daily life as well.
And not to mention about food, which is a extremely important.
(22:21):
Part so you can have a nutritionspecialist.
Too. Yes, we have a dietitian and
nutritionist helping us to craftthat menu for our FMB offering
as well as providing consultation to meet each
person's meats. As we know everyone taste buds
are very different and most of us also want a variety of
cuisine as well. We don't stick with one cuisine,
so we keep trying to different Christine on different days of
(22:44):
the week. That's how we encourage the team
to ensure we provide that variety suitable to the
individuals preference and circumstances as well.
Yeah. My wife and I took some of these
practices and we do more personally, it looks like you're
taking the whole thing to scale like you have the entire end to
end. So but from customized with
everyone. So there seems to be a strong
(23:04):
movement of startups businesses now entering into the longevity
sector. I think Singapore is a pretty
big hot beat. I was just talking to because
I'm part of the indoor network with all the tech executives,
the exchange network. They are now looking into the
longevity startups to invest. Then there is Michael Health
locally through Y combination inthe US and I also know a pretty
well known venture capitalist intown, former Co founder of
(23:27):
vash.com is also involved in looking into this business.
But there seems to be what I call different spectrums looking
from healthcare, fitness, technology point of view.
What are your perspectives in terms of reconsulting these
different strengths through the way you're thinking about
longevity business? Yes.
So you now need to add in a final.
(23:48):
Oh yeah. Capital, you know, we have to
get the debt where we are. Where the fund is 100% focus in
longevity and health spend. That's right.
So, so we, we actually have received so much interest from
the from various start up in thelongevity field and that's why
we actually set up this fund. We see actually a funding gap,
despite what you mentioned that there are few funds out there
(24:10):
would put money behind it. But there's literally a funding
gap to fund some of these stars up and great ideas.
So we are trying to provide thatbe the fund that can have a
extreme focus and know how in inthe longevity field to to
backing these ideas. And at the same time at our end,
having scientists and researcherto endorsing whether the ideas
(24:33):
and project behind it potentially can be a successful
one or can be even. Integrated into the business as
part of the start country. Work with Collaborate as well.
Actually, it's not a requirement, but potentially as
you see as our Wellness, fitnessand longevity portfolio growth,
for sure there will be synergy across different brands within
the portfolio as well. Although it is strictly not a
(24:55):
must, but I think most of the partners we do see us as a
better choice of funding partnerbecause other than money and
capital, you get the know how and support from our wider
portfolio. I should probably bridge the XA
team. With you and have.
A conversation on that, but I want to talk about that 38,000
(25:15):
square foot, the whole facility that you are gonna in Singapore,
it's actually very significant step because you gonna put all
the medical, the fitness, the Wellness all in one place.
I want to get your sense of how do you think about the medical
science, the clinical expertise embedded in the design and
delivery because you walk me through the place and then we
are talking about it. And then I was like, wow, this
(25:36):
is very interesting way of thinking about how do you design
A space to do everything. Yeah.
So, so I would say is first of it's kind in Singapore, if not
in Asia. So you you'll find very little
similar setup outside. So, So what we do is we go back
to first principle is what do wewant to achieve.
(26:00):
So basically we go back to condense down to the real things
that we want to achieve is that we want to cause positive impact
to 1's health span and the more people we can help, the more
successful we are. Yeah.
So that's our belief. So then for us is we go back to
(26:21):
see is it the knowledge gap? Then we say, no, it's not.
People actually know what is important to live a live a
healthy life. That's right.
People know, but then go down tothe outcome.
But how come so many of us are not living a healthy life?
(26:42):
Yeah. And having a lot of chronic
diseases. And you see that the data and
the trends is just going to get worse.
Correct. And what we see is that the gap
is actually between the knowledge and action.
And the hardest part is actuallychanging one's lifestyle.
(27:04):
You have to change your lifestyle and routine.
Everyone say I'm busy, yes, I don't have time, I don't have
money to do this and that. But if we think back ourselves,
let's say sometimes I do what I call 0 based analysis for
business, basically assuming we have nothing today and we are
(27:24):
going to build a business and what does it look like, right?
So let's apply it to our lifestyle.
Let's say we just woke up and wehave nothing planned.
What will we do? Then we start laying on.
It's like, OK, I may want to do some meditation when I start,
maybe a yoga session to start off and then I eat a healthy
breakfast. Then I start my work.
That's right. For example, things like this,
(27:45):
you may start thinking differently instead of like, oh,
now I just like dive into my e-mail and then start and check
my phone first. That's right.
So, so perhaps we can all dial back and say, OK, if we apply a
serial based analysis to our ownown routine, how we look like,
if we want a healthier outcome, then that's how our built
around. We have a large team of experts
(28:08):
and professional to actually help people to design their
routine on a daily basis. And then we be the buddy with
you to carve sometimes need to encourage you, sometimes we need
to remind you and sometimes we may need a nudge you a bit also.
So ensure you make that lifestyle change because
lifestyle change are difficult. That's right, they are difficult
and sometimes you literally needa buddy to go along this journey
(28:31):
and and sometimes you have cheatdays.
It's fine, no problem, but it's literally how you incorporate
all these into your daily life. Yeah, it cannot be very it
cannot make it too hot. If it's too hot you will just
like or one month later everything forget back to.
I noticed this in fitness training right?
You get a fitness coach because not because of the fitness coach
is actually to remind you to getto there or even strength
(28:54):
training. Yeah, yeah.
You don't need a culture. Have you count how many reps of?
Yeah, actually. To push you to do more weights
and on that I want to get back to the Savino capital because
you are almost, you build a business, a hotel business to a
chain and then you're able to scale.
You have almost the mindset of aentrepreneur, right when you
(29:17):
evaluate let's say the same investments in longevity space.
And I don't think that has actually is very different from
how you how you think as an entrepreneur, what specific
traits and qualities you look infounders or the market segments
within longevity or even in the other two segments that you will
find most compelling. Yeah.
(29:37):
So typically we look at for Sivano first is because we have
a very clear mission in mind. So the first, the thing we
filter is actually does the startup or the founder mindset
in line with what we set out to do, which is to improve health
span. Does it meet this requirement
(29:59):
first? OK, so that's the first filter.
Then it come down to the second one is actually is how's that?
How do we see the founder mindset in terms of really
delivering that human health spend benefit?
Or are they just looking at creating a nice story and maybe
(30:20):
making quick money out of it? So we really need to drill down
as to what is the real intent. Is there some deeper story
behind it whereby it will be thekey driver and energy behind
that founder even because every startup will face many
challenges and whether this founder can fall and get out
fast and have that determinationto go all the way is going to
(30:43):
make a success or failure for this organization that we
potentially investing in. So I think having a deep
understanding of the founders philosophy and mindset behind
why he want to do this startup in the 1st place is the second
most important for us. So what are your long term
visions to integrate technology and science into?
(31:04):
I think should be a cross a Wellness, fitness and a long
javity business, right? Because it's a very
multidisciplinary business. And you're right, it the
holistic word, which is the one thing that is really that you
identify. So what are the mental models
that you need to have in order to navigate such a
multidisciplinary business? Because I think we had a
discussion where we there's a technology guys coming in
(31:27):
looking in from a technology point of view.
Then there are the medical people coming in from the
medical point of view. How do you see it?
Yes. So first and foremost our
offering will be anchored by science.
So, so we want to ensure whetherwe do or whether we advise other
people to do science back and evidence base.
So, so there'll be form of tracking.
(31:49):
So data is important to us. How is your biometric site as of
today And then after you go through certain program and
diagnostic and protocol with us,then how does your new set of
numbers of like 3-3 months on the row, row for example?
So we want to ensure we are not just here to talk about how good
it can be. We want to show people
(32:11):
realistically and scientificallyand what's the data look like.
If you go through certain steps with us, we believe that those
data will come back to be the main driver for people to
wanting more and progressing through their health journey
with us. I will be remiss because I think
during that lunch conversation we have one of the things I
(32:31):
really clearly remember that youwere you were talking to, it
means the emphasis on community.Yes.
So I really want you to talk about this.
How do you envisage the role of community in promoting all this
kind of holistic health across your different ventures?
Because I think if you think about the place and the yoga
movement, they are all communitybased.
Growth, yeah. So if you look at today's
(32:54):
longevity offering out there, I will safely say most are
targeting the wealthy top 5 percentile of the population and
it's some even marketed is you, you spend this 100,000 a year,
you don't even you're not even not just getting a healthier
self, but you have this status as well.
(33:14):
So it's a very elitism somehow. But what we are trying to do is
actually trying to with the helpof technology and AI, we try to
democratize our offering so thatwe can bring down the cost and
open up our offering to probablymiddle 50 percentile to be in in
the position to afford a healthier.
Options that we and improving the Blue Zone in Singapore, even
(33:36):
the region as well. Yeah, if for sure, we do
strongly believe that the science is strong, the action is
weak. And if you say getting into a
improved health state for a population level of a Blue Zone
is actually achievable, it's very achievable.
The really stumbling block is how do we create a model whereby
(34:01):
it's easy enough for people to start making small changes and
that's more changes with the data back they see in a certain
certain months to come, they themselves will actually see,
they become the advocate of it. Yeah.
So the more people are going to it end up become the social
norm. The old days, the social norm is
(34:23):
you go to a bar and drink and have a chat, right?
Yeah, you see the alcohol cell has been reducing and we hope to
see the social norm of actually going to a yoga studio or going
to a gym or going to a healthy diet is actually the place we
will have our social connection.Agree and in fact now people
don't even want to drink alcoholanymore they want non alcoholic
(34:46):
taste like and that took away I think 24% of the actual.
Alcoholic. Alcoholic business, Exactly.
Most of the big big the alcohol brand now are selling non
alcohol version of the same thing.
Yes, yes. So I, it will be, I would like
to ask this. So what's the one question that
you wish more people would ask you about whether it's Revo,
Move, repeat or any businesses or even longevity?
(35:09):
What was the one question that you wish people would ask you
more? I would say is the why behind
why we are in this business. Then why are you in this
business? I think the why is so important,
but it's always not really beingasked.
Most people want to know or what's your growth looks like?
(35:31):
How is this offering different from Anna offering?
So those are the questions we get most of the time.
But going back to the real, why we actually do this in the 1st
place is the most most critical question if you ask me.
For myself personally, it is allabout having a positive impact
in the society. We have chosen to go down the
(35:51):
route of Wellness, fitness and longevity to having that
positive impact, which we believe is extremely important
and a strong one, whereby I'm personally putting a lot of
energy funds and capital behind it to ensure we educate the
community, the society to establish and adopt healthy and
active lifestyle and that will only benefit the entire
(36:12):
population. So my traditional closing
question, what does grade look like for Revel, Move, VPN, all
the businesses, I think even including Savino Capital for the
next few years? Yeah.
So it's definitely the idea of community building, whether it's
for Savino, it's the building that investment community behind
supporting small businesses in their journey in the same field
(36:35):
or like raffle or yoga movement or that we continue to build
that community that engages withthe individuals and sharing why,
for example, yoga is beneficial to them or why a string
conditioning training is beneficial for them.
I think continue to build that community is ultimately the our
(36:57):
most important task. And with that, the growth of the
organization will only grow withyour community growth.
If our community don't grow, theOrganism will just be stagnant.
Your demand is kept I. Totally like the approach
because one of the things you highlighted in one of the six
pillars is the important for social interactions.
Yeah, and that community part isactually very, very hard.
(37:19):
The 1st 5 pillars I think is possible, but the community part
I think it's that one of the really the strength of what you
are thinking. Yes, I think it's actually the
cup, the magic touch yes into it.
It's almost like the old days saying is word of mouth is the
best marketing. Yes, right.
So literally is if you build a community that single user or
(37:39):
customer are so happy with what you're offering, they will for
sure tell their friends and family.
And even for myself, I can do yoga anywhere.
I can like just roll out a mat in my backyard and I can do my
yoga. But the question is when I enter
to the yoga studio, the vibe, the energy we share within the
studio is totally different. So that community, whether it's
(38:00):
in form of verbal or even informal in verbal.
So just being within the same space, you can actually sense
that energy within the room. And and then when you're
chilling out at the lunch area, you come chit chat with some
others that are either new to the to Wellness and exercise or
someone is already many years practicing as a Yogi.
(38:21):
The conversation you see is actually a very +1 and
encouraging one for the entire community as well.
So I always urge my friends or associates that you have to just
take the first step. The first step of engaging with
some of these Wellness community.
That's all you need. You'll feel the viable, you'll
(38:41):
get the positive energy out of it, and you will want to do more
yourself. That is a very.
Good way to close. The great question.
So Ellen, Many thanks for comingto the show so quickly.
In closing, two more short questions.
Any recommendations which have inspired you recently I've.
Recently read this book called The Whole Story by the Whole
(39:03):
Food founder John Mackey. So is indeed quite inspiring for
how he started the whole food and now he actually engaging in
similar business that we are going to operate in in what he
call love dot life. Yes, so it's also similar
lifestyle offering encouraging healthier lifestyle choices and
the facility to support that. So it's very encouraging, a
(39:26):
book. To read that's an interesting
book is I actually bought the book but I haven't started
reading it yet. So final question, how can my
audience find you? I would say easiest would be my
LinkedIn profile and my regular update in my LinkedIn.
Eleanor, you you'll find me there.
And you can definitely find a podcast everywhere, across
everywhere. We just hit our 100K subscribers
(39:46):
just this week. And Ellen, Many thanks for
coming on the show. I look forward to continue the
conversation. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
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