Tuesday 3 July 2012

The Health Promoting Entrepreneur

As previously discussed finding inspiration can be difficult especially if you are just starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur. However, it is always reassuring to remember that there are endless ways, places and people were ideas can be gained.

I would like to use this post to focus on one particular area where there is plenty of scope for the creative entrepreneur. I think that at present one area which offers a massive opportunity for innovative entrepreneurship is healthy living. We (as a society) would appear to be always claiming that we live in a health conscious society. However an increasing amount of medical evidence would suggest otherwise. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes all seem to be on the increase because people are failing to live in a healthy manner, eat healthy food and exercise regularly.

Recently it was mens health week. I was shocked to learn when viewing a promotional poster for this event that 1 in 5 or 20% of men do not live till they are 65. In todays day and age I find this a staggering statistic. To put that into perspective the retirement age in the UK is now 67 (as I am sure you are all aware). Therefore 20% of men will not even live till they reach retirement never mind beyond it.
Wouldn't it be great if as an aspiring entrepreneur you could create something that promoted and encouraged healthy living. Just think if you could help to reduce chronic health conditions. This sounds like a mammoth task and if we are honest it is. Statistics like the above are not going to change overnight. However with advancements and continuous developments in technology there are a number of innovative ways in which health can be promoted.

It is key to remember that people generally enjoy activities or services that are fun, sociable convenient, simple and offer value for money. This can be seen through individuals using services such as online shopping and takeaways. There have been a number of entrepreneurs that have looked at health promotion. This can be seen with the Nintendo Wii with games such as Wii fitness and Wii Sports.


One example of how technology is now being used to promote healthy home cooked food is demonstrated by "The Apprentice" runner up Nick Holzherr as reported by the BBC in their article "Apprentice runner-up Nick Holzherr gets cash for food site". He has recently secured funding for the launch of this project called "Whisk". The website claims that this service results in "fewer left over ingredients and eat more healthily". Here it can be seen how convenience, healthy eating and value for money have been merged to create an innovative service. Below are two more health entrepreneur related articles which caught my attention:


If you are an aspiring entrepreneur that has a particularly strong knowledge or interest in nutrition and health or even if you are just curious I would strongly recommend reading the above three articles that I have highlighted.

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