India’s fitness market consists largely of gyms that focus on adult fitness. People between the age of 15 and 50 are largely seen to be wooed by fitness brands. However, Jymka, a European award-winning brand, saw the need for a family fitness gym in India and entered the market in 2002. Riding with Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley as the face of Jymka, the family fitness brand is looking to have over 100 franchisees in the next few years in India.
Wellness India spoke to Anne-Marie Byrne, Founder, Jymka, about the brand’s presence and expansion plans in India. Here are excerpts from the interview.
Tell us about Jymka.
Jymka is a family fitness club. It was established in 2002 primarily for children’s fitness initially. It’s a programme that is originally based on gymnastics. It’s a very educational and comprehensive fitness programme for children. It’s based on the concept of body-weight exercise and functional fitness in a very specialised gym. In the gym club itself, we have a green functional fitness room for the adults, we have a blue gym for the kids. For adults, we have a 5-day a week program and for the kids it’s 3 days a week. It’s a European award winning brand and we brought it to India.
What is it that brings you to the Indian wellness industry?
We met Franchise India back in 2012 and they saw the potential or a link between what we were offering and the Indian market. Indian mums have an interest in the welfare of their families. I think the fitness industry has really come on here and this concept is ready for the Indian market because there is a problem of obesity here. People really need to address staying active and fit.
What kind of a response have you got in India?
It’s been fantastic. There are people who are very interested in franchising with us. They want to know whether the gym is located close to them. And franchising is such a great opportunity considering we don’t have a competitor being a very unique concept. I think it’s a great opportunity for investors to open a club like this.
Our franchise is half the price of other gyms, it’s close to Rs 40 lakhs. We give you every kind of support to set up the business.
Where are you seeing Jymka five years from now?
We’d be all over with over a 100 franchisees across India. We are in countries like Spain, Switzerland and more.
