FIT UK Training Case Study: Expanding their training to learners globally.

Starting over 12 years ago as a commercial provider of health and fitness offerings, FIT UK has expanded to a high-quality training and apprenticeship provider, offering a suite of health and fitness qualifications across the UK and internationally. FIT UK opted to work with Active IQ based on the resources and range of qualifications they provide over 10 years ago, and since then, the relationship has grown and allowed FIT UK to expand their offering globally to learners in the UAE.

Work in UAE

After great success providing learners across the UK with high-quality qualifications and valuable apprenticeship placements, FITUK has embarked on a new venture to export their services to UAE. After getting in touch with the VP of Gems Cambridge Academy School in Abu Dhabi, Company Director of FIT UK Alan Reddin introduced their Level 2 Fitness Assistant qualification to research whether this was beneficial for Year 10 students to give them foundational knowledge of the fitness and wellbeing sector.

“The pilot phase of this qualification will be complete by the end of this month [March] and from September, we will begin running as an offering to Year 9 and 10 students. The aim is to then make this qualification open to other GEMs schools.”

As the official training provider for this school, Alan began making connections with people within the industry and established a relationship with the Insparida Sports District.

“We began offering PT qualifications and using their facility to run our courses and developed more of a partnership as opposed to just renting a space. It turned into a collaboration and from there, we set up a new landing page and are awaiting approval through REPs UAE.”

“The idea is to build on this relationship and continue to add more qualifications to our offering, as well as introduce more staff and tutors.”

Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, there have been a lot of demands for health and wellbeing offerings and the industry has seen a real change.

“Now is a great time to move into the global market – UK qualifications are well valued and held in high regard, so we want to emulate the success we have had in the UK in UAE.”

In the UK, the commercial market has 500 providers of health and fitness qualifications making it a challenging, competitive market. Comparatively, in UAE, there is a lack of professional standard for these qualifications and a higher emphasis placed on people meeting relevant criteria.

“Expanding and collaborating globally will allow us to generate more business and establish ourselves in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” says Alan Reddin.

Challenges and Key Learnings

Expanding globally comes with its own challenges, as FIT UK has seen, with a lot of challenges coming in the form of understanding international legalities and trade licenses.

“We found that collaborations, like the one with the Insparida Sports District, have helped us in our understanding of international trade licenses as we have been able to learn from their existing trade license.”

While promotion and marketing in a global market have been challenging while the team is working remotely from the UK, the collaborations have proven to be largely effective, as Alan Reddin explains,

“The collabs are a 50/50 profit share – FIT UK brings expertise in the form of tutors, accreditation and REPS UAE recognition while our partner provides facilities, promotion and marketing.”

FITUK is now set to launch their first Level 3 Diploma in Gym and Personal Training in April 2023. The market is relatively competitive in cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with roughly 15 accredited providers but FIT UK enter the market as highly experienced and globally renowned providers.

“It is important to have patience to keep moving forward and progressing things from a distance,” explains Alan Reddin. “Getting expert advice from relevant people, like our partners at Active IQ is essential to crack the global markets.”

“Making inroads and considering collaborations with local businesses is key – there is power in working with the local businesses.”

What’s next?

Beyond their work in the UAE, FIT UK has been having conversations with IBIS Academy in India to provide more advanced qualifications, such as their Level 4 Advanced PT and Strength and Conditioning. With there only being two accredited providers in India, there is a large gap in the market for FIT UK to expand their offering further and help to provide valuable resources to trainers internationally.

FIT UK’s core business remains their activity in the UK which they continue to do to a high level, but their work in UAE is a beneficial addition and they will adjust accordingly alongside future growth.

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