Episode 348 - Martina Calvey, co-founder, Hello Good Life

By 2030, more than one in three people in Ireland will be over the age of 50, while the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to exceed one million. As Ireland's population ages, the need for stronger community connections, health supports and wellbeing services has never been greater.

In this episode, we speak with Martina Calvey, founder of Hello GoodLife Ireland, a Mayo-founded social enterprise that is building a nationwide network of health and wellbeing hubs designed to help people stay active, connected and independent as they age. Martina explains the inspiration behind the business, the challenges and opportunities presented by Ireland's demographic shift, and why she believes communities hold the key to healthier, happier ageing.

Visit www.thinkbusiness.ie for more news and supports for start-ups and SMEs in Ireland. If you want to start and grow a business, ThinkBusiness.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Hello and welcome back to the Instinct Business Podcast, part of the Bank of Ireland. By 2030, more than one in three people in Ireland will be over the age of fifty, while the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to exceed one million. As Ireland's population ages, the need for stronger community connections, health supports, and well-being services has never been greater. In this episode, we speak with Martina Calvi, founder of Hello Good Life Ireland, an AO-founded social enterprise that is building a nationwide network of health and well-being hubs designed to help people stay active, connected, and independent as they age. Martina explains the inspiration behind the business, the challenges and opportunities presented by Ireland's demographic shift, and why she believes communities hold a key to healthier, happier aging. Martina, you're very, very welcome. What I want to talk to you about is your new business, uh Hello Good Life. Uh your the I understand the plan is to scale a nationwide network of health and well-being hubs, particularly focused on the over 50s and the over 65s population. I think one of the numbers that stood out to me is that by 2030, more than one in three people in Ireland will be aged over 50. So tell us what the um you know the ambition is for Hello Good Life Ireland.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Ugh, hello, John. How are you? So I'm delighted to tell you about Hello Good Life Ireland and to introduce you to uh what we are busying ourselves with at the moment. And exactly that, that point you mentioned, it's about the change in demographic uh in Ireland. And uh by 2030, you know, somewhere around 45% of the population will be over 50. And um just very briefly, just kind of leaning into some recent reports that have come out, and we have the um the uh Irish um health monitor um and the figures there, um, just 4% of the Irish population are doing weekly strength training, for example, whereas the national guidelines are recommending you know twice a week. So there's a massive shortfall. And that was backed up um last week by this uh new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and it found the lowest risks of dying early were when people did a decent amount of aerobic exercise and strength training um every week, and combined that with social connection and all that. So that's where we come from. Um, and I had a personal health experience myself. I went over to the UK looking for a solution for me where I could find an exercise solution. I was over 50, I had suffered a setback in my health, and I just the equipment that was available on the market, excellent equipment, state-of-the-art equipment. However, when you were, you know, when in this demographic, it just was uh it just wasn't possible for me. So I went off uh to England and I found this power-assisted exercise equipment. And what I found there was just absolutely amazing. It's where this longevity, this change in um demographic is also happening and the awareness of longevity, you know, for people in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and upwards, they have commodified it. They have like built businesses on it, identifying the gap between, say, gyms and healthcare and primary health care and whatever. So there's a whole gap there. And it's how do we keep people exercising, like those studies are highlighting and saying, here's the gap. Uh, you know, people, there's not enough people, they're not, you know, able to access suitable exercise solutions for them. So this is where Hello Good Life Ireland steps in. Um in the UK, for example, there were over 100 centres where they had, you know, um customized spaces with this circuit of machines, 12 power-assisted machines, in less than 40 minutes, you have the full body workout, complete range of motion, and um all the social benefits of it as well. So it's a holistic approach, the um the um mental health, your physical health, and your social health as well. So, what we did here in Ireland is myself and my partner Seamus, we've designed a concept for the Irish market, and it's the Hello Good Life Hub. And it's everything, you know, it's the bells and whistles. So it's the colours, you know, the equipment, the full-on training, the um the operations manual, the marketing, everything about it. And what might be surprising for people to hear this morning is that um, you know, might be gym owners listening or business people who have who have those kind of settings and thinking, well, you know, should we have classes here and they're full of people? Of course. And isn't that wonderful? However, here is, you know, a structured exercise solution, and we find that it works. Say in the UK, there's over 100 centres in Norway, Austria, Germany. This is all expanding out through Europe. So in Ireland, we have it here now and we make it available. We want to, our initiative is, you know, nationwide, if we can get one or two uh into every county. And what we do is you can, if you're a gym owner and you have one gym or three gyms, you can customize it for yourself. It doesn't have to be hello, good life hub. You can create your own brand around that space. So you might have a spare room, like where you have mops and the coats and whatever it is. You can repurpose that space and create your own, you know, fitness, health, and well-being space in there. Or you can, we can come and help you create hello good life hub. And what happens then is, John, just briefly to say it's similar to, you know, the one thing it has in common with gyms is it's membership based. So after the first year, we generally find there's over 500 members in these hubs and they're paying membership similar to a gym, whether it's a month membership, six months, a yearly membership, and that's how it operates, you know. So it's like having your customized exercise space for people over 50, mature and older adults, we say, providing what they want, even the music, the colours, the training is, you know, about being good with people, putting them at ease. You know, that it's a different concept in that way.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

It is it fair to say that this is a um twofold kind of strategy. Either you'll create your own hubs or you'll forge a partnership with an existing gym.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, so either way, we are looking to forge partnerships with an existing gym. Like we have two gyms already where there are Hello Good Life hubs. And what happens is um, you know, people typically you know purchase what goes with the hub, the equipment, there's uh information, boards, signage, all what goes with it. And then there's just a minimal license fee annually from that. That's that's how it works. So um the point I'm making is you can put in the Hello Good Life Hub, and then we create that brand awareness throughout the country, you know, and promotion and all of that. However, if you want to do your own white label, you can do that as well. So the equipment would be in your colours. If your gym colours will say were, you know, white and green, then you can have the equipment in your colours, the branding in your colours, you know, all of that. You just to let people know that you can create your own space for your own setting as well.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Uh, is the idea also that um, you know, like a lot of the people who you're addressing there, the people in their over 50s, people over 65s. Irish people generally um, you know, there are now it's changed. Like you talk to any anyone who's over 18 in Ireland today, and they're the they're they're more likely to go to the gym than the pub. But flip that on its side and look at the the reality of people for the last 40-50 years in Ireland, they're more likely to go to the pub than the gym. And I'd imagine that for people who um aren't familiar with gyms and you know, taking care of their health, uh, you know, you know, particularly as you get older, I think things like muscle density is a very important thing to focus on, for example. Um do you you know is this kind of a way of saying, well, look, the gym with all its you know, young people looking fantastic, might be a bit of a you know, a bit of a challenge for you in the sense that you're not familiar with it and it might be a bit of a turnoff and you feel might maybe self-conscious. Is this going to create a kind of more friendly environment that's more in tune with your generation?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah, exactly that. You have it there in that. That's exactly how it works. And what we also find is what's different to we'll say in the past, people are so aware of longevity today, they're so aware of health span. Like, you know, the whole thing say about the lifespan, and just there last week the figures come out from the Department of Health where men males are the average age now is 81.1, and for females it's 84.6. So that's your lifespan. But we're all kind of raising the question how long for how long of that am I healthy? Yeah, and people are really leaning into, you know, what can I do myself to help be healthy?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

I've had many relatives who, you know, my memories of time with them has been constantly going in and out of hospitals and doctors' appointments and things, you know, and you go, How much of life can you live if you're going to be constantly worrying about your health? I mean, I suppose the key the the the lesson I'm getting from this is that if you take the right measures to keep yourself healthy and fit, you're less likely to be a casualty, I suppose, or constantly going into hospitals for checkups as as much. Um the checkups will matter and having uh and I think men are the worst culprits of this. We don't seem to have uh established a kind of a regular habit of going to our GPs for a check-up, for example, and there's a whole host of things that men need to be vigilant about, uh particularly as they get into their late 40s, early 50s, particularly. Um you know I suppose the lesson here is that if you keep yourself healthy and fit and well, you just reduce the amount of time you're likely to spend in a medical environment.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Yeah, and that's where the power-assisted exercise comes in. It's totally different. Uh, you know, so I would suggest anyone who's interested in, you know, doing what what I'm suggesting here or what I'm talking about this morning, might visit one of the four hubs that are up and running and test, you know, have an experience on your own. So where where are these currently? Yeah, so there's one in Rosconnan Town, there's one in County Sligo, in a place called Bunning Hatton, there's one in Castlebar in County Mayo, and one in Newport in County Mayo. So the thing about the power-assisted exercise is uh you mentioned there about the muscle density, and that's exactly it. These this equipment provide there's different programs and speeds. So it uh provides the strength training. So that is helping people rebuild the muscle. And that's why I, you know, used it in the first place. I had suffered such massive, massive muscle wastage myself that that that was exactly it. It was the resistance. It also provides cardiovascular as well. And here's the difference as well. There's it had a rehabilitative function as well, the way the machines exercise. So you could have somebody where they've had a surgery or they have impacted health, so they're locked out, let's say, of exercise. Whereas with these machines, they can help you regain some of what you've lost. And that is a massive thing for people, as well as the preventative, helping to keep healthy people healthier for longer. So it's uh, you know, and people with underlying conditions as programs for them, it's really tapping into when you consider, if it's a gym owner listening this morning to me, just consider, yeah, the people you have in your gym from the community or from the area. What about everybody else who's not in there? Well, that's who this is the solution for. It's for the people that are not typically exercising. And and it's really because the structured exercise solution isn't there for them. You know, they have, you know, as I've said, the awareness around health is just massive, around lifespan, about being around health span, about being healthier for longer. What can I do myself? How can I take responsibility? And I'm willing to pay for it. And that's what we're finding. This is a health concept. You know, fitness is, you know, the whole thing of get fitter, you get healthier. Uh, but it's the improvements in the health. That's what people are paying for. You're helping them their physical health, their mental health, their social health.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

We hope you were enjoying this podcast. Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day, funding investments, working capital, and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, Google Bank of Ireland Business Banking. Bank of Ireland is licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland. I always find funny enough when you talk to people, uh, about Ireland particularly, that when we had less, we had more, in the sense that we were more socially connected and you know took more interest in each other, and that was a social aspect of it. But I always look sometimes when I look at Reeling in the ears and say, and I look I look at how people in the 60s and 70s how their clothes fitted better, and they always seem to be out walking, cycling. And I I think two things happened to Ireland, uh, in the sense that we became less uh socially active, I think, with the internet and everything else, smartphones. Uh but also um diet has a huge impact on how people live. I mean, I'd say I'd argue we didn't have processed food until the 70s in Ireland, you know, people were eating their meat and two veg every day, they had a balanced diet, uh, they probably didn't have as much motor transport, so we're probably walking everywhere, cycling everywhere. Um, so basically, I think the entire Western world is is is is has has a has a has a cut of this is in the sense that their mental health, their physical health, their social health is all impacted by how the what the modern world has changed things, you know. Um fast food, uh processed food, digital lifestyles, um we're not as connected socially either. So the despite calling it social media, you know, the opposite is often social. Yeah, I like I I think somehow we need to kind of kind of turn back the clocks, and you know, I think personally I think technology needs to go into the backseat and we need to start just living more fulfilling lives. Is there an aspect also to the program? Like, so let's say a person who maybe in their sixties um takes part in this and might go three times a week. Would you also have like daily exercises for them to do outside of going into the um the hub that they would say like I would say to people, like I would imagine longevity is characterized by good habits, like maybe if you go for a good long stroll in the evening after your dinner uh for half an hour, that has immeasurable benefits to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah, exactly. It's not an either-or. Um, you know, but when they come into the hub, what happens is when you join up, yeah, typically it's say minimum three times a week. You could come six times a week because typically they're open six days. And you do the complete body workout. So all your muscles have been exercised on the machines. And then what often happens is people do the circuit twice. So you have double that amount of time. And that's the resistance training, the cardiovascular, you know, you have all of that in your global range of motion. If you can add in a 20-minute walk, half-hour walk, or whatever every other day, or that that's uh the more you can, the more physical activity you can do, the better it is for yourself for sure. And just to talk a little bit about there what you were saying, yeah, about how things have changed socially and whatever. So, you know, I just think as well, we need different solutions, you know, we really do, because it's a different society. And the amount of loneliness that's out there among people, you're so right. People really miss the pub. That's how I think of it. I think of like we have a whole generation of people who were so social, they probably were the most social people in Ireland in that generation. I remember my own mother seemed to know in the pub, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah, but seemed to know everyone for miles around. And I'm going like, how do you know all these people? You know, they knew everyone and they talk to everyone. It's the world, you know.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, most of us don't even know our next door neighbours. That's right. So that is equally, as well as the physical exercise we find in the hubs, the social aspect is as big a pull factor into the hubs. And the reason why when people join up and they stay joined up and all of that, the social connections, the friendships, building all of that, that is absolutely massive to people. It's it's priceless. And, you know, we it the hubs are designed in a way too. There's a seating area. There's always like we part of our concept is, you know, the the geezer or the little boiler, the kettle, whatever, for the tea and coffee. And there's an area where we have to put in, you know, the couches or the chairs or a big table, whatever it is, some area in the room where people can sit down and talk to each other if they want to. If they don't want to, that's fine as well. It's not mandatory. However, it's encouraged. That's part of the training of the staff. How you facilitate and encourage connection chat, you know, icebreaker, this kind of thing, to get a sense and build a sense of community in the hub. And that is, it's that's what I'm saying. It's different to how you might think of exercise settings and whatever, typically gyms or whatever. It had this has its own, you know, methodology, let's say, because the outcomes we want, we're very clear about the outcomes we want, improvements in people's physical, social, and mental health. And that, you know, they have that sense of well-being, that overall well-being, and you know, as well as all the benefits from physical exercise, you know, there are so many benefits from physical exercise. It's those benefits from being with people and socially connected. And as I say, these people were spent, you know, had a had a whole generation of socializing, pub life, all of that that you know was just fantastic in Ireland. And for many of them, like, you know, that's just not there anymore. So, you know, that I think there's a loneliness for that as well. You know, it had a real part in Irish life.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

That's that's an interesting thing. I I I went to the gym myself this morning, and I think I might have said hello to two people. I went in, did my work, and went home. You know, it's that's if if if if you could create a kind of a social outlet around exercise, that that'd be a very good thing. Tell us about your ambition for for this. Uh, how yeah, I you you uh I understand you want to create a nationwide network of these hubs. So what what kind of targets have you in mind for this?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, so the first thing to say is, you know, um this is like evidence-based and it's you know, it's it's science-backed. The company in England that manufactured the machines and have that carried out so much research, you know, around what we're talking about this morning. And um, so that that's one thing to say. And remember, it's all weather as well, it's an all-weather facility. So that's often, you know, what works best in Ireland as well, that you have, you know, an all-weather um, you know, setting for people uh to come to. So what our plans are nationwide is we are looking to connect with um operators, for example, potential operators who are aligned with our values and our mission. And they could be, for example, gym owners, it could be, you know, good entrepreneurs, maybe people already in the health or wellness.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Would um village village community halls come into it?

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yes, exactly that. So we've worked with we work with uh community groups as well, particularly in the more rural areas where they can apply for funding and you know, help them to create the hub. And that has happened. That example up in County Sligo, an absolutely amazing community group of people who identify the needs within their local area and then set about applying for funding, drawing it down and you know, we've installed the hub and it's it's the funding.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Is that is that public state funding that they can draw down?

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yeah, they drew down it was it's what it's leader funding. There's a lot of talk at the moment around leader funding, it's at risk, but it's very important, you know, for Ireland and for rural communities in particular. And I I like my experience was dealing with the people in Sligo Leader, and they were just absolutely phenomenal, like absolutely amazing, finger on the pulse for what was needed in their county, what they could support, and so on. So I really hope that you know that's ring fence that that funding for leader. But it helps rural communities. And if you went up to County Sligo and you could see just the vibe and the buzz and the atmosphere in that hub, these people coming in every day to exercise and loving it. Before they turn the key in the door, the people are queuing up. Like it's amazing. It just fascinates me. But I'm so delighted, you know, for what people are getting out of it, the benefits of it and what it's bringing. It's bringing a whole vibrancy. Honestly, every week there's something happening in that hub. Last week there was Nina Carberry visiting an MEP leader brought her there. The previous week um they received an award uh for excellence up in their hub, you know, and they had their first birthday not long before. Like it's just amazing. It's brought a whole new lease of life, and it's the most rural place imaginable, similar to, you know, places around Ireland. That's you know, exactly how life is. But um, our plans for around the country, if we can connect with partners and operators, whether it is community groups, GAA clubs, uh, gyms, whatever it is, and um we work with them, as I said, with the Hello Good Life Hub, or they can create their own white label. Like if it's a GAA club, they could do it in their county colours or their club colours, whatever. And then we help and support. And, you know, if you're putting in the Hello Good Life Hub, we take you through absolutely everything the setup, the operations, the marketing strategy, you know, everything. And um, as I said, if we could start one in every county, two, maybe after a couple of years, grow it on whatever, and have a network for people because the truth is everybody should have access to power assistance. Exercise if they want, because it's a life changer and it's a life extender for people. And you know, we're not familiar with it in Ireland because it's not here. Like there's only four hubs, that's what we've in. But it is really the answer. It's the answer. And I just want that it's available to people throughout the country. And whatever I can do or whatever to make that happen, I'm doing it. You know, I don't work for the HSE. I'm not part of any aging organization. I'm not a Quango. I'm not any of that. I'm just a person that had a personal experience along with my partner, Seamus. And we just saw what it was doing in England. We went to four and five of these places in England and like, I mean, we're just we were just gobsmacked. We couldn't believe it. We'd never seen before people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s in hopping around on machines and exercising and just the whole happy buzzing the place and whatever. And I just thought, oh my God, this should be at home. This has to be in Ireland, like, and it, you know, wasn't happening. I said, we've got to do this.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

We have this is you know what to say, like uh when you when you're like when you work out or you do anything physical, you release these endorphins, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah, serotonin and endorphins. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

It's a good it's real good thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

So exactly.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

I I feel I feel that there's a whole there are whole generations that are missing that buzz that they probably haven't had since they were young, running around a GEA pitch or something. And you know, like imagine going through decades of life without actually that release.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Um so yeah, it's so important, yeah, absolutely. And that's why, even for the mental health as well, like if you can activate and do all that, that's all part of like there's a whole, we'll say, as I said, methodology, a th, you know, a reason behind how things are done in the hub, why they're done, those choices we've made and whatever, and it's for the outcomes at the end, the best outcomes for the per the individual. And I should say the difference with the power assisted exercise as well is here's the key thing. Um, if you present, for example, you want to exercise and you go to a machine, you have to be able to meet 100% of that demand of the machine. Otherwise, you can't exercise on it. You know, it doesn't take half measures, it doesn't take anything less than what it needs for you to work that machine. This is where the power assistant comes in. If you can present with 80% capacity or 70% or 50% or, you know, able to make that kind of effort, the machine will kick in and compensate to get you started where you are today. You don't have to wait to get fit and healthy and back, you know, to up to that. You might never get to that. So that's the difference. You start and you make progress at your own pace, and then you progress from there. And that's why it's so inclusive, and we can bring in so many population groups and demographic groups that are typically excluded. That's the difference. That and that, to me, it's so personalized and so individualized with the different programs and speeds. So we start people where they are today. We're not talking about the prospect of you doing it into the future. When the hope goes in or when the equipment goes in, you start today.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

You're starting to start as you mean to go on, basically.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

That's it exactly. There's no, it's I suppose what what I'm saying is with the Hello Good Life Ireland, we're about taking obstacles out of people's way. You know, we don't flag up obstacles, we understand what the actual obstacles or perceived obstacles are for people in this demographic, and we remove them and we make it as easy, we make it easy peasy for people, you know, the warm, the welcome. The hardest thing for people is to pull up in the car park and come through the door. After that, we do what we do the rest.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Brilliant. With that, Martina Calvi from Hello Good Life Ireland. Thank you so much for your time. That was a good thing. Oh, thanks, John. Hopefully, we'll have started a whole new revolution now in healthcare.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Hopefully, hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Hopefully, happy, happy vibes countrywide. So best of luck and thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Yeah, well, thank you. If it continues the way it's going, you know, that's please God, the way it the way it'll happen.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

We trust that you enjoyed this podcast and found it informative. Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day, funding investments, working capital, and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, Google Bank of Ireland Business Banking. Bank of Ireland is licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland.