In a bold move Future Champs appoints Scott Patrick Farrell as CEO.
Future Champs is an exciting social impact initiative started in South Africa by social entrepreneur Jeremy Bean. What began as a social enterprise to build community boxing gyms, from repurposed shipping containers, as safe spaces for urban youth, has since expanded into an international movement and brand.
“Initially, Future Champs was a natural response and intervention that evolved. First, how could we create a safe, nurturing environment for urban youth? Galvanizing a fragmented space of existing grassroots gyms? Furthermore, provide support to coaches? Boxing is a metaphor for life and teaches many universal attributes needed for personal growth and success: discipline, respect, resilience, hard work, focus, commitment and channeled aggression. Our aim is not to make world champion boxers, but to create champions outside of the ring. Using, as a result, some of the principles and discipline it takes to excel inside the ring. If we can produce a World Champion along the way that would be nice too!” – Jeremy Bean, Future Champs Founder
Amidst the COVID 19 backdrop:
The need for business initiatives that pair purpose and profit has been amplified. Future Champs presents an opportunity to champion a new way forward, where commercial operations and social impact work in concert. Future Champs gyms and its network provide a consistent, stimulating and caring environment where youth can access opportunities and experience to equip them to develop into healthier, well-adjusted “Future Champs of life”.
Scott Patrick Farrell brings a wealth of commercial experience both within the boxing world and also working with multinational corporations and international business development. With the new leadership structure in place and bringing influential sporting celebrities onto the board, plans are now afoot to take the movement global. Building out a full commercial platform.
“I am very excited to take the reins and realize this important vision. We can demonstrate how business can be a force for good and that placing purpose at the center makes perfect commercial sense. We are and will be living in a new world post COVID. Future Champs is a hybrid model of business and social impact working together which we believe will become the new normal” – Scott Patrick Farrell, Future Champs CEO.
Fight for Peace
Future Champs is part of the Fight for Peace global alumni and has already seen acclaim from maverick businessman and philanthropist Richard Branson. The project has executed exciting collaborations and forged partnerships with the likes of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, Virgin Active, Too Much Wifi, Roomaif and Cell C. The Flagship boxing gym is situated in Philippi, Cape Town. This will be relaunched this year to kick start a new commercial strategy and expand the gyms to become centres of convergence with additional bolt-on activities.
The New Position
Farrell and his team will now position the brand internationally and develop business units for investment in five key areas. Namely: the launching of a virtual fitness and wellness mobile application, merchandising, content creation and media, container gym construction, events and athlete development. The immediate consolidation of the project’s container and partner gyms is planned for South Africa. Followed by Botswana and then the rest of the African continent. With an eventual growth into Latin America, South East Asia with the Philippines as an entry point.
In the world of COVID-19, everything has moved to macro-micro. Against this backdrop, Farrell sees a key opportunity to develop a micro gym offering with franchise support to gym affiliates through the mobile application and Future Champs’ dashboard platform. This platform would share operational advice, diet and nutrition information, training and coaching tips, remote e-learning and certification and as well as exclusive content and virtual fitness modules featuring some of the world’s elite athletes. All in a way to democratize the health and fitness industry and support existing small enterprises and coaches the world over. Making their businesses and or their projects more resilient and ultimately more sustainable. To collectively scale efforts to get more people training and health.
The Idea…
Additionally, modular container gym construction will go beyond just boxing gyms and encompass a full turnkey design and construction consultancy. These will be innovative and cost-effective athlete training centres and micro gyms that can be delivered to governments, international sporting bodies and sports academies. Farrel hinted that the first of these partnerships may be in Botswana. Whose national sports strategy and Vision 2028 align with Future Champs’ grassroots youth development agenda. Also, the countries rural makeup present the right environment for rugged container gym deployment.
Through a corporate restructure, Future Champs will be able to support and scale its social impact efforts with commercial operations. Exciting collaborations are already in the planning with a number of A list sporting celebrities and aligned brands. It appears the foundation has been laid and the cross-functional team is now in place to evolve the Future Champs project into an international social enterprise and movement. In a world that is in desperate need for new ideas on how profit and purpose can work sustainably, this initiative provides some inspiration and a north star for a paradigm shift.,
