Partner Article

Finance exec and PT eye £2m fundraise to grow innovative social enterprise community gym concept across London

First ‘Storm LDN’ Queen’s Park site has already attracted hundreds to harness positive social change among disadvantaged youths - ambition to grow presence to 10+ gyms in transforming London high streets and communities

Joe Channer (52), founder & CEO of global consulting, managed services and technology giant, Delta Capita, and Dembo Jobe (49), a former amateur level kickboxer turned personal trainer, first met in 2019 when Joe trained at the world-famous Peacock boxing gym where Dembo was a trainer.

Fast forward to the present day though and the pair are targeting a £2m fundraise to grow their innovative social enterprise community gym concept Storm LDN across London, having launched their first Queen’s Park gym in May 2021 to great success.

Already with 500 members, the concept is unique in that a large proportion of profits are invested straight back into the local community, directed towards helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through professional coaching and life changing mentorship.

The pair grew up on London estates from working class backgrounds where they experienced challenging starts to life, and having witnessed the transformative powers of boxing first-hand, the primary ambition for Storm LDN has been to create a formal pathway to give back to the communities they grew up in, and to help youths from underprivileged backgrounds enjoy a better start and equal opportunity in life.

Joe Channer, Storm LDN co-founder explains: “We realised similar concepts such as youth clubs exist, but often rely on charity, volunteering, or public funding. We wanted to create a self-sustaining transformative model fuelled by enterprise, without the traditional reliance on funding.”

Channer adds: “The community part is so important – I think with the decline of the local high street alongside heightened consideration towards physical and mental health, there’s an exciting opportunity. People are social animals, and Storm LDN provides an alternative place to meet and connect, challenging the traditional commercial gym business model.”

The idea now a reality, Storm LDN stands as a state-of-the-art gym in the heart of Queen’s Park, dedicated to providing an elite, yet inclusive fitness experience with boxing at its core but extending to a diverse range of classes for the whole community, from junior skills classes (ages 7-16), to ‘Rebuild’ strength and conditioning classes perfect for post pregnancy.

Profits are then channelled back into the newly created Storm LDN Academy, which through a partnership with award-winning charity United Borders who work with communities to support at-risk youths, Joe and Dembo have already started to grow.

Dembo Jobe, Storm LDN co-founder comments: “It’s been incredibly rewarding to oversee the development of our academy programme, and last year we saw the first group of 13-16-year-olds transition through the full programme.”

“Encouragingly, clear positive re-engagement within the community has been seen, and I think for our members this a real differentiator – it’s rewarding for them to know they are directly helping others while improving their health and well-being. We’re excited not only to continue to scale and grow our academy within Queen’s Park and its surrounding communities, but also as we move towards replicating that success across London.”

Specifically, it is hoped a Q1 raise in the region of £2m will help them scale their up until now self-funded business to ten strategic sites across London by the end of 2025, with two impressive 4000 square foot sites already selected in Farringdon and Canary Wharf, September 2023 opening dates the ambition.

Storm LDN also expect to be the first fitness chain operating across the capital to receive full B-Corp status, which will no doubt further catch the eye of potential investors with a strong ESG mandate.

Expressing his excitement to grow Storm LDN, Channer explains: “We hope our success will encourage other companies to follow suit in transforming the high street, communities, and most importantly the lives of as many children and young adults as possible.”

Channer adds: “I think with the way the high street has evolved, companies are now being challenged to bring something which genuinely adds value to the local community - we’ve certainly seen the impact that can be made in what is actually quite a short space of time with the success of our Queen’s Park gym.

Positive social outcomes should, and I hope will be a motivating factor for businesses entering the high street of the future, and we are committed to playing our part through continued investment into our Queen’s Park site, and in further scaling our footprint and academy programmes across London.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie Hayes .