This year is its best in five years, says founder and CEO Dean Ahmad

Amid a spate of gym closures, UFIT is bucking the trend.

According to its CEO and founder, Dean Ahmad, 41, the homegrown health and fitness brand has generated between S$15-S$18 million in annual revenue every year since 2023, growing by almost 10% year-on-year.

This year, he said, is its best in five years—and its most profitable.

But how is it raking in multi-million-dollar revenues with just four outlets in Singapore? Vulcan Post spoke with Dean to find out.

Selling outcomes

When Dean started UFIT in 2009, he recalled that gym options were limited.

On one hand, there were only ActiveSG gyms, and on the other, big-box players like California Fitness were providing gym-goers with membership access and leaving them to figure out what they wanted to do at the gym on their own.

Dean hosting outdoor bootcamps./ Image Credit: UFIT

Spotting an opportunity to offer something different, Dean began running outdoor group classes with a partner, holding sessions around Fort Canning Park and other outdoor spots while also offering personal training.

Through his clients, Dean eventually met James Forrester, a former national rugby player who relocated to Singapore from the UK and ran a nutrition business. The same clients who introduced the pair also became UFIT’s first investors, and in Aug 2011, the pair opened UFIT’s first physical location at 87 Amoy Street with around S$300,000 in seed funding and a team of five.

UFIT banked on selling what the big-box gyms didn’t: ensuring outcomes through personalised training programmes. 

UFIT’s signature outdoor bootcamps involving dynamic workouts and run clubs are still offered today./ Image Credit: UFIT

Clients didn’t simply buy a membership to use the space. Instead, they came in for appointments with personal trainers, and success meant fitness end goals with measurable, data-led health results. 

Dean also recognised that personal training alone could only go so far. From the outset, UFIT brought nutritionists and physiotherapists into its gym space, offering clients a more holistic approach to health and fitness.

“We just wanted to fill a gap, a massive gap in the market,” he said. 

UFIT offers both personal training and group classes./ Image Credit: UFIT

UFIT’s early clients included people who had worked with GPs and physiotherapists overseas, as well as those looking for professional guidance to manage their health and fitness goals.

According to Dean, word of mouth was the main driver of UFIT’s growth, with referrals accounting for around 90% of its business. Much of this came through communities such as rugby clubs and country clubs, where clients introduced others to the brand.

Demand grew quickly enough that, within a year, UFIT expanded into the shophouse next door at 88 Amoy Street. By 2013, its team had doubled from five to 10 employees.

A one-stop shop for health and fitness

From Pilates to podiatry recovery, customers can choose from over 30 health and fitness services offered by UFIT./ Image Credit: UFIT

Today, UFIT’s services span personal training, physiotherapy, podiatry, nutrition, reformer Pilates, tennis and health screenings. Clients can purchase individual services or access multiple disciplines through its Circle of Care model, which brings trainers and clinicians together to coordinate their care.

The model was introduced after Dean realised that UFIT’s growing team of around 80 trainers and clinicians in 2023 was working in silos, with clients purchasing separate packages for different services. Under Circle of Care, practitioners share client notes and adjust programmes based on each person’s needs.

For example, a HYROX competitor might receive more support from a podiatrist for gait analysis, while an older client might work more closely with a physiotherapist on motor control.

Physiotherapy and podiatry are part of the UFIT’s Circle of Care./ Image Credit: UFIT

“We prescribe who they need to see,” Dean said, comparing the process to a doctor prescribing medication.

By coordinating care across disciplines, UFIT aims to address different aspects of a client’s health and fitness within one system, rather than treating each concern separately.

According to Dean, the approach has also improved client retention. Customers now stay with UFIT for an average of eight to 12 months, up from three to six months previously.

Surviving COVID-19 and performing even better

Dean called COVID-19 the “great reset” for his company. Despite losing a lot of money in those years, Dean shared that UFIT managed to retain every employee. 

UFIT’s Fairmont outlet features a massive outdoor space./ Image Credit: UFIT

To keep operating, UFIT converted two of the six tennis courts at Fairmont Singapore into outdoor personal training spaces and continued offering physiotherapy as an essential service.

When restrictions eased, demand picked up as more Singaporeans redirected their spending towards health and fitness instead of overseas travel.

Before COVID-19, UFIT generated around S$10 million to S$12 million in annual revenue. Since 2023, that figure has risen to S$15 million to S$18 million, with 2026 marking its best year in five years, according to Dean.

The company has also grown amid intensifying competition. When UFIT started in 2009, Dean estimated there were around five competitors. Today, he counts about 30 boutique fitness operators within a square kilometre of its Club Street hub.

UFIT’s flagship outlet is located on Club Street./ Image Credit: UFIT

He believes consumers have become more discerning about fitness services, but are also increasingly willing to pay for personalised training. A personal training session costing S$160 to S$200 an hour is now common, he said, compared with around S$80 a decade ago.

Venturing into corporate wellness

Beyond its consumer-facing business, UFIT has built a corporate wellness arm that contributes less to revenue but delivers consistently strong margins.

The model is relatively asset-light: rather than building and maintaining its own gyms, UFIT supplies trainers and wellness programmes to companies with existing facilities.

It began when CBD clients asked UFIT for fitness-focused alternatives to the usual alcohol-fuelled year-end parties. Those early engagements eventually led to contracts with companies such as Mastercard, Bloomberg and Disney.

Corporate classes for Boeing and Under Armour, respectively./ Image Credit: UFIT

A turning point came in 2017, when UFIT won a contract to run wellness programmes for a US tech company’s 400 employees in Singapore. The client remains with UFIT today, and the relationship paved the way for its expansion into India. Since 2021, UFIT has also managed wellness programmes at the company’s Bangalore office, which has around 3,000 employees.

Another referral, this time from equipment suppliers in Bangalore, led to a contract with Boeing, whose 4,000-employee site UFIT has served since 2023. In Singapore, UFIT also operates the gym of a leading international investment bank, serving around 4,000 employees.

Together, these contracts mean UFIT’s corporate wellness business serves well over 11,000 employees across Singapore and India.

Dean believes demand for corporate fitness reflects a broader generational shift. Younger employees increasingly value health and wellbeing, moving away from the after-work drinking culture that was more common 15 years ago.

Ensuring longevity on a 17-year business

Image Credit: UFIT

Looking ahead, Dean plans to focus on expanding UFIT’s holistic approach to health and fitness rather than chasing trends.

He has watched longevity clinics offering services such as cold plunges and cryotherapy proliferate in recent years. While these clinics may provide clients with blood panels covering more than 120 markers, Dean said some are left unsure how to act on the results.

“They come to us saying that, look, I know I have this result, what do I do with it now?” he said.

For Dean, this is where UFIT can step in by translating health insights into practical exercise, nutrition and lifestyle changes.

His approach to building the business has also been shaped by lessons learnt along the way. Despite spending more than a decade as UFIT’s chief operating officer, building its finance, marketing and operations functions from scratch without a formal business background, he had to teach himself through YouTube tutorials and advice from friends in other industries.

His advice to aspiring gym owners is to understand the numbers before raising money, particularly in Singapore, where rent and manpower costs are high. Financial literacy, he said, is essential to building a sustainable business.

He also urged founders to surround themselves with people who complement their weaknesses, whether that means hiring a chief financial officer or seeking advice from an HR specialist.

For UFIT, which started with outdoor boot camps, staying relevant means continually reassessing its services and whether they deliver outcomes clients value, rather than chasing the latest trends.

That focus has helped UFIT maintain a base of 5,000 active members in Singapore, even as competition in the fitness industry continues to grow.

• Learn more about UFIT here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: UFIT