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Adi Godrej (Chairman of Godrej Group), Anand Mahindra (CMD of Mahindra & Mahindra), SandeepGhosh (MD of BhartiAxa Life Insurance Company), Harit Nagpal (MD of Tata Sky) and Deep Kalra (CEO of MakeMyTrip) were all chasing the same target last year. Not a business target, obviously.
They were all trying to walk 10,000 steps a day. As part of five-member teams, they were t taking part in a 100-day virtual marathon.
Each time they or their team members walked, their team must have made some progress in the virtual race that struck a chord with about 150 corporates last year.
The readings on the electronic pedometer were uploaded daily into the IT solution that adds up to the team’s credit of steps.
Launched by start-up Stepathlon, this marathon is aimed at making the corporate workforce adopt walking as a habit. “Behavioural experts say it takes 60-65 days for a person to make a habit. We think that 100 days is good enough time to make them absorb it in their daily routine,” Ravi Krishnan, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stepathlon, told Business Line .
Lifestyle diseases
Why 10,000 steps? “Studies have shown that one should walk those many steps a day, covering about 6.4 km. If you are not walking or running, you are not moving your muscles.
This would lead to lifestyle-related diseases,” he said. The start-up has decided to focus only on corporate sector for now. It charges Rs 2,250 a year for an individual member and Rs 11,250 for a five-member team. In the first year, the company roped in 21,000 employees working in 143 companies across various sectors. The financial services industry, however, took the lead with 26 per cent of the participants representing it.
Stepathlon will expand its operations to Australia and the Asia-Pacific next year and the US and Europe the following year.
The company, which raised first round of funding from Shrinivas Dempo and Rajiv Sahney, has no plans for further funding. “We have a revenue model that ensures constant flow funds,” Ravi Krishnan said.
The project is the brain child of Shane Bilsborough, an Australian nutritionist. Shane, who is now a partner with Ravi Krishnan in Stepathlon, earlier founded Global Corporate Challenge and roped in 4,00,000 participants across 85 countries in eight years.
>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in
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