April is proving to be quite the month for health tech start-up, hero as it announces its been shortlisted for a number of awards both regionally and nationally.
hero, which uses technology and in person services to promote proactive wellbeing across physical, mental social and financial health has been shortlisted by ukactive, the not-for-profit industry association, which exists to improve the health of the nation by getting more people, more active, more often. These prestigious national awards, which will be hosted in June, feature 18 different categories, covering the entire sports and physical activity landscape – throughout the public, private and third sectors.
A little closer to home, hero has been shortlisted in the Leeds Digital Festival Awards, which take place on 30 April. These see hero shortlisted in the Tech4Good category for it’s work to improve the health and wellbeing of its community of users.
Joe Gaunt, founder and CEO of hero said:
“Being shortlisted for these awards and recognised in this way is very humbling. To have hero recognised by some incredible judges and to be shortlisted next to phenomenal brands is amazing. Whether we win or lose is irrelevant, it’s great to celebrate all the good we’ve achieved as a team and in partnership with our client partners.”
The past 12 months has been a roller-coaster of a ride – in a great way for the hero team! Its achieved some amazing successes from securing a multi-million pound deal with Moda through to acquiring two businesses and working with some amazing partners and clients. The feedback and results hero has been achieving (over 50,000 data points) is outstanding and supports the fact that the technology it created really does have a genuine impact on improving the lives of people.
One project, which Joe and the team are particularly proud of is its partnership with Inspired Villages. Joe picks up the story.
“We began working with Inspired Villages earlier this year and it sticks in my mind as one of the most rewarding initiatives we’ve done so far. Using our digital platform and services we were able to apply them to a traditionally ‘non tech-savvy’ and ‘inactive’ group, with an average age of 76 for a period of 12 weeks. The results of this trial were outstanding. Twenty seven residents at Millbrook Village in Devon achieved an average of more than 8,000 steps a day. This is more than double that of the average Briton, which stands at 3,000-4,000 steps a day. Together, the participants achieved a combined distance of over 7,300 miles, which is the equivalent of walking to Hawaii, with some steps left for a walk around the island too.”
“hero’s role was to encourage and educate residents in a bid to proactively manage all aspects of health and wellbeing as well as providing support to the busy schedule of community events, such as nutrition-led cookery classes and group fitness sessions, which were lead by the Inspired Villages on site wellness manager. One of the real highlights was the fact that this initiative helped reduce loneliness, which is a huge issue and challenge for this age group as well as positively impacting mental health. The anecdotal feedback was just as rewarding and perfectly brings to life the very reason hero was formed. One resident commented that “I feel more motivated and encouraged to make the most of life”,” adds Joe.
At the start of this year hero was also named as one of Yorkshire’s 50 most exciting companies, which Yorkshire Business Insider believes are “tipped to change the world”
Joe says:
“I set hero up in 2017, with the idea to ultimately deliver positive change in the world by creating healthier and happier communities, one unique human at a time so to be recognised and named in this list is a true honour and achievement. We look forward to the next few weeks and months in the run up to these awards.”
Hero has over 100 clients across the UK and has ambitious growth plans in 2019 / 2020, which will see its first hero Training Club open in Manchester at Moda’s Angel Gardens property as well as further plans around education, content and nutrition.
