Meet Brian + Ashleigh: The Duo Behind Health-Wise (Collagen)
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George Taylor
- 14th January 2022
- 8 minute read
Meet Health-Wise – the up and coming brand behind the newly launched Pro-active® ADVANCED Liquid Collagen (launched by a father-daughter duo from South Africa).
Setting up a business can be tough on the best of days, so imagine launching one from overseas, – in a country that you don’t even live in! This is what the South African father-daughter entrepreneur duo, Brian Colmer and his daughter, Ashleigh Johnston behind Health-Wise did.
Health-Wise launched in the UK in September last year (in 2021), because the Founders felt as though the UK lacked a product with the powerful properties and the potency of their Pro-active® ADVANCED Liquid Collagen. NOW, they’re on a quest to improve the health, beauty and fitness of the British population.
Health-Wise’s product comes with a high collagen concentration (a powerful 10.000mg per dose), and it’s hydrolysed process helps the body to quickly absorb more than 94% of the proteins it contains: “I know that we can improve the health and lifestyle of the UK population with our product, the Pro-active® ADVANCED Liquid Collagen. We’re looking forward to seeing what the future here has in store for us,” said Ashleigh.
Brian has spent much of his life in South Africa, but he was born in Bexley Heath in Kent. More interestingly though, is that his journey into business started during his retirement. Brian’s early career began in the police force, however, he later moved into the retail industry, as well as being a senior minister at the church for 20 years.
Whilst most people see their retirement as the perfect time to relax and wind down, Brian went the complete opposite way: he set about helping his eldest daughter with a similar business in Europe, before teaming up with his youngest daughter, Ashleigh, – to establish Health-Wise in the UK.
“Setting up a family business is never easy, but the added complexity of breaking into a new overseas market, – brings additional challenges, even with the previous experience that I had. We spent many months looking into the UK health, beauty and fitness market, and we quickly realised that whilst other collagen products existed, very few of them had the potency that Pro-active® ADVANCED Liquid Collagen did,” said Brian.
Like her father, Ashleigh wasn’t always an entrepreneur. In fact, she studied as an Oral Hygienist, and she built a career that she loved in a private practice in South Africa, as well as being a lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand.
But it was in 2011 that she felt as though it was time to make a change. She quit her lecturing job, but she maintained her private practice work for two more years, before taking the leap into the Medical Industry as a Practice Manager, and as a Medical Therapist. She loved every minute of it, and she gained new skills and new friends through her patients, as well as developing the ability to teach and guide patients on how to look after themselves.
Initially, it was her passion for health that drove her to establish a business with her eldest sister, which marketed the very same Pro-active® ADVANCED Liquid Collagen to the South African market. Because of their success, she teamed up with her father to bring this much-loved product to the UK.
NOW, they’ve “taken the leap,” by returning to Brian’s country of birth, Britain, – to manage their fast-growing enterprise. Ashleigh said: “On deciding to leave South Africa to come to the UK (leaving my career behind), my father and I decided to open Health-Wise, to bring what we deem to be one of the best collagen liquids in the world to the UK, and to the Republic of Ireland.”
Since launching, Health-Wise has already been featured in Athletics Weekly’s top collagen supplement picks, and the brand is quickly growing, with a rising social media presence, and with new ambitions to break into teleshopping, – and into the wider UK health and beauty retail market.
Find out more here: http://health-wise.uk
