Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2011. The figures are from 2011: SolEI founded in 2009 with 30,000 euros, 100,000 euros from the Campus project in 2011, and expected 2011 turnover of 100,000 euros. The company’s current status and expansion plans are unknown.
We’re back in Granada, where, in the middle of the crisis, an innovative and profitable business has emerged. It started out advising athletes on how to prevent injuries and is now focused on improving quality of life in general, including in the workplace.
The entrepreneur behind it is Javier Dafos, who started his company, Soluciones Ergonómicas Integrales (SolEI), in 2009 with initial capital of €30,000. This year, 2011, it received €100,000 in funding from the Campus project, and he expects to close the year with turnover of €100,000. Javier Dafos comes from the world of sport, and below we explain what his business idea, now a reality, involves.
SolEI provides services focused on ergonomics, risk prevention and performance improvement, both at work and in sport. When a client hires them, the first thing they do is analyse the client’s profession and the tasks they carry out every day. Their clients include cyclists, runners and all kinds of athletes, both professional and amateur, as well as office workers and company executives.
Their success lies in diversifying the business: as well as offering their own services, they have looked for other lines of business. They work with Podoactiva, a prestigious insole manufacturer with an innovative methodology, and they distribute several technologies, including FAM, a system for assessing neuromuscular fatigue and predicting overtraining.
According to Javier Dafos, the crisis has affected him like everyone else, but his services prevent problems that can cost you more money over time, especially if you’re an athlete, so investing in your health today, voluntarily, is saving for tomorrow.
His key to success, according to this entrepreneur, is offering competitive, innovative services that until now were only available at high-performance centres, finding a way to make them affordable for anyone, and bringing the benefits of the sports world into the business world, something that didn’t exist in Granada until now.
The company is studying several projects to begin expanding, and we wish them every success on their journey.
Further reading
- Profitable businesses in fitness and body care
- A spa: a highly profitable business
- The most profitable businesses
- Business ideas to get started
- Business ideas in leisure and tourism
Featured image: University of Salford Press Office, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
