Get HCM digital magazine and ezines FREE
Sign up here ▸
Jobs   News   Features   Products   Magazine      Advertise  
HCM People
Ross Stewart Campbell

We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a happier and healthier world


Tell us about your original business.
I founded FIT Summit in Singapore in 2018 as a regional business community for fitness brands and executives to connect with each other. FIT was an acronym for ‘Fitness, Investment, Technology’.

It launched as the only business-to-business investment network for our industry in Asia and as our community grew, we expanded to run events in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand.

What inspired the launch?
Around 2016, I sold an events business I part-owned and launched a gym in Singapore to escape the corporate world.

As a new gym owner, I was incredibly passionate but equally naïve when it came to understanding what it took to be successful.

Searching for an industry network that offered help and support, I quickly realised there was none, so decided to build one.

I’m amazed we were the first to do this. There were plenty of established national events (Expro Fitness in Singapore, Asia Fitness Conference in Thailand, TAISPO in Taiwan, SPORTEC in Japan and GOIFEX in Indonesia), but these were mostly education forums and consumer shows, with no real participation from C-suite executives, owners and investors.

Tell us about the rebrand, and going global
Leading up to, and then into the pandemic, we started engaging with multiple verticals alongside fitness, including health, hospitality, wellness, leisure, sports, spa, longevity and employee wellbeing.

We ran virtual events during the lockdowns, further developing our global audience while also establishing a range of services such as business development support, thought leadership promotion, content emails and activations and industry reports. We’re also planning to launch a jobs board.

Today, we have a mix of retained, event and project clients who use a blend of our digital services and physical events to aid growth.

With all this in mind, the name FIT Summit didn’t accurately reflect our business, our clients or our collective ambition and Beyond Activ was born.

What was it that inspired this push for growth?
Our clients have been encouraging us for years to take our services global and help grow their businesses into new regions and market segments.

We chose to be brave, to step forward and try to make a difference globally. We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a happier and healthier world. We achieve this by encouraging investment into our industry, because a stronger, healthier industry lifts all boats.

I want to tell my daughter that her dad was brave enough to push ahead, regardless of the naysayers. Fortune favours the brave.

I’m all in. More so, I’m exceptionally proud of my team for working beside me to realise this vision.

What’s the thinking behind the name?
We chose Beyond Activ to represent our industry’s ambition to advance a more active world – one where we are able to embrace both the future, as well as each other.

We look beyond our status quo; beyond the industry we are today, to what we must become to meet the needs of tomorrow. A happier and healthier world is one with active bodies, active minds and active imaginations.

Who are the key people driving the business?
Our leadership team is made up of four people. Alongside me are Blair Campbell, chief commercial officer, Jolin Ma, chief operating officer and Daylin Limonte, chief marketing officer.

Have you taken on investment?
We’re a bootstrapped, private company and proudly so and the timing was never right to take on investment, especially with depressed pandemic revenue streams and valuations.

We’ll look at investment or acquisition in time, but for now we’re committing our time to delivering value to our clients and the industry.

Tell us about the recent deal you struck in the Middle East
We signed a three-year MOU with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment to deliver services to the Kingdom relating to sports, fitness and wellness, including events, promotions, PR and market insight. The first project was our business and investment event, Beyond Activ EMEA, which took place in Riyadh in February 2024.

This new annual event will showcase industry innovation and excellence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as highlighting international business opportunities.

We’re also working with partners in the region to take them with us to our other events [in Australia, south east Asia and the US], so they can explore new markets, new countries and new investment opportunities.

What’s the endgame?
I love our work, clients and industry, but as any entrepreneur will tell you, every day you carry weight and have to cope with pressure. My goal is to grow our company into a world-class business and then move on, leaving it to my team and the next CEO to use their skills and abilities to set a new benchmark.

At that point, I’d like to unplug, hide in nature for a few months, practice the wellbeing I so often preach about and decide on my next venture in life.
photo: Beyond Activ That Camera Guy Photography

"We chose to be brave, step forward and try to make a difference globally. We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a healthier world" – Ross Stewart Campbell

2024 will see four events across four continents
2024 will see four events across four continents / photo: Beyond Activ / That Camera Guy Photography
FEATURED SUPPLIERS

CoverMe extends matching service to personal training, rewriting how members and personal trainers connect
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right client in under 10 seconds. [more...]

Cornerstone Connect helps Active Blackpool tackle health inequalities
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
+ More featured suppliers  
COMPANY PROFILES
Everyone Active

Everyone Active operates leisure centres in partnership with local councils across the UK. Today, Ev [more...]
Safe Space Lockers

We provide a full turn-key solution for clients from design and consultation, through to bespoke man [more...]
+ More profiles  
CATALOGUE GALLERY
 
+ More catalogues  

DIRECTORY
+ More directory  
DIARY

 

03-05 Jul 2026

World Championship in Massage

Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
23-26 Aug 2026

Elevate Spa Riviera Maya Edition

The Riviera Maya Edition Kanai, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
+ More diary  
 
ABOUT LEISURE MEDIA
LEISURE MEDIA MAGAZINES
LEISURE MEDIA HANDBOOKS
LEISURE MEDIA WEBSITES
LEISURE MEDIA PRODUCT SEARCH
 
HCM
LEISURE OPPORTUNITIES
HEALTH CLUB HANDBOOK
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS
FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
ADVERTISE . CONTACT US

Leisure Media
Tel: +44 (0)1462 431385

©Cybertrek 2026
Get HCM digital magazine and ezines FREE
Sign up here ▸
Jobs    News   Products   Magazine
HCM People
Ross Stewart Campbell

We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a happier and healthier world


Tell us about your original business.
I founded FIT Summit in Singapore in 2018 as a regional business community for fitness brands and executives to connect with each other. FIT was an acronym for ‘Fitness, Investment, Technology’.

It launched as the only business-to-business investment network for our industry in Asia and as our community grew, we expanded to run events in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand.

What inspired the launch?
Around 2016, I sold an events business I part-owned and launched a gym in Singapore to escape the corporate world.

As a new gym owner, I was incredibly passionate but equally naïve when it came to understanding what it took to be successful.

Searching for an industry network that offered help and support, I quickly realised there was none, so decided to build one.

I’m amazed we were the first to do this. There were plenty of established national events (Expro Fitness in Singapore, Asia Fitness Conference in Thailand, TAISPO in Taiwan, SPORTEC in Japan and GOIFEX in Indonesia), but these were mostly education forums and consumer shows, with no real participation from C-suite executives, owners and investors.

Tell us about the rebrand, and going global
Leading up to, and then into the pandemic, we started engaging with multiple verticals alongside fitness, including health, hospitality, wellness, leisure, sports, spa, longevity and employee wellbeing.

We ran virtual events during the lockdowns, further developing our global audience while also establishing a range of services such as business development support, thought leadership promotion, content emails and activations and industry reports. We’re also planning to launch a jobs board.

Today, we have a mix of retained, event and project clients who use a blend of our digital services and physical events to aid growth.

With all this in mind, the name FIT Summit didn’t accurately reflect our business, our clients or our collective ambition and Beyond Activ was born.

What was it that inspired this push for growth?
Our clients have been encouraging us for years to take our services global and help grow their businesses into new regions and market segments.

We chose to be brave, to step forward and try to make a difference globally. We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a happier and healthier world. We achieve this by encouraging investment into our industry, because a stronger, healthier industry lifts all boats.

I want to tell my daughter that her dad was brave enough to push ahead, regardless of the naysayers. Fortune favours the brave.

I’m all in. More so, I’m exceptionally proud of my team for working beside me to realise this vision.

What’s the thinking behind the name?
We chose Beyond Activ to represent our industry’s ambition to advance a more active world – one where we are able to embrace both the future, as well as each other.

We look beyond our status quo; beyond the industry we are today, to what we must become to meet the needs of tomorrow. A happier and healthier world is one with active bodies, active minds and active imaginations.

Who are the key people driving the business?
Our leadership team is made up of four people. Alongside me are Blair Campbell, chief commercial officer, Jolin Ma, chief operating officer and Daylin Limonte, chief marketing officer.

Have you taken on investment?
We’re a bootstrapped, private company and proudly so and the timing was never right to take on investment, especially with depressed pandemic revenue streams and valuations.

We’ll look at investment or acquisition in time, but for now we’re committing our time to delivering value to our clients and the industry.

Tell us about the recent deal you struck in the Middle East
We signed a three-year MOU with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment to deliver services to the Kingdom relating to sports, fitness and wellness, including events, promotions, PR and market insight. The first project was our business and investment event, Beyond Activ EMEA, which took place in Riyadh in February 2024.

This new annual event will showcase industry innovation and excellence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as highlighting international business opportunities.

We’re also working with partners in the region to take them with us to our other events [in Australia, south east Asia and the US], so they can explore new markets, new countries and new investment opportunities.

What’s the endgame?
I love our work, clients and industry, but as any entrepreneur will tell you, every day you carry weight and have to cope with pressure. My goal is to grow our company into a world-class business and then move on, leaving it to my team and the next CEO to use their skills and abilities to set a new benchmark.

At that point, I’d like to unplug, hide in nature for a few months, practice the wellbeing I so often preach about and decide on my next venture in life.
photo: Beyond Activ That Camera Guy Photography

"We chose to be brave, step forward and try to make a difference globally. We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us to realise our vision of a healthier world" – Ross Stewart Campbell

2024 will see four events across four continents
2024 will see four events across four continents / photo: Beyond Activ / That Camera Guy Photography
LATEST NEWS
Industry veterans partner to launch women-only strength brand, LiftHer
An ambitious women’s-only strength and lifting studio concept is set to launch in Dallas this September, with a wider US rollout already in active development.
Omnigym collaborates on an outdoor gym for homeless people
Finnish outdoor fitness equipment specialist, Omnigym, has partnered with charity, Emmaüs Solidarité, to launch an outdoor gym installation at a homeless shelter in Paris.
Virgin Active opens social wellness club in London's Mayfair
Basic-Fit expands German footprint with €52m Wellyou acquisition
Europe’s largest low-cost operator Basic-Fit has agreed to acquire 41 Wellyou clubs in Germany for €52m.
Myzone report shows importance of longevity and social connection
Longevity is the most important motivator for today’s exercisers and social connection is key, according to a report by Myzone.
Until combines multiple disciplines at new Canary Wharf club
Until has opened its fourth club at Canary Wharf, in the iconic YY London building.
Ben Allen appointed managing director at Common Bond
Ben Allen has been appointed managing director at Common Bond. Having set the company up for growth, Robert Rowland now steps into an advisory role.
Industry mourns the loss of Les Mills, a founding father of fitness
Les Mills, whose name became synonymous with one of the world's leading fitness brands, has passed away peacefully at the age of 91.
HCM News: Taking GLP-1s is linked to a decline in physical activity
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
PureGym pilots touchless Recovery Zones in London and Manchester
Low-cost gym operator, PureGym, is trialling recovery zones at two of its UK sites, democratising what was previously a premium experience.
New CIMSPA standards upskill coaches and swimming teachers in mental health
In a milestone moment, mental health has become a core part of CIMSPA’s occupational professional standards.
EoS Fitness is the next budget chain to offer reformer Pilates
US high-value, low-price chain, Eos Fitness, has announced plans to pilot reformer Pilates in three locations this year.
+ More news   
 
FEATURED SUPPLIERS

CoverMe extends matching service to personal training, rewriting how members and personal trainers connect
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right client in under 10 seconds. [more...]

Cornerstone Connect helps Active Blackpool tackle health inequalities
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
+ More featured suppliers  
COMPANY PROFILES
Everyone Active

Everyone Active operates leisure centres in partnership with local councils across the UK. Today, Ev [more...]
+ More profiles  
CATALOGUE GALLERY
+ More catalogues  

DIRECTORY
+ More directory  
DIARY

 

03-05 Jul 2026

World Championship in Massage

Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
23-26 Aug 2026

Elevate Spa Riviera Maya Edition

The Riviera Maya Edition Kanai, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
+ More diary  
 


ADVERTISE . CONTACT US

Leisure Media
Tel: +44 (0)1462 431385

©Cybertrek 2026

ABOUT LEISURE MEDIA
LEISURE MEDIA MAGAZINES
LEISURE MEDIA HANDBOOKS
LEISURE MEDIA WEBSITES
LEISURE MEDIA PRODUCT SEARCH
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS
FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS