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Wellness – what does it mean?

Wellness – what does it mean?

By “Wellness” we mean physical wellbeing, especially when maintained or achieved through good diet, exercise, sleep and relaxation.

Wellness, as a desirable state, is infusing itself into the way we eat, exercise, sleep, work, save and age and in aspects of our lives where we demand more safety from the products we use. With this in mind we believe this to be Europe’s first dedicated Wellness Fund specifically tied to a philosophy of socially responsible investing. The only focused Wellness funds that we know of in the UK currently are captive corporate initiatives such as Unilever’s, investing that corporation’s funds to help build potential Unilever Brands, and Tate & Lyle's, which launched at the start of 2007 to invest in functional foods. Elsewhere in Europe, Nestle have a fund focused on this sector, again to grow potential new Nestle brands, and we know of a number of other dedicated funds in Europe with some Wellness bias.

The Wellness Industry seeks to address a vital aspect of life, exploring a key aspect of human existence – aging and vitality – on which technology is likely to make new substantive advances in the next decade and beyond. In order to define the wellness industry and identify its opportunities it should be distinguished from the related healthcare industry. The Healthcare industry. Approximately one sixth of the UK and European economies are devoted to what is erroneously called “healthcare business”. This has sometimes been characterised alternatively as the “sickness” business, defined in the dictionary as “ill health, illness, a disorder, weakened or unsound condition or a specific disease”. We comment on and interpret some of these statements as follows:

”The Sickness industry is Reactive”: no-one really wants to be a customer.

“The Wellness industry is Proactive”: people voluntarily become customers, to feel healthier, to help mitigate the effects of aging, to avoid being customers of the ‘sickness’ business. Everyone wants to be a customer of this earlier stage to health.

The “Sickness Industry”: where products and services are provided to people with an existing disease, be it a common cold or cancerous tumour: these products and services seek to either treat the symptoms of disease or eliminate the disease.

The “Wellness Industry”: where products and services are provided proactively to healthy people (those without an existing chronic or acute condition) to make them feel healthier, look better, to help with the effects of aging and/or to prevent diseases/debilitating disorders from developing in the first place.

“It is our choices... that show us what we truly are far more than our

abilities.”

JK Rowling from Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets 1999