fibodo, the award-winning booking management platform, has announced a partnership with sport education specialist, AoC Sport, to provide up to 239 colleges in England with free access to a business focused e-learning course.
The CIMSPA-accredited course, ‘Grow Your Business’ – created by fibodo – aims to teach and inspire students on best business practice, as well as how to operate effectively online and develop successful careers in the fitness sector.
The course is designed for integration within colleges’ existing programmes and includes useful, practical business advice on topics such as growing a client base and managing admin – whilst equipping them with the technology and software skills required for success in today’s digital society. This aims to upskill young talent and give the next generation of sports and fitness entrepreneurs an edge over their competition.
‘Grow your Business’ is worth three CPD points, and is available to students who study up to a Level 4 qualification and to both private and public colleges.
There are currently 76,000 students studying sports coaching or fitness courses in England alone, and this is growing at a 
considerable rate. Although colleges have always offered in-depth teaching with regards to technical skills, there has traditionally been little – if any – focus on the commercial and digital practicalities of running a fitness business in the real world.
Marcus Kingwell, managing director at AoC Sport, commented:“We have been working with fibodo for some time in the WorldSkills UK Fitness Trainer Competition and have been impressed with their offer. We are now introducing the course to all our member colleges as part of our vision to boost the employability of students. It will help to address the lack of business skills of newly-qualified personal trainers, as identified in Future Fit Training’s Raising the Bar report last year.”
Megan Sowney, director at fibodo, added: “We’re passionate about empowering sports and activity professionals at grassroots level, so this partnership is a great fit. Tutors and lecturers now have a vital resource to inspire more students to gain the knowledge and skills that are essential to achieving successful businesses within the sector.”
To see how fibodo helps students and college leavers build their businesses online, take a look at Louise Wilson. Louise is based in Cornwall and recently won the WorldSkills UK Fitness Trainer Competition, having changed career and moved from a city job in London.
