ANDRII KHOMYTSKYI — ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2025 ACCORDING TO THE UKRAINIAN BUSINESS AWARD
History of the creation of Online Fitness Club
The idea of creating my own fitness product was brewing long before the pandemic. Back in 2018, together with the trainers of my team, I launched the social project “Wake Up” — free training sessions in parks every Saturday, which took place first in Kyiv and later in other cities. From 300 to 500 people participated in these events every week, regardless of the weather or season. This became the basis for the formation of an active fitness community and the spread of the idea of regular exercise as part of a healthy life.
By the time I launched Online Fitness Club, I had over 14 years of coaching experience, working with famous public figures, including:
- Olympic champion Natalia Dobrynskaya,
- Singers Anastasia Kamensky, Slava Kaminskaya,
- Rapper Potap,
- Miss Ukraine Anna Andres,
- As well as politicians, businessmen and professional athletes.
All this has built recognition, trust and expertise, which has become the basis for further scaling.
In June 2020, the Online Fitness Club (OFC) was founded in response to the global challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when people were banned from visiting gyms and physical activity was under threat, my team and I decided to support people through regular live online training.
We started absolutely free daily broadcasts, the purpose of which was not only to maintain physical fitness, but also to help people cope with the psychological pressure of quarantine. In the first 2 days, over 25,000 people joined the Instagram page where we conducted training, and over 2,500 participants participated in each broadcast at the same time. The trainings lasted daily for several months, completely in open access.
After the lockdowns ended, participants began to independently request: “Leave this format, we are ready to pay”. Thus was born Online Fitness Club — the first Ukrainian online sports club that combined regular live training, support, a methodology with a long-standing basis, a flexible system and a sincere community.
OFC was not just a response to quarantine, but a logical continuation of many years of work, the social movement “Wake Up” and a personal professional path built on results, trust and dedication.
This moment became a point of transformation – from a reaction to the crisis to the creation of a sustainable business model that united thousands of people around the world around the idea of accessible, high-quality fitness. Today, OFC is not just a sports program, but a full-fledged online ecosystem with a team of coaches, a flexible training system, analytics and an active Ukrainian community.
