Banking On Health

He has represented Australia in two sports - rugby and bobsleigh - at Olympic level, but Jeremy Rolleston's latest "sport" may be more daunting than competing against other top sportsmen. The founder and CEO of Active8me, a digital health business, is out to convince the average office-bound - most likely overweight - urban Asian who loves food, to eat healthier and exercise more.

Mr Rolleston, 44, was working for one of Australia's largest early-stage venture capitalists when he noticed the success of digital fitness and health companies in Australia, US and Europe. "But there was nothing of that sort in Asia," he says.

He did see a growing interest in fitness, health and wellness in the region - salad bars, cold-pressed juices, activewear labels, gym subscriptions, fun runs and races, for example. But then he was also aware of an epidemic-scale rise in obesity and diabetes in Asia, fuelled by "bad eating habits, poor food choices, inactivity, urbanisation and stressful lifestyles", he says.