PROFILE
The heavy lifting pays off Five years in the making, Snap Fitness Doonside is a triumph of tenacity and the fulfilment of a dream for a local boy-turned-franchisee.
F
or Egyptian-born, Sydney-raised Michael Georgy, setting up in business was always about giving back to the community. Michael, working with his sister, wife and brotherin-law, has opened the Snap Fitness Doonside gym – the fulfilment of a long-held dream. In fact, the dream was forged between Michael and his sister Shirein back in 2013, even before the siblings had married their partners, who are now involved in the business. It’s a testament to family and to good old-fashioned tenacity that the gym dream has become a reality. Michael works in education as a wellbeing and learning adviser. He is a PE teacher and personal trainer with years of experience, having travelled to the US on a soccer scholarship and worked as a personal trainer (PT) in the UK. So it made sense for him to follow the fitness trail when looking to set up in business.
Long road to the right location A hefty amount of research went into finding exactly the right fitness brand, then began the search for a location and a workable site. 32 | FEB/APRIL 2022 | WWW.FRANCHISEBUSINESS.COM.AU
“We opened Doonside in October 2021 and it’s been five years finding the right model and location, and negotiating with the landlord,” Michael says. “We were trying to find the right site first, not just open any gym; it had to be in an area with no competition, good traffic, dense population, and a parking facility.” In 2018, when Michael and Shirein started the demographic analysis for suburbs around Doonside, then pinpointed a location that had the size and other attributes they were looking for, the pair had no idea the journey to opening their own gym would still be so far off. “It was another two years of negotiations with the landlord; it’s hard to negotiate with someone when money is not a motivator for them. My brother-in-law and business partner has a background in construction, and he hung in there. “We were almost there in 2020, pre-lockdown, then after lockdown we started negotiations again; we were already working on a presale campaign when lockdown hit again. “It was tough, but it was worth the wait,”
