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Adam White






































I was born in Nigeria. My father is a Kiwi, my mother’s British. We lived in Nigeria for two-and-a-half years, then moved to the UK for five years. My father worked did work for a multinational company, designing roads and bridges. He came to Hong Kong to work on the MTR in 1977.
We loved it so much that he decided to join the company. We originally came for six months, and I’m still here more than 40 years later. People say, “Where are you from?” And I say, “Actually, Hong Kong.” It’s my city.
From the HK Magazine archive: Colin Grant
I came here when I was about 10. I’d started playing tennis when I was in England – my dad was a keen tennis player. Within my first week or two of being in Hong Kong, I played my first tournament. It became a big part of my life. Because I didn’t finish university, I always say that tennis was my education, my university.
I played in the Hong Kong Open in the late ’80s. I beat three pros – I beat the top seed [in qualifying], ranked about 140 in the world. I lost in the qualifying stages, but to beat three touring pros in succession was pretty good. Playing in the Davis Cup for Hong Kong between the mid-80s and mid-90s was probably the greatest honour. I stopped playing competitive tennis in 1995.

When I was 13 years old, I bought a stringing machine – I would string my own rackets and other people’s. That was a business for about five years, and at the Hong Kong Open I was the official stringer. I would string until my fingers literally bled – 50 rackets a day. For a 15-year-old, it was good money.
I guarantee that I wasn’t the first person who came out of a yoga class thinking, ‘That’s amazing, we should open a studio.’ The only difference is, we did it. And we did it the right way
Colin Grant
I won my first senior tournament in Hong Kong when I was 18 and I used the prize money to invest in my first business: Movieland at the Ladies Recreation Club, where I proposed that I run the video club. Then I brought it to the Aberdeen Marina Club, and then to Repulse Bay, Mid-Levels, Happy Valley, North Point, Pok Fu Lam … we ended up with nine stores in total. We started with VHS videotapes, then laser discs and then DVDs. It’s been almost 30 years now and it’s still going. My brother runs it and it’s a testament to him.
I also had a go at making tennis clothes. I had some samples made in Korea, but it didn’t really work. Mr Bean Coffee I did when I was about 20. We set up coffee shops in the World Trade Centre (in Causeway Bay), Central Plaza and China Hong Kong City. Pacific Coffee bought it a few years later.

Tennis has played a big role in the businesses I run. Take all the characteristics of playing professional sport and you can adapt them to running a business: work ethic, discipline, resilience, not being afraid to fail. If someone’s beating you, what do you learn, how do you change your strategy? How do you not predict the future, but plan for the future? I learned to do it from the age of 10.
When we hire, we don’t hire based on education or back­ground, we hire primarily based on EQ. It’s character and personality that count.
I can play tennis with somebody and within five minutes I can pretty much tell you the kind of character they have in terms of honesty, integrity, work ethic – what they’re like as a person.
I started Pure with businessman Bruce Rockowitz, who I knew from my teenage tennis days. When he first came to Hong Kong, he was a tennis coach. We started playing together when I was 12 or 13 years old. I think it’s had the same positive influence on how he looks at things.
I can play tennis with somebody and within five minutes I can pretty much tell you the kind of character they have in terms of honesty, integrity, work ethic – what they’re like as a person
Colin Grant
Bruce and I were on a golf holiday in Whistler, Canada, in the summer of 2001. We were meant to play golf but we couldn’t because it was raining, and someone suggested we do a yoga class. Neither of us had ever done one before.
Having been a tennis player, I had reasonable body awareness. I used to go to the gym and I would come out thinking, “That was a good workout, I feel good.” But it was a totally different experience coming out of a yoga class. You feel lighter. There’s a physical and also an emotional benefit. The next day I cancelled golf and did another yoga class. I came back to Hong Kong and decided to start Pure Yoga.

When we first opened there were about four yoga studios in Hong Kong, and their combined area was probably about 2,000 square feet. We opened with 6,500 square feet, so we more than tripled the yoga space in Hong Kong in a day. We offered towels, mats, changing rooms, showers, lockers … we wanted to offer the whole experience. We didn’t know this, but that had never been done. It was the largest yoga studio in the world at the time, with multiple studios, multiple classes.
We weren’t yogis, we didn’t come from the traditional way of running a studio. We just felt that kind of environment and experience would open up yoga to so many more people.
In Hong Kong, the new look of success is lean and sculpted
Our first studio opened in January 2002, in the Centrium, above Dragon-i nightclub [in Hong Kong’s Central business and entertainment district]. At that time, hardly anyone was doing yoga: only about 100 people a day. Within a month or two we had over 400 people a day. Now we have almost 6,000 a day in Hong Kong. For the first few years, I would always get asked, “The studios are busy, but when do you see this trend ending?” I don’t get asked that question any more.
I guarantee that I wasn’t the first person who came out of a yoga class thinking, ‘That’s amazing, we should open a studio.’ The only difference is, we did it. And we did it the right way. We had to send the Immigration Department a stack of books about yoga – no one had applied to get a visa for yoga teachers before. We took huge risks and I worked 15-hour days for six, seven years. I didn’t take a holiday for five years. But it wasn’t a sacrifice because I enjoyed it. It’s what I loved, and I still love doing it.
Hong Kong’s latest fitness trend: restaurants inside gyms
A natural progression was to open a fitness centre. In December 2003, we opened our first Pure Fitness gym, in Kinwick Centre (Central).
The market has definitely matured, especially in the last three or four years. It’s become far more mainstream, with a lot more people looking to lead happier and healthier lives. It’s more than just going out and sweating. For people to exercise, they’ve got to be ready, you can’t force it on them. This is something I’ve learned through yoga. It’s about being tolerant of others, and not criticising other people for their beliefs and attitudes. Some are vegan, others eat dead stuff. That’s their choice. So what?
Yoga has shaped a lot of my thinking. I’ve become more open to different things. I definitely believe that what goes around comes around, in terms of karma and how you live your life, on and off the mat. Life’s too short to be angry. Don’t have any regrets. Do what you love and don’t be scared of doing something because it might not work.


Interview: how Hong Kong entrepreneur founded Pure Yoga thanks to lucky rain break on a golfing holiday

Colin Grant says yoga has taught him, among other things, that “for people to exercise, they’ve got to be ready, you can’t force it on them”. Pictures: SCMP

Colin Grant at the Closed Hardcourt Tennis Championships final against Andy Brothers (not in this picture). Grant won the best-of-five final in Victoria Park. 05JAN86

Pure Group CEO Colin Grant poses for a portrait at Pure Yoga, Asia Standard Tower, Central, Hong Kong on March 09, 2017. 09MAR17 [06AUGUST2017MY LIFE POST MAGAZINE] SCMP/Jonathan Wong

Victorious smile . . . Hong Kong's Davis Cup players Mark Bailey, Randall King, Colin Grant and Kelvin Ng return to Hong Kong after a 4-1 victory over Singapore. 21JAN85

Travel Insider: Colin Grant

In Hong Kong, the new look of success is lean and sculpted

Yoga classes have income a routine for many Hong Kong residents and executives to fend off stress and stay healthy. Photo: Nora Tam

Fitness First gym at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui. 11MAY16 SCMP/Jonathan Wong

Interior of Lululemon Athletica at Hysan Place in Causeway Bay. 10JUN17 SCMP / Edmond So

Interview with Pure Fitness CEO Colin Grant at the Asia Standard Tower in Central. 19MAY17 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong’s latest fitness trend:  restaurants inside gyms

Vietnamese summer rolls from The Elephas at Warrior Academy. Photo: Jonathan Wong

This handout image shows Crab cakes by The Restaurant by The Kinnet. Photo / HANDOUT [13SEPTEMBER2016 FEATURES HEALTH]

This handout image shows nood’s vegan sandwich, wraps and cold-pressed juices. Photo / HANDOUT [FEATURES HEALTH]

Colin Grant, Chief Executive Officer of Pure Group

The Elephas at Warrior Academy gym/restaurant founder Ricky Cheuk with dishes Quinoa spinach salad with seared tuna (left) and dessert Raw dark chocolate pie (righT), poses for a photography in The Elephas at Warrior Academy, Shop 118 Hong Kong Plaza, 188 Connaught Road West, Hong Kong. 19AUG16 [2016 FEATURES FITNESS & WELLBEING] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Immersive fitness takes the humble workout to a new level

Jeanette Wang takes a roller coaster ride at Pure's immersive Fitness studio. Photo: David Wong

Yoga-fitness chain Pure hopes to bulk up in China

Pure has high hopes for its new apparel and organic food lines, says Colin Grant. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Pure Group founders Colin Grant (left) and Bruce Rockowitz

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It was pure luck that rain scuppered Colin Grant’s 2001 round of golf with fellow Hong Kong big shot Bruce Rockowitz in Whistler, Canada. Someone suggested the childhood friends take a yoga class instead. And so a fitness empire was born
