When it came to his post-workout nutrition, Tim Brady wanted things done right. So, he took matters into his own hands.
The 22-year-old, now in his first year of the HBA program at Ivey Business School, played football for the Mustangs when he first came to Western.
“I noticed a hole in the market at the time. I was training year-round and noticed there was a need for a better recovery solution,” Brady said. “Every day, after our workouts, we’d all bring our different stuff – protein, glutamine, flax – all these different supplements.
“It was one of the trainers who said, ‘I wish we could combine all three things.’ And a light bulb moment went off in my head.”
That was more than two years ago.
Today, Brady is the founder and owner of MojoMax Health, a growing company he started in 2011 in order to better serve athletes like himself, providing them with nutritional supplements that promise to reduce recovery time.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur looking for an opportunity, and I wanted to see if this was feasible. After a year of researching, contacting manufacturers, lining up financing, it came to fruition,” Brady said. He has had the help of industry experts, fellow athletes, friends in business alongside an advisory board, helping him along the way.
The MojoMax product is basically an advanced formulation of glutamine, Brady explained.
“Glutamine is the key amino acid for recovery for endurance and strength athletes. It’s the most important ingredient and our product is based on it. It reduces your soreness and it’s the most important thing to shorten your recovery time,” he said, adding this formulation benefits those who train for triathlons and other competitions needing more than one workout a day.
“There are many glutamine products on the market, powders and capsules. We added flax to further reduce inflammation and help the metabolizing of fat, and ginseng, as well, to flush out antioxidants,” Brady, now a triathlete, continued.
After getting the approval of Health Canada – a rigorous process, strict for good reason, according to Brady – the MoJoMax product made it to market. Following a soft launch, as well as promotion through word of mouth through running, triathlon and other athletic clubs, sales were promising, he explained.
“We recognized there was a demand for it. In the first year, sales growth was incremental. This summer, it started to increase exponentially. We sold out of inventory in three months,” Brady continued.
He signed with a national distributor this spring, and released a second, powdered version of the MojoMax product. The powdered version appeals to athletes who can mix it in shakes and vegans who prefer not to take capsules made with gelatin. Brady said MojoMax is looking to release a protein product this fall, with other potential health products coming down the road.
“We’re on the tip of the iceberg here, with the financial backing we have, and the ambassadors we have, and the traction we’ve gained in such a short time,” Brady said.
“Most companies fail in two years and we just passed that. We’re growing.”
Brady, who will be representing Canada at the world triathlon championships next year, plans to see how far he can take MojoMax Health. His decision to attend Ivey was deliberate he said, as he hopes to gain the tools and connections necessary to help him grow his brand and company.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur. The sky’s the limit,” Brady said.