Twenty-five years old, a Canary Islands fitness championship, a debut in a national basketball division, and partner in two businesses. That is the quick summary of the life of Jorge Martín, a native of Lanzarote who, despite his youth, has achieved some of his childhood dreams.
All these different achievements originate in 2015, when he decided to move to Tenerife to finish his high school studies, while combining it with the sport that had marked his life, basketball. He played for Luther King, a club that played in the Tenerife Island League, and at the end of the season he decided to completely change his sport.
When he started his higher education, studying the Higher Level Technician in Animation of Physical and Sports Activities (TAFAD) in Tenerife, he started in the world of fitness, training at the BeFit Gym. He never thought that this company would be so important, and where he paid a fee to train, ended up being his first business at just 23 years old.
“I spent 9 months of hard preparation, making many sacrifices, and I ended up going to the Canary Islands Fitness Championship, where I got a gold and, a month later, a bronze”, explains Martín. The world of fitness is, possibly, one of the hardest in terms of demands in training and food, something that is even more complicated when you are only 21 years old and have to do without the typical habits of that age.
“I deprived myself of many things, I had to remove everything that was not compatible with eating six meals a day, such as going out partying with my friends”, he explains. Once this experience ended with a good taste in his mouth, he decided to “put aside” this world, to return to Lanzarote in 2019.
“In the end, you are the one who decides where you can put failure."
Back to the court and debut in the EBA League
Jorge Martín, with a TAFAD degree, decided on his return home to work in the island's sports centers, which he combined with other jobs as a tent assembly assistant. In addition, he decided to return to the courts, at CB Conejero in the capital.
Martín explains that the initial idea, when he contacted the club, was to train with the first team, which that year was playing its fourth season in the EBA League –fourth division of national basketball–, and play with the team that played in the Liga Autonómica with the teams from the archipelago, that is, the reserve team. However, as the season progressed, he was increasingly counted on by the first team coach, Iñaki Merino, even ending up playing 20 minutes per game.
“In the end I achieved it through hard work and sacrifice, because of that competitive spirit that I have always carried inside. I will always be super grateful for the opportunity that Iñaki Merino gave me”, he says.
The season ended early, since on March 14, 2020, the national State of Alarm was decreed, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which ended the 2019-2020 league.
Partnering with a gym in the middle of a pandemic, an idea for “crazy people for mud”
Jorge Martín, in full confinement and at 23 years old, decided to return to Tenerife and start what was perhaps the project of his life: to become a partner in the gym with which he won the Canary Islands Championship, Befit Gym. “The pandemic has ended many things, but it has also borne much fruit”, he assures.
“I should have the name of the gym tattooed somewhere”, says the young man with a laugh, who also acknowledges that the affinity with who was until then the sole owner of the gym, José Hortiguela, made it easier for him to decide to start in that world.
However, if the beginnings of any business are difficult, they are even more so when the world is enveloped in a pandemic. “It was very complicated, apart from the necessary money and the hours spent, Covid was against us. We were going from phase up and down, reduced capacity, and they even closed us for a month and a half in Christmas 2020”, explains the young entrepreneur.
That level 3 in which Tenerife was in those Christmases, which at that time implied the closure of gyms, was not an impediment for Jorge Martín to continue with the illusion and desire for his new life. “Despite being without income, we decided to change machines and paint the interior of the gym. When people returned, they told us that we couldn't stand still, not even with a pandemic”, he says.
Failure is always in the head of those who start a business, although Jorge is very blunt about this possibility: “In the end, you are the one who decides where you can put failure. José and I love this, we are crazy about mud, and we got fully involved to succeed”.
Ten months after starting with BeFit, the Omnia Tenerife project is born
Jorge is the typical person who doesn't know how to stand still, and just ten months after opening BeFit Gym, he decided that it was a “good idea” to set up a cocktail bar in La Laguna.
“Together with another friend named Ubay, José and I decided to start the Omnia idea and we spent almost a year on construction”, he explains. The premises, located on Doctor Zamenhof street, one of those surrounding the famous Cuadrilátero, had been closed for years, so they had to invest a lot of time and money to get it started.
On February 22 of this year, the Omnia Tenerife project opened its doors. “We decided to give La Laguna a twist, and fortunately people have responded quite well”, explains Martín, who once again emphasizes the “taste for mud” of him and his partners in these new projects. However, Omnia Tenerife has undergone changes in recent months, and one of the partners has left the project although another young man, the same age as Jorge Martín, has joined. "We continue the same, and both José and I, together with our friend Carlos Pérez who has also joined, will ensure that Omnia continues on its path", he explains.
However, apart from the joy of business successes, there is the reality of a 25-year-old who sees his free time reduced to the maximum. “I didn't expect to have this pace of life at 25, but I always told my father that I would be good as a boss, although it is true that it is very difficult to combine it with social life”, he points out.
“There are many sacrifices, but the key is to surround yourself with a human team made up of family and close friends. Without them, I would now be in Lanzarote working in any sports center”, he assures.
Jorge Martín is currently immersed in his projects in Tenerife, and whenever he can he returns to Lanzarote to see his family and friends. He also sends a message to those who try to fight for a dream: “It's not as easy as it seems, it's not all about opening a business and making money. You have to put in hours and have money, but if you have a dream, go for it”, says Jorge, who also makes special emphasis on ensuring that this message does not remain “like the typical Instagram phrase”, but rather sinks into the young people of the island.
