WHAT IS BBM AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
Led by Dave Letele, Buttabean Motivation (BBM) transforms the lives of Māori and Pasifika through a community approach to wellbeing. The BBM programme is a 13,870 people-strong wellbeing movement through which thousands of people have supported each other to change their lives.
Through the founder Dave Letele’s magnetic coffee-fuelled energy, the transformed lives of Māori and Pacific people, and the (literally) tonnes of weight BBM participants have lost, it is clear that this social enterprise is doing something special.
BBM runs programmes to help people lose weight and increase their wellbeing in a healthy sustainable way. BBM is focused on educating, supporting and training New Zealand communities wanting to overcome obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. BBM does so by running free boot camps around Auckland. BBM operates within a supportive online and in-person community that is focused on creating positive, supportive, and affirming environments.
In addition to free boot camps, BBM runs an intensive 6-week lifestyle support programme that caters specifically to people whose health challenges prevent them from standing for very long. BBM’s other activities include facilitating a closed, active Facebook community, running an online fitness programme, working with ZOOM pharmacy, and offering BBM members and their families support with medicine and health literacy.
“The BBM program saved my life. It is more than a weight loss program, this program is life changing!”
– BBM participant
BBM’S BUSINESS MODEL
BBM has a diverse funding model that includes:
An online user-pays fitness programme;
Intermittent Ministry of Health contracts to deliver the ‘From the Couch’ programme; and
Three years of philanthropic funding to cover free boot camps, its South Auckland fitness facility headquarters, and a potential site in West Auckland.
BBM’S IMPACT
BBM members are encouraged by a supportive community to take positive steps and build their mental strength alongside their physical wellbeing, which leads to people enjoying life and experiencing noticeable health benefits, better work opportunities, and a healthy family.