Note from the CEO

Daniel Herman admits he was the "fat kid" at school, more interested in Wham Bars and Panda Pops than protein powders and sports supplements. But despite inventing dozens of excuses to avoid PE for his entire school career, Daniel became a gym-lover at university. He started to eat properly and work-out five times a week. As his training hit a plateau, he began taking aids like creatine to hone his body and fitness levels.

It wasn't long before the supplements ceased to make a difference and failed to match up to the claims on the packet. He took on the makers who were dismissive and resistant to change. Daniel felt the technology was in place to make better nutritional aids - and decided to investigate the business for himself.

He quit his job in the City, enrolled in a course on nutrition and personal training and set out to learn all he could about the industry. The first product he developed was the creatine supplements as he noted most people, when they go to the gym, want to lose body fat, develop lean muscle and improve their fitness. He hit on the idea of combining creatine with a natural fat burner which, according to research data, would give excellent results.

Daniel soon saw these results proved on a larger scale when a colleague, who worked for the Ministry of Defence, improving the fitness of soldiers, asked to use the product. There were excellent improvements in their performance and so Creatine Plus was born.

Deciding he wanted everyone to benefit from the products he was making, Daniel shunned the traditional body-building route and instead targeted lifestyle magazines and retailers like Selfridges, Harrods and Lillywhites, as well as gyms.

Soon Arsenal FC was using Bio-Synergy products and it has become the brand of choice for professional sportsmen and women, who have been more than happy with the results Bio-Synergy products deliver - Mark Foster broke the world record for the fastest swim ever using Bio-Synergy products and the Surrey Cricket Team have climbed to Division One after integrating Bio-Synergy products into their training.

But in keeping with the ethos of the company, Daniel has continued to find ways to expand the benefits from using Bio-Synergy products. He developed the children's range, as he was determined to get kids interested in healthy foods by making them fun. A range of supplements was also developed to put parents' minds at rest as their kids passed through stages of fussy eating.

Summing up his goals for the future, Daniel says: "I want to continue to push and push for the products to be as good as they can be. Also, to get over the hurdle of people being fearful of them and make the products approachable, so as many people as possible can benefit. I think it's only a matter of time before nutritional supplements become the norm. We all need to be educated in how they work and can help us. But we also have to be sure the product lives up to the claims it makes. I want to be sure Bio-Synergy does just this - and hopefully more"

Short Q and A with Daniel Herman.

Q. How did you find out about sports supplements?

A. A friend I knew recommended I took supplements to help my progress, as I was going to the gym five days a week and following a sensible regime, but my results had levelled out. My parents thought I was mad as no one really knew much about supplements back then - they didn't look or taste very good either. One day I was about to put in a big order and my dad took the brochure from me and told me this was not good for me. There was a lot about how dangerous they were at the time in the news and, as a pharmacist, he knew I wouldn't get the best results from what I was buying. So I decided to do a nutrition course and a course in personal training to help me with my goals. That led me to start my own company for people like myself, who wanted to get the best out of their work-out and their lives in general.

Q. How did you come up with the name of the company?

A. After deciding to leave my job and start the company, I knew the name was incredibly important. I remember sitting with a thesaurus trying to decide. I liked Chameleon - with the slogan "make the change" and thought a picture of the animal could look cool on a logo. The other option was Bio-Synergy which means "working with life" I decided the latter was more what I wanted to work on and then came up with our logo - "Make it Happen"

Q. Why did you steer away from the body-building market?

A. Well, although it was probably silly at the time because body builders were the main users of these products, I wanted to create a brand and company which would be suitable for anybody at any life stage. I decided, from the outset, to develop that area and so my first advert appeared in Men's Health, which was just being launched at the time. I think nutritional and sports supplements have been stigmatised a little with their association with body-building - people think they will only give you massive muscles or are helpful if you work out for 18 hours a week. But there really is something for everyone. There are different products for different situations.

Q. Why are you so determined to make the information about the products clear?

A. B-S maybe the initials of the company but we don't B-S our customers. When I was dealing with the mail order side of the business, as I set up, I would always ask why a customer was ordering what they were. I asked what their training and nutrition regime was, because if they were not training very often, certain products may not work as well for them. For example, if they are asking for creatine, but only training a couple of times a week, I would suggest something like a multi-vitamin because they aren't going to see a great difference with the creatine and that schedule.
You can get someone to buy it once - the challenge is getting them to buy something twice and they will only do that if they have noticed results. This is why we have such a range of products. We have something to suit everyone.
Our responsibility is to educate in a fair and unbiased way. You have to eat as healthily as possible, take some exercise and then, if you still feel you are missing out on energy or vitality - speak to us. Or if you are 100 per cent then we can get you to 110 per cent. But we can't tell you that you need our supplements just to survive because that's not true. However Bio-Synergy can help you improve the way you look and feel.

Q. How do you decide when to develop a new product?

A. We don't do anything too novel as there's not enough data, but we don't do anything old because it's been done. We also try and combine synergistic things - so in the Creatine Plus we have combined the creatine with something which helps move fat. This means customers are getting better value-for-money as it performs two functions. The Liquid Energy has carbohydrates, electrolytes and vitamins, making it perfect for all stages of exercise, but also for everyday life. We try and combine elements which work together to create an enhanced result.

Q. What do you find rewarding about your job?

A. I want to help people get more out of their lives. And what's kept me going during the ups and downs is when I get an email or letter from a customer saying they have done their first marathon because of our help, or that their child can concentrate at school now, or someone got further in their chosen sport. That's what gives me the motivation to continue and improve.