Nicolas Nhalungo is a Mozambican writer and researcher who focuses on business, culture, fashion, and history. As a third-culture kid, his interaction with distinctive cultures has contributed to his understanding of the world at large. As an aspiring pop culture anthropologist, he aims to help brands make sense of the evolving cultural zeitgeist. He has written for AMAKA, 

, Industrie Africa, OkayAfrica, and more, and has been featured in VICE, 

, and The Fashion and Race Database. He's a Council for International African Fashion Education fellow and an African Arguments fellow.

Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience. 

Personal Worlds

We’re witnessing the ‘wellnessification’ of absolutely everything. Beyond boosting their physical health with fitness and nutrition, people are looking for a path to being well in all aspects of their lives, including their finances, careers, activism, spirituality, home design, tech usage, and so much more. The global health and wellness market is expected to reach over $8,945.3 billion by 2032, while self-improvement and the quest for reprieve and relaxation have become integral to all areas of our lifestyles.

Wellness was once for the elite, expressed through a Goop-like look and lifestyle. But now a more fragmented definition of wellness is on the rise, encompassing people’s diverse backgrounds and distinct needs. In a society ruled by high stress and burnout, what was once considered a baseline are now status symbols: sleep is a luxury, glucose monitors signal exclusive healthcare, and sob parlours offer curated spaces for catharsis. People are embracing more radical forms of wellness, employing minor plastic surgery and weight-loss drugs as a means of control over their lives.

Wellness is rapidly reaching new demographics across generations. Exhausted by the permacrisis, Gen Z is rejecting more traditional, buttoned-up wellness movements in favour of little treats, girl dinner, ‘bedrotting’, or ‘rat snacking’ as forms of self-care with a sense of release. At the same time, longevity is becoming a priority as Gen X and Boomers rethink wellness to suit their needs. Some are taking up clubbing as a way of keeping an active lifestyle, while others are looking for nuanced approaches like menopause diets to support the changes that come with age. A desire for more bespoke wellbeing is driving an increase in health hacking – whether through technology or prioritising socialising with peers.

Being+

Ankit Prakash is the founder of Sprout24, a contextual data platform that provides comprehensive insights and expert-curated content on software products. He specialises in product and market research, innovation, and B2B product platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across global markets.

Charles Chow has over 25 years of professional marketing experience, having worked with technology multinationals across the United States and Europe. He has worked with cloud transformation and cybersecurity across the Asia Pacific region

Germany

Technology

Personal tech

Careers

BBC Worklife

Interview with Charles Chow conducted by the author

Inc.

Stern Bert | Medium

Zapier

The Atlantic

Interview with Ankit Prakash conducted by the author

Adobe

MIT Technology Review

Gallup

Verizon

European Commission

Wrike

Smartsheet

Formstack

People’s perceptions of productivity have shifted. Capacities is a cloud-first platform that has captivated personal knowledge management users due to its structure, user interface, and interconnectivity, fulfilling a growing desire to optimise workflows and upskill all within the same space.