Izhar Basha

Eastern Region National Finalist

At the age of 26, Izhar Basha was a senior associate at a leading law firm when an autoimmune disease diagnosis became the catalyst for a life change. After a year in and out of hospital, he shifted to a career path that would help others improve their own health.

A former junior basketball rep and amateur bodybuilder, Izhar was interested in sports nutrition and opened a small retail store in Sydney. Finding the quality of existing sports supplements lacking, he set about creating his own brand.

A week after stumbling across a documentary about the burgeoning fitness nutrition industry in Utah, USA, Izhar flew there to investigate. It was September 2012. The EHPlabs flagship launch product OxyShred was on the market in Australia and the US by February 2013 and has since sold more than 5 million units.

Izhar brought legal smarts and a heartfelt mantra to EHPlabs: “Let’s make things better by making better things.” They found loyal customers by being a pioneer of the influencer-marketing strategy, and today EHPlabs has a community of more than 90 million across Instagram and YouTube on its own accounts and those of 200 brand ambassadors. Along with customers, Izhar calls this community “the fam”.

The company is 100% bootstrapped, with no outside capital, no debt, a 300,000-customer strong eCommerce business and distribution to thousands of retail outlets across ANZ, the US and Canada. An additional nutrition brand, Blessed Protein, and three digital fitness offerings have also contributed to the company’s growth.

EHPlabs conducts scientific studies with leading universities to research the efficacy of its products, which are developed at its lab in Utah. The January 2022 release of new format OxyShred in a canned energy drink is taking the product to a whole new group of customers, through new channels.

Izhar’s driving belief is that when people improve their health, they contribute more to society. Promoting philanthropy, diversity and inclusion, EHPlabs launched industry-first labelling for the visually impaired and has donated more than $500,000 to a wide variety of charitable causes.