Prime Highlights-
- Viva Core launches non-profit arm Viva Core CIC eight months after opening its Northampton studio.
- Founder Joyce Mwape targets national and international growth, including a planned Zambia studio.
Key Facts-
- Vulcan Works has hosted Viva Core since November 2025, backed by Barclays Eagle Lab support.
- Viva Core builds its profile through free Pilates classes, workshops and menopause awareness events.
Background-
A Northampton women’s health consultancy is looking beyond the UK after setting up a non-profit arm less than a year into operation. Viva Core, which offers education, movement and wellbeing support for women, has established Viva Core CIC just eight months after opening its first studio at Vulcan Works in Northampton town centre.
The community interest company aims to widen the organisation’s social impact and back its plans to reach more women both nationally and internationally.
Founder Joyce Mwape built Viva Core’s profile through free Pilates classes, educational workshops and health-focused events, including a menopause awareness session held with the Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce.
Mwape called the launch of the CIC the next stage in the organisation’s growth, with overseas expansion already in motion. She said she holds ambitious goals to grow the team and extend the company’s local expertise further afield, adding that she prefers partnering with established experts in women’s health rather than duplicating existing work. As part of that strategy, Mwape is exploring a second Viva Core studio in Zambia.
The business has been at Vulcan Works since November 2025. It has worked closely with the hub’s support team to plan its growth. Mwape said business growth manager Darren Smith and Barclays Eagle Lab helped guide the company’s path. She said the support went beyond office space, adding business advice and community help.
Vulcan Works centre manager Garrick Hurter praised Viva Core’s fast growth. He said he was glad to support entrepreneurs like Mwape in an inclusive, team-based space at the Cultural Quarter hub.
