April 6, 2026

Built to Solve It All: The Story Behind Vitalforce Group

How Todd Wijnstekers and Ivo Putman turned a fragmented, slow-moving industry into a vertically integrated global operation built on discipline, vision, and an obsession with getting it right.

Every company starts with a problem. For us, it started with a question we kept asking ourselves while working with brands and entrepreneurs trying to bring health and wellness products to market: why is this so incredibly difficult?

You had one company for raw materials. Another for formulation. A separate agency for branding and design. A contract manufacturer somewhere else. And then yet another logistics partner to handle fulfilment. Five companies, five invoices, five sets of timelines and none of them talking to each other. The result? Delays, miscommunication, and products that took far longer to reach market than they ever should have.

“I knew that if I was going to build something, it had to solve the whole problem, not just one part of it.”

Four years in China where persistence became a philosophy

Long before Vitalforce Group existed, I spent four years living and working in China. It was one of the most formative experiences of my life, professionally and personally. I immersed myself fully: learning Mandarin, building relationships, and absorbing a culture where persistence, patience, and respect for process are not optional qualities. They are the foundation of everything.

Those years gave me something that no business course ever could: a direct understanding of how global supply chains actually work, who the right people are, and how to build trust with suppliers at the source. When it came time to launch Vitalforce Group, those relationships were invaluable. Our earliest supplier network was rooted in connections built during those years in China, established on mutual respect and a genuine understanding of how to work across cultures.

“China taught me that real relationships take time and that patience, applied with discipline, is one of the most powerful business tools there is.”

A difficult period that became a lesson

I did not come from pharma or cosmetics. My background is in sports and entertainment, worlds built on discipline, performance, and the relentless pursuit of results. You train, you execute, you win. There is no room for excuses, and there is no hiding from outcomes.

Before Vitalforce Group, I went through a genuinely difficult period as an entrepreneur. It was tough but looking back, it was also one of the most instructive seasons of my professional life. It sharpened my thinking, clarified what I valued, and ultimately brought our founding team together around a shared conviction: that we wanted to build something with real structural integrity. Not just a business, but a system that actually worked.

“The brands we work with don’t need ten vendors. They need one partner who understands the whole picture.”

The idea: end to end, or nothing

Vitalforce Group was officially founded in 2023 with a simple premise: give brands, entrepreneurs, and businesses a single trusted partner for the entire journey, from raw materials and laboratory formulation, through production, brand creation, and global fulfilment. No handoffs. No gaps. No unnecessary waiting.

We started with Vitalforce Pharma, where the need was most acute. Quickly after, Vitalforce Labs came online to cover the full manufacturing of dietary supplements, from formulation and R&D all the way through to finished product. From there, we grew deliberately, with each new division born from a gap we kept seeing our clients struggle with. Cosmetics. Creatives. Fulfilment. Medicals. Six divisions today, each specialised and each fully integrated into the wider group.

  • 6 Specialised divisions
  • 4 Global regions served
  • 1 End to end partner

From East to West: producing in Europe

While our supplier roots were forged in China, our production story has evolved significantly. Today, all of our manufacturing takes place in Europe, a deliberate and considered shift driven by our commitment to quality, transparency, and the standards our clients rightly expect. European production means tighter regulatory oversight, shorter supply lines for our European and global clients, and complete confidence in the integrity of every product that leaves our facilities.

The knowledge and relationships built in China remain part of our DNA. They gave us a global perspective from day one. But our manufacturing home is firmly in Europe, and that is something our entire team is genuinely proud of.

“Our roots are global. Our production is European. Our standards are uncompromising.”

Growing with the market and ahead of it

What surprised even us was how quickly the demand validated the model. Clients in Europe came first, then the Middle East, a region with enormous appetite for high quality supplement and cosmetic products. Then the United States, where our operations became a cornerstone of our transatlantic offering. South America followed.

Each market taught our team something new. The Middle East demanded rigorous quality standards and speed. The US required manufacturing precision and compliance. South America opened our eyes to the scale of unmet demand in emerging wellness markets. We adapted, and we delivered.

What drives us forward

We approach this business the way high performance teams approach their craft: with structure, clear standards, and a genuine will to deliver. Our team has grown alongside our ambitions, and that growth is not accidental. Every person who joins Vitalforce Group understands what we are building and why it matters. When a client launches a product successfully, that result belongs to the whole team.

The health and wellness industry is growing at pace across every market we operate in. The demand for reliable, high quality, end to end partnerships has never been greater. Brands and entrepreneurs no longer want to manage five suppliers, chase timelines, and hope for the best. They want a team they can trust to handle it all, with the expertise and infrastructure to back it up.

Vitalforce Group is that team. If you are building a supplement, cosmetic, or wellness brand and you are looking for a partner who can take you from concept to shelf, across any market, we would like to hear from you.

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