It's launch day for OnePercent, a sports drink developed by Topher Barretto, a Guam son who took a risk, moved to Hong Kong and spent the last 18 months pouring his time, money and energy into turning his vision for a healthier sports drink option into reality.

The idea for OnePercent is rooted in Barretto's passion as an athlete and a mindset that the “little wins” matter.

“I started as a kid racing watercraft, winning the different world and national titles as a teenager. I think 1998 was my first title up to 2000. That the discipline the idea that to become the best in the world doesn't mean you're going to do everything all at once. It's little wins here and there daily little wins that gets you to that ultimate top of the mountain the big goal.

“The racing analogy I like to use is you have a 20 minute race a 20-lap race if I could improve one second per lap then that's 20 seconds faster than the next person, so that's all I needed. So, growing up I looked for those little one seconds, those opportunities to take advantage of you add them up.”

That mindset, instilled at a young age, led Barretto to open his first business, Unified CrossFit, a local gym in Guam. He told Guam News Network the same mindset applies in business.

“We looked at little angles about improving, trying to improve 1% here, 3% there, saving 1% here, saving 2% there and then at the end of the month, you're up 15%, 10% and in business that's huge, and then at the end of the year, you're up 30%, 40%. ... None of these wins, none of these big wins would happen at one time. It takes incremental small little wins to get those big wins,” Barretto said.

The concept of OnePercent was born from that mindset, he said, and it made sense for the concept to become the name of his sports beverage.

“Because to get to where I am today, I've been in this business for this line of work in sports nutrition, sport beverages about 10 years and it's adding up all the little knowledge and the little wins, creating all the little contacts around the world and building, building, building to get to this point,” Barretto said.

“One percent a day will get you to that finish line, get you to the top of the mountain and it'll make you a better person that day and overall, at the end of the year. It'll compound and just help you grow,” he added.

As an athlete who has spent 10 years in the sports beverage industry as a local and international distributor, Barretto saw a gap.

“I easily drink sports beverages all day, every day. The problem is there's no sports beverage out there, there's no brand out there that is low sugar, all natural, that is good for you. All the leading beverage brands out there, Gatorades, and here in Asia Pocari Sweat ... has artificial flavors, artificial colors, high sugar, artificial sweeteners,” Barretto said.

He said OnePercent is a modern, healthy sports beverage option high in electrolytes, “great for daily consumption in hot humid climates where you sweat and no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, zero sugar and zero caffeine,” Barretto said.

On Saturday, OnePercent launched its first three flavors in the Asia-Pacific market.

“We're launching with citrus, which is a citric blend of all the citrus fruits, orange, lime, lemon. It's inspired by one of my favorite childhood sodas, Sprite, 7UP I grew up loving those drinks. I chose that because out here in Asia wherever you go they have lime sodas, ... there version of it and then Sprite and 7UP it brings back childhood memories,” Barretto said.

The second flavor is watermelon lime, another nostalgic flavor for locals in Hong Kong.

“When the locals think about refreshing fruits, watermelon is one of them and that's why I wanted to link that to them ... but our is watermelon lime. We added the lime to add a little bit of sharpness to it and it has a little bite,” he said.

The last flavor is the “Original.”

“The Original is what Gatorade is the US, Pocari Sweat is Asia and the Original is inspred by Pocari Sweat. ...It is and institutional drink, grandma, grandpa's, uncles, aunts, everybody knows about it here in Asia,” he said.

Barretto used the flavor of Pocari Sweat as inspiration for Original's flavor profile.

“The flavor profile is very similar, but it's been modernized. It's zero sugar, zero artificial ingredients ad only what you need,” he said.

While OnePercent isn't available in Guam yet, he said there are plans to introduce the sports beverage in the future.

“Guam is definitely part of the big plan to launch next year because our main market is Hong Kong and Singapore. It's where we have the biggest connection to get into stores, retailers and move the fastest,” Barretto said.

Up until 18 months ago, OnePercent was just a dream.

“I've wanted to do this for a while, but I just didn't feel like I was able to. I always felt like I don't have what it takes. It was too big,” he said. “I just didn't know how and over the years of doing business, international business and looking into how to do it but it still was just not moving.”

As an international distributor watching profits get “squished” by external factors, he decided to take the risk and hire a mentor.

“I needed to do something to take control of my future and that was by starting my own brand,” Barretto said. “I wanted to give it a really good go and figured I'd do it properly.”

When asked, Barretto encouraged others to step out of their comfort zones and give 1% more to their dreams.

“If you have ideas and you want to be an entrepreneur, I think you have to go all in. You have to put in the time, the energy, the effort. You got to sacrifice. Live in the basement, if you have to borrow money work two jobs, work 15 to 18 hours you got to put more. You got to show that you want it by putting in the time effort and doing the work yourself. Only then will people help you,” Barretto said.