The UAE’s position as a safe place to be during the global Covid pandemic and subsequent recovery has given organisers of the annual Dubai Active Industry exhibition extra muscle in attracting participants from across the international arena.
The event has reported 35 percent overall growth since the last edition was held in pre-Covid 2019, with brands from 30 countries set to exhibit and 125 speakers flying in from 12 countries.
Co-founder Craig Hartley told Arabian Business: “Over the last few years the Middle East has been one of those regions globally which has seen the quickest increase in fitness in terms of consumer demand and the number of people who are entering the market.
“For our event, particularly, the international interest has been increased by the fact that in other markets the exhibitions have been so uncertain, whereas here in Dubai the leadership has handled the pandemic really well; we’ve got Expo 2020, everything looks a lot more certain.
“So brands that would normally be looking at other markets, like Germany, where the big international exhibition there (FIBO) has just been cancelled for the year, they’re looking at the Middle East and the Dubai Active Industry will probably be one of the biggest exhibitions of its kind this year.”
Fellow co-founder Nick Blair added: “A lot of these international shows aren’t happening, but also in their markets, the gyms might have been closed for most of the year, whereas here it way maybe two or three weeks where they were fully closed.
“So a lot of those gyms in Europe or other places that have been shut for a long time, have gone out of business, they’ve not got the money to invest in new equipment. But here we’ve actually experienced a growth in people going to the gym and keeping fit.”
Dubai Active Industry, which is held in collaboration with Dubai Sports Council, is giving start-ups in the fitness, health and nutrition industry the chance to win a life-changing investment opportunity of up to $500,000, as well as global recognition and exposure through the Draper-Aladdin Start-up Challenge (DASC).
A joint collaboration between venture capitalist, Tim Draper, and founder of leading B2B technology company AladdinB2B, Alaa Ismail, the challenge was launched to give innovative start-ups the opportunity-of-a-lifetime to kick-start their businesses.
Finalists of the challenge will get the chance to pitch their game-changing business concepts at Dubai Active Industry for the chance to win the prize of up to half a million dollars in investment from DASC, as well as the chance to appear on the leading business TV show, Meet the Drapers, where they will be able to pitch their idea to the Silicon Valley family in front of millions of viewers.
Hartley said: “During the pandemic we saw a lot of people losing their jobs, starting to be creative, really taking the initiative to start-up new businesses and a big trend in that was wellness businesses and fitness companies.
“We’re really trying to encourage those new businesses and give them a helping hand to get them started.”
Dubai Active Industry is taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre from October 28-30.
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