Anam Khalid
The story
Anam Khalid grew up in Pakistan and studied human resource management, taking an MBA at SZABIST in Karachi. Her first role was as an HR specialist at Philip Morris International, and she went on to spend around ten years in HR and strategy at large multinationals. After she and her husband, Wajdan Gul, moved to Dubai in 2015, they noticed that gym goers mostly wore Nike or Adidas, while fitness communities abroad wore specialist brands. Distributorship approaches to international gymwear labels went unanswered, so they decided to make their own. Factories across Asia turned them down for months before one in China agreed, and they put AED 250,000 of their savings into the first collection, launched from their Jumeirah Beach Residence flat in May 2016. Most of it sold before the stock arrived. Anam joined Squatwolf full time in 2020 and leads brand, product, sourcing and culture. The brand now sells in more than 120 countries and has its own stores in the Gulf.
By the numbers
Their company
UAERetailSquatwolf
Dubai gymwear brand selling premium performance clothing online and in GCC stores
