Pakistani couple Anam Khalid and Wajdan Gul put AED250,000 of their own money back in 2016 to start a fitness apparel brand from their Jumeirah Beach Residence apartment in Dubai called SquatWolf.
Fast forward to nine years later the brand is available in 120 countries and has three outlets in Dubai, including in what many have deemed ‘the world’s most visited place on earth’ – Dubai Mall.
So how did it all start?
Both Khalid and Gul grew up in Hyderabad before moving to Karachi to study. In 2013, they got engaged. At the time, Khalid was offered a job at Majid Al Futtaim in Dubai, a major Emirati conglomerate.
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The plan was to move temporarily but after realising “the safety, the lifestyle, learning and career opportunities were so good”, she told her fiance “I’m not coming back”.
Laughing at the memory, Gul recalls: “She had promised it was going to be a one year stint to get global experience. When she told me she didn’t want to come back I wasn’t surprised, she was really successful in an international market”.
Gul ended up following Khalid to Dubai and working at a fitness entertainment business.
“We were doing well in our respective jobs but there was a sense of emptiness. That’s when Anam pushed us into starting something of our own.”
The couple told Asma Mustafa in the Aaj News show In the Arena, which aired recently, that they noticed a huge gap in the fitness apparel market specifically targeting gym-goers and decided to tap into it, but without leaving their day jobs.
“Everywhere you looked in Dubai, people were only wearing Nike and Adidas. There was a perception that anything imported was good. But when you looked at influencers on YouTube and Instagram, they were opting for homegrown brands that were made specifically for their niche, be it crossfit, body building or yoga”.
The couple also noticed there was no local brand catering to the huge community of gym-goers.
“It was a blank space no one was tapping into,” Khalid recalls, adding: “we decided we would not even try to compete with Nike and Adidas. We would instead work with personal trainers and those who don’t get the limelight from these big brands. And that was one of the biggest reasons for our success”.
Their motto became: ‘Born in Dubai, engineered for the gym.’
For the first year, they put every penny they had into the business. But a year later they realised they had no money to invest in more stock.
In 2017, their friends in Pakistan who worked with startups became their seed investors, and Gul decided to quit his day job to put all his time and energy into SquatWolf.
Booming in Covid
In 2018 SquatWolf expanded into Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. But then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, no one was going anywhere let alone the gym, and the couple thought it might be over for them.
Not ones to give up, they sent their products to the 400 plus athletes who were part of their community and asked them to make videos on how to be active at home.
“That became globally viral. By 2022 we were in 120 countries and that’s when Anam joined the business full time.”
The couple also credits their success to their “magic formula” of high quality products, and having a “community mindset”.
Gul explained that big brands tend to get disconnected from local consumers.
“They make products for the US and Europe mainly but for us the UAE was our primary market, so we would do activities and events here”.
The journey to Dubai Mall
SquatWolf began stocking at Go Sports, one of the major retailers in the region, and was received well. However, Khalid and Gul had a vision that they could only bring to life with their own outlet. By 2023, they say they were so successful every mall in the region would reach out to them, except Dubai Mall. But it was the only one we wanted to be in.
As luck would have it, a loyal customer introduced the couple to the CEO of Dubai Mall owner Emaar. Thirty minutes after they had presented their ideas, they got a call that their location was ready.
“We are the first brand to have their first outlet in Dubai Mall” Gul said proudly.
The couple agrees that the biggest challenge for any entrepreneur is building the right team and surrounding yourself with people who are more intelligent than you.
“If you are the smarter person in a meeting room then you are in the wrong room,” remarked Gul.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
