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PIF sets up company to help Saudi women get fitter

By Gavin Gibbon
Women jog in a public park in Riyadh. Increasing the Saudi population's fitness is one of the Vision 2030 goals Reuters/Ahmed Yosri
Women jog in a public park in Riyadh. Increasing the Saudi population's fitness is one of the Vision 2030 goals
  • Kayanee will adopt ‘female-focused approach’ to health and fitness
  • Business to be chaired by Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud
  • Saudi Arabia’s fitness and wellbeing industry is worth $4.26bn

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has launched a company aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of women in the kingdom.

The business, Kayanee, will focus on fitness, apparel, personal care and treatments, nutrition and diagnostics, healthy eating and learning.

The Public Investment Fund-backed company will be chaired by Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, who is the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

Kayanee will adopt a “female-focused approach” to all its services, PIF said in a statement. It aims to reach more than 1 million consumers.

Raid Ismail, head of Mena direct investments at PIF, said Kayanee would serve to expand Saudi Arabia’s SAR16 billion ($4.26 billion) fitness and wellbeing industry.

Under the Vision 2030 quality of life objectives, the Saudi government aims to raise the proportion of the population that is physically active – taking part in sport and other activities every week – to 40 percent. 

The kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics reported in 2022 that 38.3 percent of Saudi women do at least 30 minutes of exercise every week, but the figure for the World Health Organization target of at least 150 minutes is just 20.3 percent.

Leejam Sports Company, which owns and operates fitness centres in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has reported a 65 percent jump in net profit to SAR135.1 million for the first half of 2023, compared with SAR82 million the previous year. 

The performance was driven by a 26 percent rise year on year in membership revenues and a 31 percent increase in personal training revenues.

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