Dubai Debrief – Arab Health 2025

Hello from Dubai! This week on the ICURe programme I set off to one of the most anticipated healthtech events the year, Arab Health 2025! I’m writing this blog post from the balcony of my hotel in downtown Dubai, looking out over the Burj khalifa, the world’s tallest building. It definitely beats the view from my home office in Swindon. At the time of writing this, I’ve just finished my last day of the conference and my head is spinning with new information and connections. It’s been an incredible experience and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! In this post I’ll discuss my experience of attending one of the largest health conferences in the world and give tips on how best to navigate networking events, plan your time and build international business networks.

Arab Health 2025

Arab Health is one of the most renowned conferences in the world, drawing in over 100,000 attendees. Before attending, I didn’t know what to expect, having never been to a conference this big or built international business relationships. Luckily, I was joined by four other entrepreneurial leads from my ICURe cohort, all of whom are exploring the health market (diagnostics, therapeutics and pharmaceuticals). This gave me a lot more confidence going in and the moral support and late-night debriefs from my cohort have been a real highlight of the trip so far.

So I arrived in sunny Dubai and was immediately blown away by the scale of the city, nobody prepares you for how breathe-taking and surreal the views are. I travelled downtown, checked into my hotel and headed straight to the roof-top pool to begin prepping for the conference (and to have a quick swim!). My first event of the trip was a drinks reception hosted by the UKIHMA, a trade organisation established to provide expert, integrated healthcare solutions to international clients. One tip that I would give to anyone attending a networking reception is to identify attendees beforehand (via LinkedIn) and introduce yourself virtually. This means that you’ll recognise a few faces when arriving and some people will have a rough idea of who you are and what you do. It’s also good to do some reading on the event organisers so you know who to look out for and thank for hosting!

The conversations I had at the UKIHMA reception were arguably the best I’ve had all week. I learned a lot about how business works in the Middle East and how the private healthcare system in Dubai works, I was delighted to hear about how much enthusiasm there was for digital health technologies in the region. Most attendees were UK-based, or UK born and living in Dubai, and had years of experience developing business relationships in the Middle East (and beyond). Quickly, I learned that there is little difference between personal and professional relationships in Dubai. In the Middle East, business is built on strong personal relationships and trust. This is somewhat different from the UK, where business relationships are typically very polite and professional, with a focus on building respectful relationships in a formal manner. This isn’t to say that business in the Middle East is not polite – on the contrary – however, people take a more genuine interest in you as a person, including your personal life, alongside your professional work. Members of the UKIHMA have certainly embraced Middle Eastern customs, as I observed strong friendships and relationships at the reception, which went beyond formal networking to a more personal and warm camaraderie. I definitely felt right at home in this community and look forward to hopefully becoming a member of UKIHMA in the future. Organisations like this are brilliant for young entrepreneurs looking to grow networks and learn about selling to international markets.

Monday morning rolled around and I was ready to hit the ground running at Dubai World Trade Centre. My main objectives for the conference were to: challenge the assumptions I have about my technology, build network in the digital health space and learn about international market. So I made a rough list of who I wanted to speak to each day and mapped out a route to all the exhibits I wanted to see. This is a must for Arab health given that there are literally thousands of stalls spread over huge exhibition centres. Some good advice I was given at the welcome reception was to wear comfy shoes. I walked over 20,000 steps through the centre each day so trainers were a must! For all those who did this in heels – my thoughts are with you!

It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer scale and volume of this event. In every direction there are thousands of professionals buzzing around, making calls, diving into talks and downing coffees – everybody is in a rush so it can feel intimidating and somewhat lonely to get started. One tactic for avoiding the chaos of the exhibition hall first thing in the morning is to attend a talk or panel discussion. At Arab health, the talks are in a separate meeting space with room around for more casual networking. I started the day by listening to an insightful panel discussion called ‘The Future: Introducing the New World of Digital Health Innovation’. This was a strategic move, as I knew there were some serious big hitters on this panel including Sam Shah, Dr David Rhew and Reenita Das. Given the subject was Digital Health, I hoped that most people attending would have similar interests to me. I wasn’t wrong! I had loads of meaningful conversations in this room, speaking to individuals from England, India, Dubai, Canada, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

Conference Top Tips

After some initial nerves about approaching strangers, I soon realised everyone at Arab health was very much open to meaningful and interesting conversations. Pretty much every person I approached was friendly, engaged and curious about my research and the ICURe programme. When you invest in each person you approach, showing interest and curiosity, then you’ll be surprised just how rewarding these conversations can be! More often than not, I started conversations with people in completely different fields. After asking as many questions as I could, I almost always learned something valuable, or better yet, received a recommendation for someone or a company to contact. So, my general advice for budding entrepreneurs attending conferences and looking to build networks is:

1. Invest your time and energy into conversations. Be genuinely interested and curious about everyone you meet. Most people don’t do this, so they’ll likely appreciate the conversation and find it refreshing! Best case: you’ll learn something, plan a follow-up meeting or secure a warm introduction. Worst case: you’ve had an interesting conversation with a stranger! Both are pretty good options.
   
2. Don’t judge a conversation by its introduction! Sometimes, it takes a bit of digging to find a shared interest or an insight that can help you learn something about the market. Give everyone a chance and don’t write anyone off after you’ve identified they work in a different field or area to you.
   
3. Make a conference/trade-show action plan. Having a rough plan of where you want to go, exhibits you want to see and people you want to talk to help you massively when arriving on the first day. Don’t plan everything to a T, but have an idea in your head of your game-plan and this way, if you’re feeling a bit lost or struggling to spark up a good conversation with people, you’ll have a fall-back to guide you.
   
4. Go to talks in the morning and the exhibition hall in the afternoon. My favourite time of the day was 4pm-6pm in the exhibition hall. All the keen beans had gone home, the exhibitors were exhausted and most people had one eye on the clock! This is the time where I found the exhibitors were most open to having relaxed, open conversation with you. During peak times there is a pressure to sell, sell, sell. But by the end of the day people just want to pass the time – and that’s where you can pop up and show some positivity and curiosity! I’d say 80% of the follow-up meetings I scheduled were either at an evening drinks reception or in the last hour of the conference.

As the week continued, I had to work really hard to stay on top of all the connections I was making and information I was learning. I made a rule that after every 3 conversations I’d take 20 minutes to write down my key learnings and take aways. Sometimes I made a quick voice-note to capture important learnings. For every business card I received I wrote a sentence or 2 on the back of it reminding me whether or not a follow up was needed and what we discussed. I think I came away with about 80 business cards in total so I was hugely grateful to my past self for doing this from the start! The days in Dubai were full on, with breakfast briefings starting at 8am all the way through to cocktail receptions finishing at midnight. I didn’t plan to go to everything but I ended up getting addicted to the buzz of this conference and didn’t want to waste a second! I think I had a lot of adrenaline and nervous energy on my side given this was my first trade-show of the ICURe programme – let’s see how well I’m doing by week 12! But all in all, this was a hugely successful trip and I haven’t even mentioned the incredible sites I was able to visit including the Burj Khalifa, Dubai mall, Jumeirah beach, St Marys church, many mosques, and the Frame.

Reflecting on Arab Health, it’s fair to say this experience has been pretty life-changing! That might sound a bit dramatic but it really is true. After spending 4 years buried in the details of my PhD, I hadn’t noticed how much my perspective had narrowed. Arab Health forced me to look up and take in the world. Experiencing different cultures, learning about international healthcare systems, and meeting fascinating people everywhere I went is an experience I’ll never forget. It reminded me of the limitless opportunities that exist in the world and the importance of embracing them fully. With that said, I’m off to Milan! The ICURe journey continues…

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the next one!