On some Sunday evenings in Dubai, just before the sun sets, you’ll find a very different kind of networking event. There are no finish lines or performance metrics or complicated membership portals here, just women in sneakers, clutching water bottles, walking side by side and chatting.
What started as a way of coping with new motherhood has turned into a full-fledged walking club for Syria-born, UAE-raised Farah Enayeh, the founder of ‘Girls Who Walk Dubai’.
“I started off in corporate, but life kind of changed when I became a Mum,” says Enayeh. “That phase really changed how I see work and connection.”
So, what is a walking club?
Every community has the big first day, which mostly comprises of many ‘I’m not sure if anyone will show up’ moments. Enayeh remembers that feeling clearly. “I was nervous. Like what if no one shows up?” she says.
But one woman did: a friend named Suzanne. “When that one friend showed up on the first walk, I realised how much I needed that connection. So I realised this isn’t about me anymore. It’s something people actually need in Dubai.”
That casual, two-woman walk set the tone for everything that followed. But it was never meant to be a hardcore fitness club, says Enayeh. In fact, that’s precisely why ‘Girls Who Walk’ is a walking community, not a running one.
“Because walking is softer and easier. Less intimidating,” she adds. “You don’t have to be ‘fit enough’, you don’t need the outfit, you don’t have to keep up. You can show up tired, emotional, and still belong.”
She also wanted something accessible for mothers like herself. “I wanted to include mothers with their babies and strollers. Also, it’s a good brain exercise to walk and talk at the same time.”
How it started
Enayeh’s life once ran on a familiar corporate rhythm of back-to-back meetings and a clear professional identity. But that completely changed once she became a mother.
“Day-to-day, it was honestly a bit lonely,” she admits. “You go from being busy, always around people to suddenly having so much silence but also so much responsibility. I loved being a Mum, but I missed feeling like me. I missed adult conversations, energy, purpose outside the house.”
To cope with that feeling is why she started walking daily with her baby, a simple, gentle habit to feel “mentally and physically better”. “I wished I had others walking with me,” she says, adding that traditional networking events and sports clubs didn’t quite fit the bill. “I wasn’t able to join other sports clubs or networking events because it was inflexible.”
So, she did what many women in the UAE do when they can’t find the community they need: she built her own.
What began as a small WhatsApp group of like-minded women “turned quickly into an IG page where I started reaching out to girls with similar fitness interests to join me.” The concept evolved organically when she invited a friend to join and share her own entrepreneurial journey.
‘LinkedIn on legs’
Very quickly, Enayeh noticed that these walks were turning into something much more than just casual strolls.
“There have been so many moments where a simple walk turned into something bigger,” she says. “Girls finding job opportunities through someone they met or even business deals, Mums forming real support systems, girls who came alone now coming every week with friends they met here.”
What she’s created is networking stripped of the stiff name tags and awkward icebreakers. “It’s not forced networking, it’s just genuine conversations that accidentally change things,” she adds. That’s why she jokingly calls it “netwalking” and “LinkedIn on legs”.
“A lot of girls come feeling lonely or disconnected. Even if they’ve lived here for years,” Enayeh shares. “New Mums feel like they’ve lost themselves a bit.” The walks, then, become a low-pressure way to reclaim parts of themselves, without having to keep up with a structured membership platform.
Still hesitating to join?
Of course, some women will watch from afar for weeks, liking posts but never quite making it to the meeting point. For them, Enayeh has a message.
“No one is judging you, no one expects anything from you,” she says. “You can come quiet, you can come awkward, you can even leave early… it’s all okay. But chances are, you’ll leave feeling lighter than when you came.”
Source: Khaleej Times