Shibani is Saudi Arabia's very own locally produced entrepreneur who currently runs the popular Kai Fitness Centers, Dereak for Medical and Pharmaceutical Consultation and Zen IT, an information and technology solutions company. With an MBA from the US-based University of Maastricht and a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from King Saud University in Riyadh, Al-Shibani's expertise is in fitness, nutrition and weight-loss management. At a recent conference in Jeddah, he informed athletes and sportsmen about the risk of steroids. He emphasized that steroids can cause irreversible damage to the human body and should be avoided at all costs. He is the current Ambassador of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) in the Kingdom. He is a member of several organizations including the Jeddah Young Businessmen Committee (JYBC), National Saudi Young Businessmen Committee, Saudi Pharmaceutical Society, Scientific Research Committee and is currently attending the Dubai-London Executive MBA program. When asked what innovation means to him, Al-Shibani told Saudi Gazette, “Innovation is to create something unusual, something out of the box, or something big, by using the resources that you have.” Al-Shibani has been invited to speak at the upcoming TEDxArabia conference in Jeddah where the theme of the event is “What is innovation?”. He will be one of 20 speakers who will talk on technology, branding and marketing. At TEDxArabia, Al-Shibani will be speaking on the importance of branding in business, and how one should go about building one's business. He will also describe how he started his fitness center using a unique strategy. “I want the audience at TEDxArabia to know that if you really want to be successful, use whatever resources are available to you. If they are limited, that's way better because your ideas will be much more innovative,” he said. Describing the Dereak Pharmaceutical Company, he explains excitedly, “We were the first ones to develop a Kingdom-based testing facility for medicines and drugs. So we had absolutely no competition!” Al-Shebani recalls how this facility as a business opportunity opened him to “a blue ocean of undiscovered wealth. I think we had a good opportunity to do something new and stand out”. His best advice to youngsters who want to enter the health and fitness industry is: “Success does not favor the big; it's always the small; it's always the fast not the slow. So be fast, be small, then you can draw the most success. Don't try to hold onto thoughts like: ‘I need money; I need cash; I need loans'. You should have an attitude like [Virgin's] Richard Branson who said, ‘Let's do it',” he concluded. He recommends reading “Blue Ocean Strategy”, a popular business strategy book that illustrates how an organization can generate high growth and profits by creating new demand in an uncontested market space. For information on other exciting speakers at the Dec. 2 conference at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), visit www.tedxarabia.com. This event has received tremendous support from the JCCI's Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee.
