Saudi Arabia Is Exporting a Gym Built for Women

By Tam Goldsmith

Body Motions is taking its Saudi-built women-only fitness franchise overseas.

Body Motions was created specifically for women in Saudi Arabia. Now the brand is looking overseas, and Tam asks whether the rest of the world has underestimated what Saudi franchise businesses can export.

For years, franchising in Saudi Arabia was easy to understand from the outside. International brands wanted Saudi customers, and Saudi investors wanted proven concepts they could bring into the Kingdom. Restaurants, retailers and fitness operators arrived with established names and local partners supplied the capital, property knowledge and operating experience.

Body Motions makes that old picture look increasingly dated. The women-only fitness business was launched in Saudi Arabia in 2020 by Sport Clubs Company, the operator behind Body Masters. It has since grown to more than 17 locations and is now looking for franchise partners outside the Kingdom.

I find the direction of travel more interesting than the gym itself. This is a Saudi company effectively saying that it has learned something about serving women that could be valuable to operators in other countries. For a market that spent decades buying overseas franchise concepts, that is quite a change.

Why Should the Best Ideas Always Come From Somewhere Else?

There has always been a slightly lazy assumption around international franchising in the Middle East. Western brands create the concepts and Middle Eastern investors provide the money and local knowledge required to operate them.

That argument becomes harder to sustain when Saudi Arabia itself is producing hundreds of franchise brands.

Government figures published in 2026 put the number of franchise brands operating in the Kingdom at 1,514, including 744 Saudi brands. In 2020, there were only 93 local franchise brands. In six years, Saudi businesses have gone from being a relatively small part of the franchise market to accounting for almost half of the brands operating there.

Some of those businesses will eventually look overseas, and Body Motions is a good example of why they deserve attention. The company is not trying to export a Saudi version of an American gym. It built its proposition specifically around female customers and has already operated it across multiple locations at home.

A Women's Gym Has to Offer More Than No Men

The women-only part of Body Motions will attract the headlines, but it cannot carry the economics of the business by itself. Members still expect good equipment, capable trainers, useful classes and facilities worth paying for every month.

Body Motions was designed around female members from the beginning, with privacy, club layout, programming and service developed for that customer. Its offer includes personal training, group exercise and Reformer Pilates alongside the traditional gym membership.

There is also enough operating history to make the franchise proposition worth examining. Sport Clubs Company's 2025 IPO prospectus said Body Motions opened 12 clubs during its first two years and had reached 16 locations by the time of the prospectus. The brand's current website puts the network above 17 locations.

An international partner is therefore buying into a model that has already had to recruit staff, fill clubs, retain members and operate multiple sites. That does not guarantee the numbers will work overseas, but it is considerably more useful than buying a franchise built around an idea that has barely been tested.

Would Women Outside Saudi Arabia Actually Want This?

This is the question I would want answered before signing anything. A women-only gym makes obvious sense in Saudi Arabia, but international expansion depends on whether the customer need is genuinely international.

I suspect it may be larger than people assume. Religious and cultural requirements are one reason some women prefer women-only facilities, but they are hardly the only reason. There are women who simply do not enjoy mixed gyms, feel uncomfortable training in them or would rather exercise somewhere designed around female members.

The opportunity therefore does not have to be limited to markets that resemble Saudi Arabia. The numbers still have to be proved city by city because gyms are expensive businesses to get wrong. Rent, equipment, staffing and membership pricing can quickly punish an operator who overestimates local demand.

Body Motions appears to understand that requirement. It is looking for established operators with experience in areas including fitness, wellness, hospitality, retail and real estate rather than presenting the opportunity as a small owner-operated gym.

Saudi Arabia Has Learned a Lot From Being the Franchisee

There is another reason I think international franchisors and investors should pay attention to businesses such as Body Motions. Saudi operators have spent years working with overseas brands and learning what good franchise systems look like.

They have negotiated leases, hired thousands of employees, dealt with international suppliers, opened multiple locations and adapted businesses designed elsewhere for Saudi customers. Some of those operators have become large and sophisticated businesses in their own right.

It should not be surprising that they eventually want to franchise what they have built themselves.

The interesting question is whether international investors are ready to reverse the relationship. Instead of a Saudi company asking for the rights to an American or European concept, an operator in another country may now be asked to pay for the rights to a business developed in Riyadh.

Body Motions gives that proposition some substance because there is a real operating network behind it.

The Middle East Doesn't Have to Be the Buyer Forever

Franchisors have spent years talking about the Middle East as an expansion market. That description is becoming incomplete because Saudi Arabia and its neighbours are developing brands that increasingly have ambitions of their own.

Body Motions still has plenty to prove internationally. A successful club in Saudi Arabia does not automatically work in London, Kuala Lumpur or another overseas market, and prospective partners need to test the local membership economics before assuming that it will.

But I would not dismiss the proposition because it came from Saudi Arabia. I would be asking what the company learned from building more than 17 women-only clubs that an overseas fitness operator does not already know.

That is where this story becomes important. Saudi Arabia spent years learning from international franchise brands. Body Motions is betting that somebody overseas is now prepared to learn from Saudi Arabia.

What We Can Learn From This

International franchise investors should start looking at Saudi brands with the same commercial discipline they apply to concepts coming from the United States, Europe or Australia. Body Motions has already built a multi-location operating business, but prospective partners still need to prove local demand, property costs, membership pricing and staffing economics in their own markets. The practical opportunity lies in finding Saudi businesses that have developed expertise worth exporting rather than simply copying concepts that already exist elsewhere. If Body Motions can make that journey successfully, expect more Saudi franchisors to start asking international investors for their attention and their capital.

Continue the Conversation

Looking for more innovative franchise brands? Explore our Franchise Brands Directory to discover franchise opportunities and inspiring brands from around the world.

Have a franchise brand, founder or business story worth sharing? Submit your article to be featured in The Franchise Entrepreneur.

Interested in sharing your expertise with our readers? Become a contributor.

Looking to connect with franchise founders, investors and operators? Partner with us.