Nationality Saudi Arabian | Name Nouf Mohammad | |
Born May 21, 1980 (age 43) ( 1980-05-21 ) Makkah, Saudi Arabia Occupation Clinical Psychologist Yoga and Ayurveda Specialist Lifestyle Consultant Naturopathy expert Health Entrepreneur Businesswoman Notable work Importing Yoga and Ayurveda to Saudi Arabia | ||
Nouf Bint Mohammad Al Marwaai (Arabic: نوف بنت محمد المروعي, born May 21, 1980) is an influential Saudi businesswoman, wellness consultant & lifestyle counselor entrepreneur. She is a leading practitioner and promoter of Yoga and Ayurveda in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf as well as a clinical psychologist. She is one of the first Saudi female professionals to visit India to study Yoga and Ayurveda and promote them in the Middle East.
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In 2009, Nouf founded Nouf international that became Nouf and Partners Company limited in 2012, a Jeddah based global resourcing company with a subsidiary office in India. Nouf has been frequently interviewed by electronic and print media across the globe for her yoga and lifestyle consultancy.
Early years
Born in Makkah, she spent most of her early childhood traveling to different places due to her father’s government job requirements. She lived in Tunisia till she was five.
In 1985, Nouf moved to Riyadh, where she completed her elementary school at Al Tarbiyah Al Namouthajiyah School. She pursued her high school graduation at Al-Arabiya Al-Islamya School in 2000 and earned her bachelor's degree from King Saud University in Clinical Psychology in 2004. Later, she completed her medical training at King Khaled Hospital, Riyadh.
Nouf holds a master's degree in Psychotherapy and Lifestyle from Shobhit University, India. However, between her bachelor's and master's degree she has to her credit, a dozen intensive diplomas related to Yoga, Ayurveda and Naturopathy from the US, Australia and India with yoga teaching certifications.
Personal life
Nouf’s paternal side of family belongs to Makkah while her maternal side has roots from Persia. She is the eldest of five children, with a younger sister and three brothers after her.
Nouf’s interest in Yoga is inspired by her father, Mohammed Al Marwaai, who has won several regional and international championships in martial arts and Taekwondo. Her father inspired her into pursuing yoga and other physical activities to his children from a very tender age. Her mother also practices yoga.
Nouf’s childhood mostly revolved around government officials and their families, given her father’s job at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior. He was discovered by Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who sent him to Japan to study martial arts. He has represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in several International Martial Arts competitions till 2004. He implemented the system of self-defense, war techniques and several military trainings in all of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior’s departments and military departments. He had been awarded the King Fahad Bin Abdulaziz Award for his services in the 1990 Gulf War and the Military Excellence Award from the Interior Minister Late Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud in 1998. He retired from the Ministry of Interior as an advisor in 2009.
Nouf has always struggled with serious health issues since childhood which put hurdles in her dream to acquire education. In 1998 she was diagnosed with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD), but this never deterred her from acquiring education. However, within a year she recovered following a healthy diet and yoga. This is when she developed immense interest into exploring the depths of the science of Yoga and Ayurveda.
In 2006 she was diagnosed with Lupus after the birth of her son Faris AlSubhi. She opted for Ayurveda for her treatment, instead of allopathic treatment and shifted to India for treatment and further education. By 2010 she recovered fully.
In 2011 she developed a breast tumor. In 2014 she underwent surgical removal of the tumor complemented by a positive and healthy lifestyle and strict diet.
Nouf is currently divorced and has a son.
Career
Nouf has had an interesting journey full of challenges in the name of career. She has always been self-employed. At the age of 26, she established her first business (a yoga studio).In 2006 before entering into partnership with Dr. AbdulRehman Al-Znaidi to established Riyadh-Chinese Medical Center’s branch in Jeddah in 2009. The center was in exeistence until 2011. It provided alternative medicine services such as Ayurvedic treatments, Acupuncture treatments, Chinese medicine, etc.
In 2012, she added another dimension to her previous business by introducing more services to her center and formed Naturopathy Co Ltd in January 2012. Naturopathy Co Ltd is the first Saudi Arabian company in the field of naturopathy and physiotherapy, a complementary method to physical therapy and rehabilitation. In November 2014, Her Royal Highness Princess Nouf Bint Muqrin Bin Mamdooh Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud became a partner in the company.
While operating an alternative medicine center, she started spreading awareness regarding yoga and its benefits in the Middle East. In this regard, she started the SA Yoga School in 2008, the first registered yoga school in the region. She became the regional director of Yoga Alliance International in the Gulf Region in 2009 .Together with Swami Vidyananda, the founder of Yoga Alliance International in India, she founded the Yoga Alliance Gulf in 2009. Later in 2010 she founded the Arab Yoga Foundation. It is the first body in the Gulf that registers and recognizes yoga teachers and schools.
She is also the honorary secretary to the International Yoga Federation for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Arab Countries, since 2010, president of the Arab Yoga Foundation since 2010, and vice president of the Yoglimpic Committee in India since 2012. Nouf is also a member of the world yoga council & the Asian advisors of the international yoga federation.
In addition, Nouf has been invited to numerous seminars for public speaking. She has taught yoga to more than 5000 students since 2005, and has certified and continues to certify numerous yoga teachers from 2009 onwards.
Beside her passion for naturopathy, she also loves taking up new challenges. She lengthens her interests into the import-export industry too. She started her import and export business in 2008 under the name Nouf International Exporting in Kerala, India with a subsidiary in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Initially, her major imports were garments and textile. The company expanded in 2012 to become Koshy & Nouf enterprises Pvt Ltd Delhi, India and sister company Nouf Marwaai & Partners Co Ltd Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for sourcing, trading and consulting.
Being a strong advocate of social responsibility and women empowerment, Nouf ensures that she is deeply committed to ethical business practices and fair trading. Her company works exclusively with organizations and manufacturing entities that support labor rights and never entertain suppliers who employ child labor or exploit their workers. In India, Koshy and Nouf work with home-based businesses whose projects are supported by the government to provide employment to women in rural areas. These projects are helping women become financially independent and help raise their economic stability and social status.
Nouf has regularly been interviewed by news channels, newspapers, magazines and radio stations. She has endorsed and worked in wellness & health projects with many popular companies like Lipton Green Tea, Gold Gym, Enaya Care Co Ltd, Wellness Consultancy and Al-Baik restaurants.