Humantra Founder Charlie Wright On Growing With Intent

For Humantra founder Charlie Wright, building a brand in Dubai that could go global didn’t start with thoughts about scale—it started with specificity.

That meant being intentional from day one—about the product, the positioning, and the people it served. And in Dubai, Humantra—a wellness brand offering clean-label, plant-based electrolyte mixes for daily hydration—found an ideal proving ground, thanks to the city’s fast pace and the access it offered to a truly international audience.

“Dubai is a unique launchpad—small in size, but incredibly diverse,” Wright says. “That meant from day one, we were building a globally resonant brand, speaking to consumers from every continent in one market.”

By starting up in Dubai, Wright was thus able to test Humantra in a high-velocity environment where rapid iteration and direct consumer feedback were possible—and that early phase also set the tone for how the brand would grow.

“We built trust before we built scale—showing up in best-in-class gyms, wellness spaces, and premium retail,” Wright shares. “Fitness instructors drank it, reviews backed it, and customers saw it in the right hands. We tested constantly, and the moment we saw something working, we’d double down on it. Depth over breadth, always—and external validation did the talking.”

Humantra founder Charlie Wright. Image courtesy Humantra.

That approach seems to have paid off. Humantra has since become a top-selling supplement on Amazon and Deliveroo in the UAE, and in 2023, it entered the UK market through a collaboration with British streetwear label Represent.

This year, it secured backing from JamJar Investments—the London-based consumer fund founded by the team behind Innocent Drinks, the British-born smoothie brand acquired by global beverage giant Coca-Cola in a deal reportedly worth over US$700 million—to support a national rollout across more than 1,200 stores of Boots, the UK’s largest pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer.

Now, to MENA-based entrepreneurs looking to take cues from Humantra’s trajectory, Wright says that the playbook isn’t all that complicated.

“You don’t need more capital or a huge team—you need conviction, clarity, and speed,” he declares. “We stayed lean, tested fast, and doubled down when something worked.”

And if that sounds pretty basic, that’s because it is—and Wright suggests leaning into that mindset when building a business. “Don’t overthink it,” he says. “Chop wood, carry water—show up every day, and do the work.”

Pictured in the lead image is Humantra founder Charlie Wright. Courtesy of Humantra.