Women Of Influence 2025: Bioniq's Banafsheh Salmani

Banafsheh Salmani is the Managing Director for the Middle East at Bioniq, a London-born global healthtech company that specializes in precision supplementation, and in this role, she has seen the evolution of the launch-phase brand into a fast-growing, credible, and trusted player in the region’s health and wellness landscape.

"In 2024 alone, we achieved over 500 percent growth in subscribers in the UAE,” she shares with Inc. Arabia. “We forged strategic partnerships—including with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and Al Borg Diagnostics, a leading diagnostics provider in Saudi Arabia—to strengthen access to personalized, data-driven health solutions across the GCC. Looking ahead, we are actively developing further collaborations that align with Bioniq’s mission to advance proactive, precision-based health in the region.”

As more women follow Salmani’s lead and take up leadership roles in the health and wellness industry, she believes that they are contributing to a true paradigm shift, which is leading companies in the domain to ask different questions and set different priorities.

“For too long, women’s health has been shaped by systems that weren’t necessarily designed with us in mind,” she points out. “It’s been reactive rather than proactive, and that has had real consequences: missed diagnoses, dismissed symptoms, and unmet needs. The growing presence of women in leadership is actively changing that. We bring lived experience to the table. We highlight gaps that have long gone unnoticed. And in doing so, we’re expanding the definition of innovation in healthcare—it’s no longer just about technological advancement, but about applying that innovation with empathy, inclusivity, and precision.”

Lessons Learned: Q&A with Banafsheh Salmani

Looking back on your journey, if there is one piece of advice you’d give yourself before you embarked on your career, what would that be? Additionally, if you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you should avoid or simply not do, what would that be?

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice before starting my career, it would be this: value the power of your network. Your network is your net worth—not just in a transactional sense, but in the doors it opens, the ideas it sparks, and the trust it builds over time. True connection doesn’t come from collecting business cards or LinkedIn contacts; it comes from showing up, nurturing relationships, and investing in people long before you need anything in return. That kind of network becomes your foundation — personally and professionally—and its value only grows with time.

If there’s one thing I would go back and tell myself not to do, it would be to stop underestimating yourself. Don’t wait until you feel ready, or think you’ve gained enough experience to raise your hand, speak up, or take the leap. Confidence doesn’t always come first—action does. Growth happens in the moments that stretch you, challenge you, and take you outside your comfort zone. That’s where the real transformation begins.

To the women following in similar footsteps: trust yourself, even when it’s uncomfortable. Say yes to the things that scare you a little—they’re often the ones that change everything. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to begin.

Pictured in the lead image is Banafsheh Salmani, Managing Director for the Middle East at Bioniq. Image courtesy Bioniq.

Banafsheh Salmani was one of Inc. Arabia's Women of Influence 2025, a showcase of 30 women rewriting the rules of business in the MENA region. For the full list, please click here.