Life coaching gains ground in country

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business

Although, as a term and an occupation, ‘life coaching’ is not a very old profession, but today it is a multi-million dollar industry with an estimated 100,000 life coaches working professionally across the world. Interestingly, it is the second fastest growing industry in the world after Information Technology.
As UAE is one of the pioneering countries when it comes to embracing newt corporate trends, life coaching has quickly gained grounds here as well. Experts believe the industry is set to reach a substantial share of corporate revenues in another five to eight years.
Also reports state that businesses that offer life coaching services to their employees have been shown to regain a 300 percent return on investment (ROI).
Sophia Fromell, founder of Ithaca Life, one of the well-known Life coaching organisations in UAE told Emirates Business, “Life Coaching is a growing industry in the Middle East. Year after year, individuals and companies realise the benefits coaching can have in their life and their businesses. Good coaches are really sought after. In Dubai, in particular, there is a great demand for good, professional and qualified coaches.”
According to International Coach Federation (ICF), the industry’s largest trade association, about 41,300 active professional coaches worldwide generate nearly $2 billion annual revenue.
Talking to Emirates Business during one of her routine visits to Dubai, Elma Cobin, an independent life-coach based in Singapore said, “The numbers reflect that more and more business/corporate houses are becoming interested in hiring life-coaches to train their top level employees. This is because they clearly acknowledge the fact that, happier and more contented employees accomplish better results.”
Though there are no companies that have market shares in this industry but researches show that it
is growing at an annual rate of over
8 percent.
“Globally, this industry is on a boom and what makes it specifically important for UAE is the fact that the country is home to millions of small, medium and big businesses. It is known that UAE national companies have permanent coaches on board to train their staff for better business returns,” Cobin added.