The two-day Wellness Festival 2026 concluded at Gulshan Club on May 23. It brought together founders, healthcare professionals, educators, wellness advocates, and business leaders for a series of conversations on mental health, women’s wellbeing, workplace culture, community building, and the future of wellness in Bangladesh. Powered by Apex Footwear, the festival, organised under The Flow Fest banner, focused on some of the country’s most pressing but often overlooked social and health challenges.
The central question running through the festival was simple but urgent: what does it take to build a healthier Bangladesh in a society where people are often expected to suffer silently?
One of the most powerful conversations emerged during the “Wellness for All Ages” panel, where speakers addressed the country’s growing gaps in healthcare and emotional support systems. Jamil Rahman of PCA Home discussed the realities facing elderly people living with dementia. At the same time, Mahira Habib of Alight in Zen highlighted Dhaka’s severe shortage of certified therapists and the lingering stigma around seeking mental health support.
Dr Ahmed Armaan Siddiqui, CEO of Shukhee, captured the urgency of the moment. “One in four people in this country will face a mental health challenge in their lifetime,” he said. “The vast majority will face it without access, without language, without support.”
The discussion on women’s health was equally candid. Speakers addressed how cultural expectations often leave women with little room for self-care. Wellness influencer Munjarin Aboni spoke about the importance of family support for women trying to prioritise fitness and wellbeing. Representatives from Incepta Pharma stressed the need for greater awareness around HPV vaccination and cervical cancer prevention. At the same time, business leaders spoke about the lack of post-partum care and childcare support available to working mothers.
Saturday’s sessions shifted toward workplace culture and community building. Doctors, counsellors, and corporate leaders explored how burnout, stress, and unhealthy work habits are quietly reshaping urban professional life.
Marlin Ahmed, founder of Shono, argued that wellbeing can no longer be treated as a private matter. “The companies that will define the next decade in Bangladesh are the ones who understand that how their people feel is not separate from how their business performs,” she said.
The festival’s conversations repeatedly returned to one theme: isolation. Filmmaker Abrar Athar spoke about the importance of building “micro-communities” where people feel safe expressing different parts of themselves, while entrepreneurs discussed the emotional loneliness that often comes with building careers and businesses in a relentlessly competitive city.
For Shazia Omar, founder of The Flow Fest, the event was never simply about wellness activities. “Healing does not happen in isolation,” she said. “It happens when the people who can change things decide to sit in one room and tell the truth to each other.”
Supported by healthcare, nutrition, and lifestyle partners including United Health Care, Marks, and EC Organic, the festival blended conversations with practical health support, from nutrition counselling to health screenings.
In many ways, The Flow Fest reflected a changing Bangladesh, one where wellness is no longer viewed as luxury or indulgence, but increasingly as infrastructure. The kind that determines whether people can work, create, parent, lead, and simply endure the pressures of modern life.
Real change rarely begins with grand declarations. Sometimes, it begins quietly in a room where people finally decide to speak honestly.
