Steve Cronin, 34, prides himself on selling items that stand out, so when he came across a mild hyperbaric oxygen chamber he knew it would perfect among his list of products.
He persuaded the manufacturer to loan him the demo model for his Dubai flat, which he admits made for some interesting conversations with visitors. But after trying out the product, he was sold on it.
The level of oxygen inside a mild oxygen chamber - although less powerful than in the chambers used by divers to realign their physiologies after deep dives - is higher than in normal air, which means it dissolves directly into the blood plasma, not just the red blood cells. "If you have circulatory problems or if you are pushing yourself really hard as an athlete, then you can use it - or if you just had surgery and you want to recover faster," says the British national, who started Om Life in 2010.
He is going through all the regulatory approvals to distribute the chambers in the UAE. They cost between US$15,000 (Dh55,098) and $25,000 and although he declines to provide sales figures, Mr Cronin says the chambers are popular.
"We sell quite a few around the world. They're massively popular in Australia. I don't just focus on the Middle East. We have had lots of clients in India, Europe and we have had lots of interest in Dubai," he says.
If the chambers catch on, he will add them to Om Life's product list, which also includes flotation rooms that cost between $35,000 and $60,000.
"If you imagine the Dead Sea, the water you are floating in is about six times saltier than the normal sea. These rooms contains about 25 centimetres of very salty water, and it is Epsom salts as well so it is really good for skin," he says.
Clients can customise the design of the room to include details such as stars on the ceiling.
"We can make them in any shape or size to really fit into your spa or home," Mr Cronin says. "We are working with one private client at the moment where he is going to put one in his bathroom."
Oxygen chambers and float rooms are a far cry from his old job.
Until a couple of years ago, Mr Cronin was a strategy consultant in financial services. "I used to tell bankers what to do," he says.
He began to tire of the extensive travelling around the Middle East from his base in Dubai, where he had moved in 2008.
"And also, I studied biology and psychology and that's always been my first love. I was kind of missing that. I didn't get the same emotional kick from financial services and I had always wanted to set up my own company," he says.
A friend was setting up a health-care company with a business plan that looked good on PowerPoint but did not do well in reality.
And when his friend decided to give up on it, Mr Cronin saw his chance and took the company on.
"I guess what I took on is almost the shell of the company," he says.
Om Life has since morphed into a company that distributes fitness, wellness and physio equipment, including neckties that can be used to keep people cool.
"What I have tried to do is to find differentiators, things that stand out. For me they have to be effective and with good science evidence, otherwise what am I doing selling them? I need to be able to sleep at night," Mr Cronin says.
gduncan@thenational.ae
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
