Supported by the Labour Fund Tamkeen, ten Bahraini construction enterprises are showcasing their products and services at Big 5 Global 2025, which runs from 24 to 27 November at the Dubai World Trade Centre. A dedicated Bahrain pavilion brings these companies together under a single national brand, giving them direct access to contractors, consultants, and suppliers from across the wider region.

Big 5 Global is promoted as the largest construction and urban development event in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, spanning more than twenty halls and connecting a projects market valued at about 9.18 trillion dollars, as highlighted in the event’s own post show summary. Event highlights point to more than eighty five thousand attendees, around two thousand eight hundred exhibitors, over five hundred industry speakers, and participation from more than one hundred sixty five countries, underlining its role as the region’s central meeting point for the built environment, as reinforced by independent coverage from the Chartered Institute of Building.

For Tamkeen, backing a Bahrain pavilion at Big 5 Global fits directly with its priorities for 2025, which focus on increasing the competitiveness of Bahraini talent in the private sector while prioritising the growth, digitalisation, and sustainability of enterprises. These priorities were set out in a briefing where Chief Executive Her Excellency Maha Abdulhameed Mofeez described 2024 as “an unprecedented achievement for Tamkeen since inception,” after employment and career development programmes supported forty one thousand Bahrainis in private sector roles, as detailed in Tamkeen’s key achievements announcement and related local coverage in News of Bahrain.

The Big 5 mission is also grounded in the current numbers for Bahrain’s real economy. Official figures released alongside the delegation note that the construction sector contributed 6.4 percent to GDP in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting the sector’s weight inside the non oil economy, according to the Bahrain Economic Quarterly summary cited by Bahrain’s Ministry of Finance and National Economy. At the same time, the ministry’s most recent Q2 2025 Bahrain Economic Quarterly update reports that real GDP grew 2.5 percent year on year in Q2 2025, with non oil activity expanding 3.5 percent and contributing about 85.2 percent of real GDP.

Recent commentary from industry analysts points to a construction pipeline in Bahrain measured in several billions of dollars, with expected growth in the low to mid single digits over the rest of this decade, supported by public and private investments in housing, transport, and utilities, as outlined in sector reporting from Gulf Construction. Those outlooks are framed within Bahrain’s long term Economic Vision 2030, which emphasises diversification and high value non oil sectors.

On the show floor in Dubai, the conversation has shifted from basic materials supply to sustainability, new construction methods, and data driven asset management. Big 5 Global’s agenda and co located summits showcase themes such as lower carbon concrete, advanced prefabrication, and digital platforms that track performance and compliance, all framed around a regional pipeline of complex projects, as reflected across the event’s agenda and themes. That discussion matters for Bahraini builders bidding on regional work and for any founder building construction technology, smart building systems, or software for contractors.

Construction has long been identified by the Bahrain Economic Development Board as a pillar of non oil growth, with earlier economic reviews highlighting its multiplier effect across real estate, manufacturing, and services. With non oil sectors now contributing well over eighty percent of real GDP, the visibility gained by Bahraini firms inside a regional hub like Big 5 Global signals an ambition to secure a larger share of project pipelines across the Gulf.

For founders and small or medium enterprises that did not travel to Dubai, the opportunity does not end with this week’s exhibition. A practical next move is to map how your product or service fits the themes Big 5 is amplifying, then speak with Tamkeen and the Bahrain Economic Development Board about support and export programmes that connect you to future sector missions, supplier lists, and partnership conversations across the GCC.