Dubai - A Successful Business Hub in the UAE

by Zaara 17, Feb 2021

Have you ever wondered why Dubai is the hub for top multinational companies around the world? More than half of the most significant operating departments in multinational corporations are present in this diverse region, according to CBRE. In minimal time, it has developed its brand and reputation as a large and dynamic destination offering quality services, first-class infrastructure, and a range of attractions[i].

Growth in financial and business services, trade logistics, and tourism development has played a significant role over the past few decades in fueling Dubai's opening as a global hub, as shown by Knight and Frank in their 2015 Hub Study. The Emirates is among the most convenient to set up business globally. The IMF predicts that the UAE’s economy will surpass the UK, Germany, the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong over 2015-2020.

The city has become a popular tourist spot and centre of airline travel in past years. Tourists expanded their stay in Dubai to grab on the attractions of the towns. The city has more than 100,000 luxury hotels varying from luxury five-star to mid-priced pocket-friendly alternatives. Since 1999, the current business plan of hotels in Dubai has been increased to 17 hotels each year, and predictions say that the number of rooms will add up to 160,000 rooms by the 2020 Expo. The development shows no sign of slowing down in the coming years.

Dubai- The Business Destination of the World

Dubai has achieved success in the last few years as a hub for meetings, conferences, exhibits, and sporting events. The city has seen a wide array of sporting entities flocking the sports facilities for international level sporting competitions in the cities. The hospitality framework that includes transportation, hotels, restaurants, and other amenities increases with the visitors' quality service level.

Dubai's positioning strategy between the Far East and Europe is one of the major factors; it becomes the economic hub for Asia, Africa, Europe, and Russia.

Supporting Small Enterprise

  • Dubai provides business opportunities to businesses of all sizes; that is to say, it has a hospitable business environment. Recently, the city has become the home of emerging multinationals and business activity. The service sector makes a significant contribution to the GDP of Dubai and is the fastest growing industry.
  • The city has now become a Middle East centre of trade and business. Dubai is home to more than 20,000 foreign companies, including 124 Fortune 500 offices. The government is business-friendly, with the most open business rules in the region, including tax-free zones, first-class physical infrastructure, and access to a professional and qualified workforce[iv].
  • Dubai is a growing interactive platform and has committed to providing technical and scientific developments through various universities and research centres. For more than 4,000 licensed professionals in two hospitals and more than 120 outpatient medical centres and testing laboratories in the heart of Dubai, Free Zones such as Dubai Healthcare City are established.
  • Dubai Internet City and Dubai Silicon Oasis, on the other hand, deliver nation-of-the-art technology, research & development, and manufacturing sites, while Dubai Biotechnology and Research Park in the Middle East's dominant centre for life sciences.

   Development of Dubai Association Centre

  • Dubai Association Center (DAC) is an entry point to the fastest emerging economies in the world. It provides an ideal setting for expanding multinational alliances throughout the Middle East and beyond, within industries. The DAC was founded by the Department of Tourism and Trade Marketing, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
  • The Dubai World Trade Center provides services to create non-profit, apolitical, and non-religious professional organizations and trading bodies in the Dubai Emirate.
  • The DAC works as a support network to establish interactions in Dubai. It allows professionals registered in the Emirates to form a member-based association within a typical organization or industry.
  • Also, DAC provides a platform for opening a regional representative office in Dubai for international organizations to perform business in the United States and beyond. The result has also been organizations benefiting from economies of scale, operational experience, versatility, adaptability, purchasing power, and centralized DAC facilities

Endless Opportunities

  • Dubai has a range of options for tourism and a massive influx of business travellers. In the fast-growing emerging areas, many middle East economies and elsewhere have faced obstructive rules and regulations that limit foreign owners and employees.
  • Dubai has set up special zones to its economic benefit where the laws facilitate foreign investment and support specific industries. Thus, utilizing free trade agreements to gain an advantage over the rivals.
  • Low taxes, investors’ pool, availability of financing, and affordable free zone make Dubai an ultimate hub for new age investors, who rely on modern technology to set up their startup.
  • Service professionals and enterprises, including ex-pats, in Dubai, do not pay any sales or income tax. The city has isolated itself from the falling oil prices and is also not relying on commodities to boost its economic growth, based on a Brookings Institute survey.
  • Today, trade and tourism account for over 28 per cent of GDP, industry, and finance,  accounting for more than 27 per cent; and transportation, which accounts for almost 14 per cent. It makes the UAE a global hub for trading and tourism.
  • Dubai's rise from a desert region to one of the fastest hospitality and investment hubs has been based on the Modern Dubai founders' good planning. It is these founders' foresight that recognized that resources are the solution for the present day.
  • This country's forefathers aimed to build an innovative trading hub that would ensure that assets continue to flow into the city and produce income, much like other major global hubs like London, New York, and Paris, which have survived decades are economically successful.

5 Reasons Which make the UAE an Ideal Business Hub

Due to its business-friendly atmosphere, the United Arab Emirates has undergone significant growth and economic development over the last decade. UAE is probably the most prosperous, vibrant, and fast-growing economy in the world today; and a strategic regional trading centre for diverse companies, not limited to oil and natural gas.

Let's look at several reasons that make UAE a famous business centre:

1. Central location

Its strategic position is one of the key factors making UAE a common trading destination. The country is exceptionally well-connected to developing markets and situated at a world crude oil transit point, making it a well-placed trading center within reach of major global business centers.

2. Liberating Tax Rules

UAE holds a unique place among the world's top 10 tax havens, a territory marking zero or negligible (personal, corporate, or professional) taxes. The UAE government levies no unfair taxes on foreign and national stakeholders investing in the Emirates, rendering setting up a business in UAE a highly valued proposition.

3. Efficient Business Policy

To improve its position as an expanding economy that encourages foreign trade, UAE is pursuing export diversification policies or multilateral trade policies that enable people to participate in free trade across all companies’ forms.

4. Effective Governance Policies

Without a business-friendly administration, no industrial activity will flourish in a state. The UAE Government encourages foreign investment by providing numerous incentives for investors seeking to incorporate their business in the UAE.

5. Economic Diversification Accelerating Growth

UAE has an ample supply of oil and gas reserves – it has the fifth-largest proven natural gas reserves in the world, and ten per cent of oil reserves in the world. The UAE government acknowledges that economic development lies at the core of achieving sustainable development.

Thus, though oil production is the largest income generation source, oil exports account for only 30 per cent of its GDP (total gross domestic product). The economy in the UAE has long been growing, and the government wants to maintain the same record of success for a longer time.

Migrating with the Times - Getting Globalized in the Real Sense

UAE has indeed come from a very long community that relies on fishing and agriculture to become a country with world-class infrastructure that produced an outstanding enterprise achievement in just over three decades. The United Arab Emirates now encapsulates modernization – equal involvement of women in industry and government, no gender discrimination, job security, advanced health care, enhanced education, and an open legal system, while being compatible with its history and cultural values.

UAE has changed dramatically with the times, and it has emerged as a vibrant, powerful, and prosperous nation that welcomes world commerce.

Dubai is a convenient, stable, and iconic destination for commerce and investment. Commitbiz will help you make your dreams of company establishment come true. Contact us today to get more information about setting up services for our company in this iconic city.