So, you’re thinking of starting your own business? It could be because you want to make more money. Or maybe you’re tired of working for a boss? Maybe you’re just tired of office politics. No matter what the reason, you’ve taken the first important step in your entrepreneurship journey.
Now, one of the crucial things you need to decide is where you’ll open your business. Here, Dubai should definitely be on your list as one of the places you should consider. It’s the second wealthiest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, and it has grown into a vital tourist and trade destination in the Middle East.
As a result, it has excellent, modern infrastructure, a legal framework that encourages foreign investment, lenient attractive tax policies, and a large, diversified workforce. More importantly, though, it has a growing, robust economy that can help you grow your business.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the reasons why you should consider Dubai for your startup in more detail.
Growing Economy
Obviously, when you open a business, one of your goals will always be to grow it into a successful venture. Although various tools and strategies will help you do this, a robust economyrobust economy will definitely contribute to growing your business faster. And when it comes to robust economies, Dubai is up there with the best.
For the past 40 years, it’s been an open economy with a high per capita incomean open economy with a high per capita income and high annual trade surplus. So, it’s easy to see why it’s home to many startups and multi-million-dollar corporations and why an increasing number of companies from all over the globe are opening businesses in Dubai. In fact, it’s now rated as one of the top global commercial centerstop global commercial centers in the world.
Geographical Location
Another benefit of starting a business in Dubai is its geographic location. When you look at a world map, Dubai is quite literally in the middle of the worldmiddle of the world. Because of its unique location, it’s able to have strong trade ties with other major cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Moscow, London, and many others.
As a result, Dubai attracts investors and entrepreneurs from around the globe, which, in turn, leads to increased growth and it now hosts over 100 international trade shows every year. Ultimately, this means more opportunities for business owners.
[IMAGE: https://unsplash.com/photos/2jfZ2Vj06sk]
World-Class Infrastructure and Amenities
The UAE government has taken every step you can think of to not only attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs but also make it easier for them to run their businesseseasier for them to run their businesses. This, inevitably, resulted in Dubai having an extremely well-developed infrastructure and all the amenities anyone could ever wish for.
For example, it has world-class office and residential accommodation, sophisticated financial and services sectors, some of the most modern seaportsmost modern seaports, high-quality road networks, excellent connectivity and telecommunication networks, and excellent transportation links. In fact, it has one of the third busiest, if not the busiest, airport in the world.
Business-Friendly Legal Framework
Realizing the importance of foreign investment, the UAE government is committed to driving growth in its economy through it. To achieve this, the government has revised its legal frameworkrevised its legal framework for foreign investors and entrepreneurs who want to open businesses in Dubai.
Here, it promotes free trade and, as a result, government control and restrictions over private businesses are minimal. So, its business licensing, rules, and regulationsbusiness licensing, rules, and regulations are investor-friendly and hassle-free. For example, there’s minimal paperwork involved to start a business, little to no red tape, and businesses can recruit employees from anywhere in the world.
In addition, under typical foreign investment rules, foreign businesses can only own up to 49% of a business. In this situation, a local partner would then need to own the other 51%. Dubai has none of these restrictions and foreign business owners can own 100% of their businesses.
[IMAGE: https://unsplash.com/photos/-h-OMkA5JTM]
Tax Exemptions
One of the main benefits of opening a business in Dubai is the massive tax benefitsmassive tax benefits you’ll get. These are implemented by the UAE government as yet another strategy to attract foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
For example, when you run a business in Dubai, you don’t have to pay personal, corporate, or capital gains tax on any part of your income. So, the only tax you’ll need to pay is value-added tax (VAT) of 5% on most goods and services. This, in itself, is a lot lower than many other major cities in the world.
Large Workforce
Dubai is expat-friendlyexpat-friendly, which not only makes it an excellent destination for starting a business, but also a prime location for employees looking for employment. Another benefit for employees here is low taxes and generally high wages. As a result, skilled and unskilled workersskilled and unskilled workers from around the world flock to Dubai in search of work.
This means that, when starting a business, you don’t need to concern yourself with finding competent employees to run your business. Ultimately, then, Dubai is a favorable location for both employers and employees.
[IMAGE: https://unsplash.com/photos/DpLibjAV2R8]
Quality of Living
Compared to other emirates, and, in fact, many other cities around the world, Dubai offers a high standard of living. Actually, based on the 2019 World Happiness Report, expats living in the United Arab Emirates are the happiest individuals among Arab countries.
Here, residents enjoy modern housing facilities, a thriving real estate market, and an extremely low crime ratelow crime rate. In addition, all UAE residents must have health insurance and the region has some of the best healthcare institutions in the world.
Also, the UAE is home to some of the most well-known international universities and schools, which shows its commitment to excellent education. In fact, the literacy rate among its population is a staggering 92.5%.
The Bottom Line
If you’ve been thinking about opening your own business, Dubai is one of the best places in the world for you to do this. Simply put, it offers a favorable business environment that not only makes it easy to start a business but also a lot easier to run it profitably. Hopefully, this post helped illustrate some other reasons why you should consider Dubai a premier destination for your startup.
For more tips on opening or running a profitable startup in Dubai, follow us on Facebook. Instagram, or LinkedIn.
