Dubai has long been a popular destination for holiday makers and professionals and with a booming entrepreneurial ecosystem, it’s not surprising that talent moves here from abroad. And with plans to become ‘the Silicon Valley of the Arab World’, there has been increased focus on entrepreneurship from the public, private and academic sectors.

The UAE government is continuously working on creating the best possible conditions for startups, alongside Dubai StartUp Hub and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the same time, the Dubai FDI has also been working tirelessly to encourage foreign businesses to set up in the UAE.

George Hojeige, CEO of company set-up Virtuzone, said they have seen “an increasing demand for company formation services among entrepreneurs in the UAE and abroad as well as from international companies looking to open up offices in the Emirates, across both free zone and mainland companies, with a particular appetite for consultancy and e-commerce licences.”

According to Philip Bahoshy, CEO of Magnitt, a data platform that connects investors with founders, 2018 was a positive year for the startup ecosystem. There was a “record number of investment deals across the whole of the region and a 20 per cent increase in funding, thanks to an investment made in Souq.com. The UAE is still the largest ecosystem and accounts for 30 per cent of all deals.”

Bahoshy expects to see this trend to continue through 2019 as more startups set up their headquarters in the UAE to act as a spring board to reach other markets.

In the private sector, the number of incubators, accelerators, startup competitions and co-working environments has gone up tremendously, encouraging collaboration between startup companies to share resources and space, enabling them to learn from each other’s successes and failures. However, it seems that despite all these positive changes, there is still much that can be done to improve the ease of setting up a business and to ensure a UAE startup’s success.

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