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Moving to Dubai and starting a consulting firm

drumtraks

Active Member
Nov 30, 2020
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Hello all,

Life changing decisions to be made and I would very much appreciate anyone who knows Dubai well to give some advice.

So, my partner’s wife has an unrefusable offer to work in Dubai and for that reason he is going too.

Starting from there, we have been discussing… what if we just move our small consulting firm to the UAE and start over.

I have spent 3 months in Dubai and I loved it there, although that was not enough to understand how the dynamics of the city/country fully work in business terms.

We are consultants on innovation, research and development, and we do management and strategy consulting as well, mainly for startups. We specialise in tech: digital transformation, AI, blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, payments and e-commerce, etc.

Other important key area of our activity is helping companies who have projects aligned with the EU goals to access equity-free money developing those projects in the EU or with EU partners.

For those of you who are familiar with the Dubai economy, I was wondering how to set up shop there, how to connect to other people, maybe other consultants who might need the specialised work we do, or how we can connect with companies and startups, how does everything work over there. And if you think that attracting companies to do part of their projects in Europe would have some merit as business model.

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers
 
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So, my partner’s wife has an unrefusable offer to work in Dubai and for that reason he is going too.

When I read this I thought you were a side man in a relationship. I guess you mean business partner conf/(%.

Anyway can you help here? @Fred
 
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If you like it there - go for it!

Dubai is actually very small place as 75% of the population are blue collar workers, 5% locals, 5% prostitutes and the remaining 15% are those that actually work on something.
And out of these 15% about a half is not there at the moment since they went home as it's too hot...

So, just go to events and you'll network easily. There are plenty of things happening all the time.
I've met some amazing folks there and many doors have opened to me just from going to meetings and talking to people.
 
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Curious to know how they handle their position in the country: how they get a residence permit, how they open a bank account, how they deposit cash

What is the position of the authorities towards them?
Most use crypto..cash. ...use currency exchange house to send money to home country..

Authorities tolerate this as long as you do not pose on balcony.....they knew if they become strict ,. Nobody going to book 1000$night suites...it is bread butter for them...stay low profile nobody cares.....most reckless maniac have problem in Dubai. Otherwise it is heaven for this type of activities
 
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Most use crypto..cash. ...use currency exchange house to send money to home country..

Authorities tolerate this as long as you do not pose on balcony.....they knew if they become strict ,. Nobody going to book 1000$night suites...it is bread butter for them...stay low profile nobody cares.....most reckless maniac have problem in Dubai. Otherwise it is heaven for this type of activities
This hypocrisy is another good reason to stay well clear of Dubai. A regime with zero respect for human rights should not be supported in any way.
 
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I was joking about the number of sex workers. It's estimated at about 40-50k before Expo but it was a joke...
The point was, it's fairly easy to meet people in your niche as there are lot of events and not so many people. And people are generally more open than in other places (like Europe)...
 
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