Being an attractive and dynamic business launch location, Dubai now welcomes foreign investors to fully own their mainland business, in a significant amendment to a decades-old Commercial Companies Law, stipulating that an Emirati national must be the majority shareholder with 51% of the shares, while foreign investors could only own up to 49%.

The lifting of restrictions on foreign investment ownership continues a series of measures aimed at empowering not only an investor-centric, and innovation-driven economy but also one that is responsive and agile.

Click here for a list of all business activities that are applicable for 100% foreign business ownership.

Enables a culture of innovation and digitization becoming a home to the Middle East’s First Unicorn.

The Government of Dubai promotes digitization and innovation through policies that cater to innovators, start-ups, incubators, and SMEs. An entrepreneur-friendly culture and a host of strategic initiatives brings together stakeholders such as policymakers, enterprises, academia, business, and the financial sector need to harness the power of digital innovation. 

Dubai has led the move in cultivating a culture of innovation and digitization and its continual application and adoption by commerce and industry ecosystems. 

Dubai ranks 1st in the levels of technology employed, dedicated cyber-security teams, scientific and technical employment, and internet users. As a testament to this, Microsoft and Oracle have recently opened their regional cloud data centers in Dubai.

Dubai is uniquely blessed with a geographical position that makes it the center of the physical world. Dubai has built on this advantage by providing efficient connections to key growth markets – regionally and globally. 

With future-ready airports and ports providing access to two-thirds of the world’s most attractive growth markets, Dubai has developed active gateways into the region for business, commerce, and tourism. 

Dubai continues to build sophisticated and reliable infrastructure, designed to enable uninterrupted economic growth. 

Dubai ranks 1st globally in air transport facilities, pedestrian friendliness, and public transport reliability. 

It is one of the world’s most connected cities, with future-proofing built into all new projects. 

The city aims to emphasize and develop “hard infrastructure” such as roads, utilities, logistics facilities, and manufacturing facilities as well as “soft infrastructure” in the form of law enforcement, financial system, education, health care, social welfare services, and cultural and recreational options. 

Dubai is a global leader in international trade, providing businesses with a friendly export-import environment, supported by regional and international trade agreements and efficient logistics services. 

As businesses move beyond geographical barriers, Dubai has positioned as the key gateway to the region and a hub for global trade flows. Dubai is naturally positioned to become the epicentre of trade flows and the key node through which the world’s wealth and talent flow. 

Through efficient logistics, Dubai supports the production and movement of cargo globally, connecting the dots between a global network of ports and terminals with ground-breaking technology.

The clusters established in Dubai empower businesses to shape the future of Dubai’s industry. 

Free zones in the UAE are a derivation of ‘Clusters’ or ‘Special Economic Zones’ operated across the world. 

Free zones have been set up to promote international investment, by offering tax concessions, 100% ownership, and customs duty benefits to expatriate investors. 

Each Free zone is designed around one or more industry categories offers to companies within those categories to promote a specific industry.  Most of the free zones in Dubai broadly offer trading, services, and industrial licenses to investors looking to set up their businesses. 

The UAE launched the National Space Programme as part of the UAE’s ambitious space programme of reaching Mars by 2021 and building the first settlement there by 2117. 

As part of National Space Strategy 2030, the UAE seeks to be a pioneer in the field of space by focusing on space services, local capacities and technologies, manufacturing, R&D, collaboration, investments, and a regulatory framework to realise these goals. UAE strives to achieve its targets in the next 10 years through 71 initiatives, providing investors with an attractive investment opportunity in space programs.