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Dubai expects to shine in times of volatility due to stability, talent attraction

by Mark Darwin
in Lifestyle
Dubai expects to shine in times of volatility due to stability, talent attraction
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[DUBAI] Towering skyscrapers, luxury megamalls, and sprawling beach resorts. Dubai has consistently been one of the top cities for expat migration, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.

Even as uncertainty in global trade relations and US tariffs weigh on business sentiments worldwide, Dubai will likely be able to grow due to its track record for stability and its ability to attract talent, said executives of Dubai’s special economic zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

“Dubai is always an alternative place for companies who are seeking a safer platform to carry out their businesses (from),” noted Khadija Ali, chief representative for business development segments at the DIFC Authority.

In fact, the global uncertainty will likely have a positive impact on the city, said DIFC executives.

Talent attraction is one of the main reasons, noted Jonathan Beardall, head of wealth and asset management at DIFC Authority. “Ultimately, tariffs and political changes are all temporary. Things can change in that field, but talent movement tends to be quite sticky, and I think that’s the big change.”

Beardall added that the game changer was the launch of the United Arab Emirates’ golden visa programme in 2019, which offers renewable visas of up to 10 years for professionals and their families. “People can now move to this region, bring their parents and children with them… they can build a life here, whereas that wasn’t necessarily always the case in the previous visa system.”

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Ali said that the visa puts Dubai above other wealth hubs, including Singapore, as it welcomes people instead of over-regulating who can enter and stay in the UAE.

“Visa requirements might be the real reason companies (are hindered) from growing in specific jurisdictions,” she pointed out.

Beardall also noted that the US markets are more proactive than reactive. “We’ve had this influx of private capital last year. It was a similar story the year before… people have been moving not just because of what’s happened in the US this year,” he said.

Alya Al Zarouni, chief operating officer of the DIFC Authority, also said that flows into the DIFC have been around for some time, and not just because of recent uncertainty in the US.

In 2024, the number of active companies in the DIFC rose 25 per cent on year to 6,920, with a record annual number of registrations for 1,823 new companies. Combined revenues were up 37 per cent to hit a new high of 1.8 billion dirhams (S$632.8 million).

This broke the previous two years’ records. In 2023, the DIFC had a combined revenue of 1.3 billion dirhams from its 5,523 active companies, breaking 2022’s record combined revenue of 1.1 billion dirhams from its 4,377 active companies.

Al Zarouni said that Dubai has seen a steady flow of family capital in the past two years due to a variety of reasons, including connectivity, stability, security and lifestyle.

It has also been “much easier” for the city to attract talent after the Covid-19 pandemic, as the Dubai government got the pandemic under control fast and allowed borders to reopen quickly, she added.

In fact, Dubai has “seen a lot of movement” from Singapore to Dubai post Covid-19, noted Ali. “Dubai has proven itself throughout all different crises, from the Arab Spring to the financial crises.”

Diversification of family offices

Observers noted that Dubai’s popularity comes amid a change in the family office landscape.

Historically, family offices are set up where the family is based, and they might have a holding company elsewhere in the world for their investments, Beardall said.

“Now, our families are splitting up their family office structures globally, because of a concentration risk that has been identified,” he observed. “Globally, jurisdictional diversification of the family office structure is one place that we have (benefited from).”

Liam Sheena, head of wealth planning for Dubai at Julius Baer, said people will always look for geographic diversification.

“And right now, (Dubai is) seen as a somewhat neutral jurisdiction, and the dirham is pegged to the (US) dollar, so that gives a buffer against some of the more wild Middle Eastern or GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)-type currency fluctuations,” he said.

Touching on Chinese investors, Beardall noted that the city is seeing more hedge funds from Hong Kong and interest from mainland Chinese companies.

“It’s the natural progression now, with people looking at their global footprint especially when you have this huge time-zone gap between Hong Kong and Singapore and over (in) London,” he said.

2025 growth

Al Zarouni expects that the DIFC will continue to see growth that should exceed 2024’s growth figures, supported by a healthy wealth and asset management pipeline.

Family businesses – the term used by the DIFC to describe family-owned businesses – will be a main driver of growth in the zone, particularly for the innovation, fintech and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, she said.

In 2024, technology and innovation remained the fastest-growing sector, growing 38 per cent to 1,245 companies.

Meanwhile, there are 800 family-related businesses registered in the DIFC, up 33 per cent year on year.

Migration consultancy Henley & Partners said UAE likely saw the largest number of millionaire inflows in 2024, at 6,700, with Dubai boasting 81,200 resident millionaires, including 237 centi-millionaires and 20 billionaires, it noted.

It expects Dubai and Abu Dhabi to see the highest growth of centi-millionaires – it projects that the centi-millionaire populations in both Emirati cities will more than double over the next 10 years.

Tags: AttractionDubaiDueexpectsShinestabilityTalentTimesVolatility
Mark Darwin

Mark Darwin

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