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| Dubai Internet City is a
thriving technology park, home to more than
500 companies from across the globe. |
Four years ago Dubai’s crown prince stood
on a featureless stretch of empty desert and made
a speech that would transform the face of Dubai
forever. “One year from today, we will inaugurate,
on this site, a new initiative, not only for Dubai
but for the rest of the world,” said H. H.
General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “We
call it Dubai Internet City.”
Local and international skeptics had a field day.
They claimed the timescale was impossibly ambitious.
They claimed no one would want to open an office in
a remote location 15 miles outside Dubai. And, when
the dot.com bubble burst six months after His Highness’s
announcement, they claimed Dubai had been seduced
by the technology hype and would lose everything,
along with so many unlucky investors.
How wrong they were. Within 12 months more than 100
IT companies had been granted licenses to operate
in Dubai Internet City, including industry giants
Microsoft, Oracle and Compaq. Another 350 firms were
awaiting approval. The total investment planned by
those already holding licenses was estimated at around
$700 million.
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| CEO of Dubai Internet City,
Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman |
Today, Dubai Internet City is a thriving technology
park, home to more than 500 companies from across
the globe. “The living proof is out there,”
says Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, chief executive officer
of Dubai Internet City. “Anybody who is somebody
in ICT in the United States has some kind of presence
here at Dubai Internet City. Today it is a regional
hub, and it is becoming a global hub. Some companies
base their operations for the rest of the world
from here in Dubai.”
Some facts. Dubai Internet City boasts the Middle
East’s biggest IT infrastructure, and is home
to the largest commercial Internet Protocol Telephony
system in the world. The zone serves a region extending
from the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent, and
from Africa to the CIS countries, covering 1.6 billion
people with a combined GDP of $1.1 trillion. More
than 5,000 knowledge workers are today based in Dubai
Internet City.
Around half of the companies based in Dubai Internet
City are U.S. in origin. Indeed, the U.S. influence
in Dubai Internet City is tangible. Cisco Systems
installed the telephone system, and the zone’s
hi-tech glass buildings are adorned with names such
as IBM, Microsoft, HP and Dell. Dr. Omar spent most
of his career working in the American IT industry
before joining Dubai Internet City.
What is the secret of Dubai Internet City’s success?
“This market is the fastest-growing in the world,”
says Dr. Omar. “In the U.S., IT spending is flat,
in Europe it is around eight to 10 percent. Here it
is over 20 percent. That means this is the target
market for any company in ICT. By default there is
potential in this region. And by default, companies
will be here at Internet City because there is nowhere
else.”
Dubai Internet City is part of Dubai Technology and
Media Free Zone. As such, it offers companies a range
of incentives, including zero corporate tax, zero
income tax for employees and, crucially, 100 percent
foreign ownership. That is vital: outside the free
zone, any local operation has to be at least 51 percent
owned by a local partner. “Bigger companies don’t
want local companies to sponsor them,” says Dr.
Omar. “Some companies are bigger than some countries
in this region.”
Throw in a unique pool of information technology talent
drawn from Arabia, India, Europe, Asia and the U.S.,
and it is clear why the world’s leading companies
want to base their regional headquarters in Dubai.
Dubai Internet City built upon these natural advantages
by creating the physical infrastructure to make doing
business easy. From the advanced technological platform
to the one-stop-shop approach to slashing red tape,
Dubai Internet City aims to have every angle covered.
“This place was built based on their requirements,”
explains Dr. Omar. “We didn’t say, ‘We
know it all’. We spoke to them. We asked them
for a wish-list.
“We didn’t just want to be good by regional
standards,” he adds. “We wanted to create
the benchmark. Now you can walk into one building
and get your visa, driving license, trade license,
you can incorporate your company. It is a one-stop-shop.”
Clearly this has proved popular with the likes of
Microsoft, who built their own dedicated regional
headquarters within Dubai Internet City. But it is
not just about the big fish. Dubai Internet City is
also a draw for small startup companies, and for smaller
international companies looking to enter the Middle
East market for the first time. With these smaller
operators in mind, Dubai Internet City launched the
FirstSteps program. This allows companies to rent
a small office on a monthly basis, to allow them to
dip their toes in the regional waters without committing
vast financial and human resources.
“To go to a new country and commit is not an
easy decision to make,” says Dr. Omar. “We
wanted to make it easier for people. People can come
in on a month-to-month basis. They can just plug and
play. They can do their market research and then make
a decision. We encourage this type of entrepreneur.”
Looking to the future, Dr. Omar sees Business Process
Outsourcing as the next big thing for Dubai Internet
City. Globally, the sector is worth an estimated $300
billion a year, and Dubai believes it has all the
attributes to become a magnet for BPO activity.
In May, The Middle East’s first BPO Park was
launched at Dubai Internet City – a joint venture
between Global Tech and One World. The park was opened
by Ahmad bin Byat, director general of Dubai Technology
and Media Free Zone.
“Business Process Outsourcing is an exciting
sector and we are keen to support the efforts of companies
like Global Tech to build their competencies in this
domain in the region,” said Sheikh Maktoum bin
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairman of the Dubai
Technology and Media Free Zone. |
