UAE business climate is perfect for start-ups

The Careem app has made hailing a cab in the UAE easier than ever before.

With the UAE having just celebrated Flag Day, which coincides with the anniversary of the UAE President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's assumption to office as leader of the country, I thought it would be worth spending this week's column discussing the immense changes I've noticed in the Internet business and start-up scenes during my time in the country.

Overall, the picture looks really good - there's been enormous growth in both sectors, and they're delivering more value than ever to the general economy. But if you want to know the big numbers from the last 10 years, check out this LinkedIn post from His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. In it, he details the achievements of the UAE over the last 10 years - gross domestic product has more than doubled, non-petroleum exports have grown almost six times and the private sector's contribution to GDP has almost quadrupled. Honestly, if you want to see what positive change looks like, read the post.

I moved to Dubai a little under 10 years ago, but even in the time that I've been here, it's been clear that the country was on a strong trajectory. Following the global financial crash, there was plenty of negativity in the Press about the country's chances, with plenty focusing on stalled real estate projects as proof.

I never really bought into that because what I saw was a burgeoning start-up scene looking to use the Internet to make consumers' lives easier. It's been happening since the invention of the smartphone in the US and UK, so why shouldn't it happen here?

Souq.com blazed e-commerce trails while Dubizzle disrupted the traditional classifieds space. Later, when there was a smartphone in every pocket, Careem made hailing a cab easier than ever before. And I like to think that compareit4me.com is doing for personal finance what these guys have done for their industries.

Copy pasting never works
Yes, you'll find these business models in Europe and the US, but copy and pasting a business rarely works in the UAE. You have to have that local knowledge, an appreciation that business is done a little differently here and an understanding that some elements of your business will work better than others in the UAE.

There are dozens of success stories in which the UAE's entrepreneurs have ticked all of those boxes, building out scalable, valuable and long-lasting businesses. And I reckon the fact that so many of these success stories started in the UAE is indicative of the business climate that the UAE has built for itself. It's about more than the incredible growth numbers described above - it's about a willingness to foster entrepreneurship and allow new business ideas to flourish. Indeed, it's that willingness that has contributed to the country's overall growth. I can't think of another country I've done business in that has achieved so much in 10 years. And I'm incredibly proud to say that our business will be contributing to the next 10 years of growth.

The writer is CEO of compareit4me.com. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.