Dubai has promoted itself as the the gateway to a market of more than one billion people, covering the Gulf states, Middle East, CIS, East Africa and Asian sub-continent. Dubai Ports Authority, combining Port Rashid (35 berths) and Jebel Ali Port (67 berths), ranks among the world’s top ten in terms of berths and top fifteen in terms of container throughput!
Big Advantage
- No taxation on profits or incomes
- No foreign exchange controls and a stable, freely convertible currency;
- and a sophisticated services sector - major international hotels, banks, lawyers, accountancy firms, advertising agencies, consultants etc;

My biggest distinctions and learning about Dubai in my 72 hours:
1) Construction – there is construction everywhere you look in Dubai. Supposedly 30% of the world’s cranes are currently busy building in Dubai. Fortunately we have XL life members in the real estate business such as Bernard and Gaby and they are happy to serve international and domestic players who would like to have a piece of Dubai, one of the most talked about markets.

2) Energy – there is a buzz in the city. Things are happening, deals are being done and there appears to be an urgency to turn Dubai into a world class business and vacation destination by 2009. I was impressed by the cultural variety in Dubai and we had a wonderful flavor of the United Nations in the coaching weekend. We had more than ten nations represented including South Africa, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Iraq, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Zimbabwa, and France. It was a huge pleasure to meet rapport masters such as my Iraqi friend Temari and learn about his building and project management expertise as well listen and learn from our legal eagle couple KK and Harini from Kerala India, and get the lights turned on by our lighting consultant Juliette from Europe. It was also great to meet Anna, the Director of BNI in Dubai.

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