Why registering as a startup in Dubai is getting easier
Lately, we often hear startups from Casablanca to Cairo asking
us how they can get a foothold in Dubai, the market with the
region’s
highest smartphone penetration rate and largest e-commerce
market.
Not all who have made the leap have succeeded; Bahraini startup
Exa.io, for example, explained to Wamda last year why they had to leave Dubai. Yet conditions
for expat-led startups like Exa.io are improving, especially at
In5, the startup facilitator
launched by Dubai Internet City and located in Knowledge Village
that is quietly becoming one of the more popular options for
getting set up in Dubai (as Wamda contributor Abdullah AlShalabi
previously
reported).
Offering five primary services – assistance with setup, access to
mentorship, training, networking, and access to funding – the
center has managed to attract over 48 startups since it launched
last May, luring founders from France, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, the
U.S., and even Vietnam. The incubator takes only 10 startups in
each cycle, so interested founders must apply to join, but for
those who make the cut, its appeal is broad.
“This is the best place to be. In5 doesn’t take any equity, the
rent is more than reasonable, and it has more focus and more
mentorship [compared to other places],” explains Morrad Irsane, the
French founder of Melltoo, a
classifieds mobile app that incorporates photo sharing and chat
functionalities (“think Dubizzle, with WhatsApp and Instagram built
in”).
“When I did my first event here, we had 15-20 people attend,”
Irsane continues, as we chat with his wife and co-founder about
their mobile app, from one of the purple couches in In5’s
downstairs café.
Nidhi Varma, the co-founder of Guiddoo, a mobile application that
provides geolocalized information about landmarks, agrees that the
incubator’s biggest draw isn’t its gaming lounge, sunny roof deck,
or its glass walls; it’s the access to mentorship. “In5 have
connected us with Travel Capitalist, a U.S.-based VC company, that
has guided us with our strategy,” she and her co-founder husband
explain.
Ibrahim Colak of MrUsta and
Dirk Stevens of Taskspotting, on the other hand,
joined In5 for completely different reasons. Still in the process
of getting set up, Colak is seeking investment help from the
incubator, while Stevens enjoys the fact that he didn’t have to
give up equity in order to register.
For others still, the advantages are more fundamental. Syrian
entrepreneur Lojain Jibawi of Votek might have had a difficult time
getting set up in Dubai if it hadn’t been for In5, he says. The
rest of his staff is in Syria, but he left to expand his company,
which creates educational content for children using Arabic speech
recognition.
Today, with a community of startups that include ShopGo, the one stop shop for e-commerce
solutions, and Reach, an interesting new hardware/software solution
for ordering food in restaurants and hotels, the incubator is
expanding quickly. In the past ten months, it’s reviewed over 550
applications to accept the 48 startup teams it hosts today and has
held 32 networking events, 24 coaching workshops, and 17 mentorship
sessions, organized by Rekha Setpal, DIC’s tireless Head of
Community Services.
Although In5 is young, it’s an extension of the mandate for Dubai
Internet City that Dubai’s leader, HH Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, announced in 1999, explains Majed AlSuwaidi, DIC’s
Managing Director; the incubator is designed to facilitate a
knowledge economy.
“We’ve built these building blocks that support the idea of
attracting the right talent to come and set up in Dubai,” he
explains. “Now, we want to focus on the people, who are [the
ecosystem’s] goldmine of ideas. We want to develop this industry so
that we have more thinkers and doers on the ground.”
While facilitating a knowledge economy may be a broad mandate, the
current goal is to strongly expand Dubai’s pool of entrepreneurs.
“We want to help people catapult their business quicker than the
lifecycle of normal businesses,” AlSuwaidi says. “Hopefully within
the next five years, we will have an active and strong industry
that will be serving all sectors with innovative and creative
ideas.”
Flexible options for founders
Dubai Internet City isn’t the only entity quietly expanding options
for entrepreneurs. Dubai Media City, DIC’s sister entity, which
launched in 2001, also under the umbrella of Tecom Investments, is
built to support not just multinational media entities but small
and medium-sized enterprises, as well as freelance media
professionals.
“With the demand that we noticed and the growth that has
happened in DMC, we created a category called freelancers,”
explains Mohammad Abdullah, the Managing Director of Dubai Media
City. “Previously, either [media professionals] would ask to be
hired, or they would work illegally. This way, you can have a legal
framework [for project-based work],” he says.
The vetting process is designed to approve only those entrepreneurs
with a solid business plan and credentials, who can best spur
growth in the media sector, says Abdullah. To offer them a base
from which to work, DMC provides a business center for freelance
professionals and media startups alike, that offers assistance with
registration, visas, internet connectivity, and meeting rooms.
Today, it’s having the effect that DMC’s founders had hoped for:
luring regional production. “Earlier, a lot of TV shows used
to be produced abroad, similar productions are now being produced
here in Dubai,” he explains.
As the number of freelancers and entrepreneurs grow over the next
few years, facilities like In5 may have to expand; after all, how
many more startups can the cozy bungalow fit? Yet, with spots like
Impact Hub, MAKE Business Hub, and even
The Pavilion re-opening,
physical space may be the least of an entrepreneur’s concerns. The
upshot for the rising tide of startups expanding to the Gulf is
that, with a solid business plan, the process is getting
easier.
Disclosure: Wamda's Head of Business Development Roland Daher is a member of the steering committee at in5. ShopGo is a Wamda Capital portfolio company.