In a month, it will be 30 years since I have lived in the UAE.

Here are 3 things that changed, that no one believed would:

- Real Estate survived and thrived

When the 2008 crash hit us in Dubai. It was one of the wildest things i ever lived through. I literally thought the world was collapsing. There were hundreds of Ferraris and Lambos abandoned at the Dubai airport. And all the naysayers were screaming "I told you Dubai won't survive, this place is overhyped".

But this was far from true. Today, Dubai has one of the highest-yielding real estate returns worldwide. And the market continues to grow.

In fact, UBS's international real estate bubble index report showed that its at the bottom end. Meaning, the Dubai real estate market might be undervalued even though the market grew around 50% in the last 2 years.

- Family Offices started to invest in Tech

I always thought that the US was not so different than the way we do business in the UAE. I felt that we have a safe environment with the latest technology infrastructure. We have focus and we have the drive. But all the families that I knew were not interested in tech. They were only interested in real estate.

In 2024, investing in tech is the long-term game (AI, Fintech, Crypto, VR/AR) while investing in real estate is the short to mid-term game in the UAE. And not the other way around as it used to be.

And this is evident with the amount of government funds being created in the last few years that are dedicated to investing in future tech companies.

- From Small Businesses to Unicorns

It was only in the last decade that the UAE business ecosystem finally started to find its true entrepreneurial spirit. And local entrepreneurs started to create global unicorns that cater to the international markets. Before that, the ambition was to start local businesses that catered to small local communities. The idea of creating businesses that would be valued internationally was just a pipe dream.

Now in the UAE we have Unicorns like Telegram, Kitopi and Careem.

Are you coming to the UAE?

Send me a DM on LinkedIn!