Opportunity Dubai: Making a Fortune in the Middle East [Hardcover]

Opportunity Dubai is the autobiographical account of a real-life business adventure in the modern city of Dubai. The author was a financial journalist in the city before deciding in the year 2000 to join the internet revolution, believing that if a business idea would work during the dot-com crash then it would later turn into a big success. However, this book is far more than the story of a relatively small business and its success (albeit a business that became a resource now used by millions of readers and sold for a multi-million dollar fortune in 2006). It is also an inside track on what is happening in modern Dubai, the focal point of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, and a city whose GDP has quadrupled in a decade, outperforming any other in the world, including China. The author charts the progress of Dubai in the 2000s and setbacks such as the Second Gulf War and 9/11 which actually proved the source of a remarkable injection of repatriated capital into the increasingly ambitious projects of the Maktoum family under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Many commentators have pointed to the similarities between Dubai Inc. and the development of Singapore where the government has also played a highly proactive role. But the major strength of Dubai remains its long traditional as a free port and trading centre for the lower Gulf States of the Middle East. Yet it is true that investment in this infrastructure has been government led for decades and this continues today with the ordering of 58 giant A380 Airbus aircraft by government owned Emirates Airline, the new Terminal Three for Dubai International Airport and the completely new airport at Jebel Ali, Maktoum International Airport. And the original Jebel Ali Free Zone is now managing ports around the globe as a part of the Dubai World business empire. Perhaps then it should be no surprise that Dubai has been able to capitalise greatly on the Third Oil Boom as the trading hub of the Middle East. But Sheikh Mohammed's restless business vision never stands still. He created the Dubai Internet City in late 1999, just in time to give the author of this book a dedicated free zone with 100 per cent foreign ownership for his small business venture. More significant still is the Dubai International Financial Centre inaugurated in 2003 which has taken the role of regional financial centre away from former incumbents Beirut and Bahrain. A year earlier Sheikh Mohammed introduced real estate ownership rights for foreigners, sparking a property boom that has created further wealth and opportunities for all residents who chose to share his vision. Early participants have enjoyed a five-fold increase in property values. In September 2009 the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai will be completed, standing three times higher than London's One Canada Square at Canary Wharf. Indeed, Dubai has become the city of the mega project with the Dubailand theme park set to almost equal the existing metropolis in size, and office space about to triple in just over two years. Dubai is also the hotel construction capital of the world and its three Palm islands have become global icons. Opportunity Dubai asks where this is all leading to and whether it can be sustained. However, the author's own experience of prospering from the opportunities presented by this incredible city point in a positive direction; although many of his insights will benefit anybody thinking of joining in this adventure, whether doing business in Dubai, buying a home there, or just taking up a job as an expatriate.