The UAE Zeitgeist: Business and Living

I posted this summary internally at PYGIO but I wanted to share my experience and take on Dubai and the UAE - I hope this is helpful to those who are interested.

Hi guys,

I am on the plane, otw South Africa.

I’ve learnt a lot while in the UAE this trip. Here’s a short summary:

Doing Business in the UAE:

- The UAE is a global melting pot. A place of business and leisure for people from East to West. It is very much a place that reminds you of its Arab heart at every turn, but with a totally Western, Capitalist culture.

- Most enterprises here like to buy, instead of build. They prefer to follow the leaders of the world, usually US companies - “if it’s not listed in Gartner, we won’t buy it”. However, this is changing with companies investing in and growing their own IP, local confidence is growing that UAE-based companies are as good as those in Silicon Valley.

- There is a burgeoning (tech) startup scene. However, with limited exit opportunities, basically just being acquired, and with a small local population, if startups that are not selling to the US and Rest of World, they may have limited growth.

the - Sales cycles are long! But the bag is there.

- Contractors and vendors are held to very high standards and are expected to deliver.

- Mature companies in the GCC are looking to Saudi for growth, but living there seems foreign to Westerners, for now.

- There is a massive working class. People earn between AED 5k-10k ($1300 - 2600). A decent professional grad would earn about AED 10-15k ($3900) to live in a studio apartment. There is VERY STRONG sense of upward mobility for immigrant people.

- This is a great access point and launch pad for companies into the US, and between the US and rest of the world. It’s IN the centre of the world.

- I met a whole network of young enterprising, ambitious people here. Many of whom were South African or English and work for software/tech business like ServiceNow, MS, Cisco, SF, IBM and other global SaaS businesses.

- One could easily raise money here. There are many people looking to make investments.

- Building a B2B business selling tech services here is the way to go. Few B2C businesses could reach scale, having only local 10m population, the B2C product would need to own high wallet-share for the consumer for very niche but big problem, or be global.

- Laws are only becoming more Western and Capitalist. Setting up business is not as easy as it used to be.

- When UAE companies do eventually buy, the spend well, and expect results fast. They outsource and partner with the best, this is an opportunity for competent global teams. (I’ll share my thoughts on becoming an AI system builder and integrator soon).

Living in Dubai in 2025:

- Abu Dhabi is more conservative, but as interesting as Dubai.

- The UAE was not a place of permanence, but now it is. People would come here for 5–10 years, 20 max. This is changing as the UAE is incentivising people to stay longer term and build a life and families, but they are not keen to create a massive welfare system and have leaches on the public, that is not going to change.

- High tech/digitally mature population.

- There are no destitute or homeless anywhere. Everyone is working and has a job.

- It is DAMN expensive to eat out. Products cost about the same as the UK and slightly more expensive than the US. Services are more expensive than most other places as cost of living is high.

- Property is booming, and not slowing down. However, it is reaching a maturity, where the property market will grow slowly met but surely. Families are moving in and buying homes.

- I visited and stayed in the suburbs, and most people with a 3-bedroom house live 40 min out of the city, like the Quintica team. All of them love their lives in the UAE.

- Traffic is getting worse. Can The Boring Company help here with their new project announced to create the Dubai Loop?

- Many Europeans are moving to Dubai for a better quality of life. They earn more and are happy to give up their right to vote and some state benefits to earn more and live well.

- All religions and creeds are respected (I even heard that there is an Afrikaans Church).

- The culture is hustle.

- Fitness and wellness culture is huge. I have never seen so many gyms, wellness facilities and spas in any city as I’ve seen in the UAE.

- There is a huge portion of the population that does not conform to the “living the Dubai influencer dream”. People are just living and earning well here, building a family and life for themselves. Many wish to eventually go back home. Many are now wanting to stay for as long as possible. Very few foresee themselves retiring here.

- There are some 60k Ukrainians in Dubai. Many more Eastern Europeans and Asians. There are quite a few Greeks and South Africans too (this was interesting to me).

- The Emiratis like expats that perform and add value. I had a conversation with an Emirati, who loved the fact that the UAE has grown and wants expats to perform and contribute to its growth.

- Tax is increasing, but will improve the region's global legitimacy. It will still be cheaper here to pay tax than US, EU or SA. UAE is making it harder for foreign criminals to come in.

- People work hard here.

I enjoyed my time here. Everyone is in the same boat: hustling and looking to grow, open to meet new people and open to network.

I hope this helps to summarise my time here.

I’ll share my thoughts on what this means for PYGIO.