‘Invest in Dubai’ (IID), the integrated digital business set-up platform launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has recorded robust growth in its use, reflecting Dubai’s growing position as a leading global business destination for investors and entrepreneurs locally and globally.

IID offers a unique business set-up experience backed by Dubai’s advanced smart solutions. The largest one-stop-shop platform of its kind, it enables investors to obtain trade licenses and launch their business in a matter of minutes.

The growth of the platform supports the goal of the General Secretariat of The Executive Council of Dubai to ensure the smooth integration of government operations in line with the leadership’s objective of ensuring high global standards in facilitating business activity. The ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform contributes to unifying, facilitating, and speeding up business set-up procedures effortlessly, serving investors and business leaders.

The platform seeks to enhance the customer experience and government service pathways based on feedback received from customers and government agencies. IID offers commercial licensing services as part of which over 15 government permits and approvals can be obtained without the need to visit any service centre. IID also offers value-added services that support businesses in launching commercial projects.

“Providing a comprehensive platform covering the entire business cycle, IID assists businesses in searching for opportunities, registering trade names; getting initial approvals to issue a license; ensuring all government requirements are met; and obtaining trade licenses. According to the latest data, since the launch of the IID platform in the beginning of February, the total number of business registration and licensing transactions on the platform has reached 5,747. A total of 3,464 commercial licenses were issued, while 1,448 trade names were reserved. The number of initial approvals provided through the platform was 830 while 275 approvals were issued for starting a business,” said HE Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of Dubai Economy.

IID also licensed 485 activities. The top 15 of these activities, which represent 46% of the total include project management services, technical works and maintenance, electronic complexes, social media marketing services, engraving and decoration, installation of suspended ceilings and light partitions, perfumes and cosmetics, and tailoring and sewing of women’s clothing.

HE Saif Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) for Human Resources Affairs, said: “MOHRE helped facilitate the creation of new jobs through the Invest in Dubai platform. The latest data showed that 9,181 jobs were created by businesses for whom licences were issued, based on the link with the Ministry on IID”.

“IID facilitates all types of Dubai Municipality services, especially food-related activities. The procedures for obtaining a licence have been simplified and the customer journey shortened. Approvals are obtained automatically through the platform. The activities related to Dubai Municipality are licensed on the IID platform”, said HE Eng. Dawood Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality,

HE Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, said: “The latest statistics showed that IID attracted 3,746 investors representing 77 different countries, while 10 nationalities accounted for 90% of the total number of foreign investors, which include British, Russian, French, Jordanian, Egyptian, Indian, Pakistani, and Filipino.

“The average age of the investors was 37 years. The 26-35 age group represented 37%, of investments followed by the 36-45 age group at 35%. We constantly check the data on registered customers on the IID platform to make sure it is credible,” added Al Marri.

HE Younus Al Nasser, Assistant Director General of the Smart Dubai Department and CEO of the Dubai Data Establishment, confirmed that the team is working on the future plan for IID services especially those related to the second phase, which will be implemented in 2021. These include several additional services for commercial licences, amendments to licences, opening of bank accounts in a wider set of banks, renewing commercial licences, and opening traffic files for vehicles. He added that the platform facilitated the opening of 87 instant bank accounts with Emirates NBD.

“The platform enables investors to gain insights into investment opportunities for key sectors; information on investment opportunities in commercial zones or free zones, competitiveness assessments, locations of businesses in the city, key economic sectors; and cost of incubating businesses; in addition to sector reports and statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI),” said Al Nasser.

The platform offers a range of packages and value-added services to facilitate the launch of commercial projects. These include opening a ticket for the new establishment as required by the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, allocating labour quotas, opening a ticket at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, notarising the establishment contract by Dubai Economy, and obtaining a membership in the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Other services include opening a bank account with Emirates NBD and Commercial Bank of Dubai. The platform also provides initial approval, reservation of a trade name, issuance of instant licences, Dubai SME licences, Intelaq licences and DED Trader licences, in addition to electronic Memorandum of Association and the renewal of commercial licences.

IID also allows investors to access information regarding the requirements, conditions and fees for issuing trade licences in Dubai for more than 2,000 commercial activities. They can also immediately obtain licences for their companies, as well as other commercial licences. A seamless, integrated, and customer-centered digital process allows users to save time and effort, sparing them the need to visit service centres and reduce the paperwork required to establish companies. The platform also enables them to manage their business using a personalised dashboard that provides an overview of active and expired licenses and tradenames, and other useful insights.

The platform can be accessed by visiting invest.dubai.ae or contacting 600 500 006.