Today, I had the opportunity to attend an important meeting in Dubai involving my buyer and seller. Both are highly experienced and successful businesspeople, but one conversation during the meeting stayed with me.

The seller is a well-established entrepreneur with approximately 45 years of business experience, having built businesses across the GCC and other international markets. Yet, his journey in Dubai began only around 2016.

I asked him a simple question:

“Sir, after doing business for so many years in different countries, how would you describe your experience in Dubai?”

His answer was remarkable.

He told me that the growth he achieved during just 10 years in Dubai was greater than what he had achieved during the previous 35 years of doing business elsewhere.

For me, that statement says a lot about Dubai.

Today, Dubai is not only another market for him—it has become the base from which he controls and manages his businesses across different countries. He has expanded his business interests and invested in multiple properties, including industrial and warehouse assets in Dubai.

But his success story is not only about business.

His family is happy living here. They enjoy the security, quality of life, multicultural environment, and opportunities the UAE provides. Dubai has become both their home and their international business base.

According to him, a major reason behind his extraordinary growth is the UAE’s business-friendly environment, efficient government systems, world-class infrastructure, security, global connectivity, and supportive approach toward entrepreneurs and investors.

What impressed me most was the experience behind his words. This is someone who has spent nearly half a century doing business and has experienced different countries, markets, and economic environments.

Yet, after only a decade in Dubai, his appreciation for this country was extraordinary.

For me, today’s meeting became much more than a property discussion. It became a meaningful business lesson and a memorable conversation.

It reminded me why entrepreneurs and families from around the world continue to choose the UAE—to establish businesses, invest, own property, raise their families, and build their future.

Dubai doesn’t ask where you started.

It gives you the environment to discover how far you can go.

This is the UAE. 🇦🇪

This is Dubai.

A city of opportunity, ambition, family, and growth.

When an entrepreneur with 45 years of international business experience tells you that his 10 years in Dubai created greater growth than his previous 35 years elsewhere, that is more than a slogan.

It is a real-life testimony to the power of the right environment.

I walked away from today’s meeting with an even greater appreciation for this remarkable country.

Dubai is not simply a place to do business.

For many, it is where business reaches the next level—and where families find a place they are happy to call home. ❤️🇦🇪

Welcome to Dubai — Where Opportunities Meet Ambition.

By Shihab Oruvil

Shihab Oruvil
Managing Director | Seagate Properties
Commercial Real Estate | Dubai, UAE