The UAE Ministry of Economy launched the NextGen FDI, which is a major campaign to attract digitally focussed companies and highly skilled talent to the country.
Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, who oversees the file to attract FDI and global talent to the country, stated that NextGen FDI would bring in more than 300 global technology firms, data scientists, software developers, and coders to relocate to the UAE.
An extensive display of measures has been introduced to make the market entry process for companies simpler and more resourceful. These consist of rapid and flexible incorporation processes to speed up licensing, bulk visa issuances, banking facilitation, residential, and commercial lease incentives. Seven strategic partners have signed up under the initiative to date, such as Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), freezones Dubai South and DMCC, banks Emirates NBD and WIO, tech hub Dubai Internet City, and several other entitites are expected to join in the consequent phases.
NextGen FDI aims to leverage the UAE’s exceptional competitive advantage and become a global standing in innovation and investment hub. This enables to support the progress of the nation’s knowledge-driven economy. The campaign was launched by Dr. Al Zeyoudi in conjunction with senior officers from NextGen FDI.
NextGen FDI aims to deliver its services to global businesses
NextGenFDI is aimed at seeking out for businesses all over the world that are focused on applied technology within various sectors. This offers them with the necessary market entry essentials needed to scale from within the UAE.
The global interest in 2022 is unparalleled. The firm is aiming to ensure that the world’s most promising digital companies can access all the benefits that NextGen FDI offers to make client businesses efficient. NextGen FDI is designed to ensure that the market entry process is as streamlined and coordinated as their technology ecosystem.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees that economic growth would accelerate to 4.2 percent in 2022, contrasting a slowdown in Asia, Europe, and the US.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) 2022 report released in April 2022, the UAE was ranked at the top, globally, as the best ecosystem for start-ups and entrepreneurs. The Emirate was also dubbed as the region’s leading country to attract foreign direct investment.
As a key support for its talent attraction drive, the National Programme for Coders is offering Golden Visas to 100,000 computer coders. The UAE also aims to establish 1,000 new digital companies and increase investment in start-ups from approximately USD 400 million to USD 1.3 billion. The NextGenFDI initiative will balance and accelerate this endeavour.
Khalifa Al Zaffin, the Executive Chairman at the Dubai Aviation City Corporation and Dubai South, stated that they were pleased to be a part of the NextGen FDI, a great initiative by the Ministry of Economy, that would seek to attract top technology companies and talents to boost the emirate’s economy. At Dubai South, their vision is aligned with government initiatives. The firm stated that they would extend their full support to cater to all business needs. They would accomplish this by achieving NextGenFDI‘s overall philosophies.
Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC, stated that the DIFC has built MENA’s largest FinTech and innovation community of close to 600 businesses (around 60% across the region). This includes 34 from Eastern Europe and South Asia, thus exemplifying DIFC as the perfect choice to help them access the fast-growing markets in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region.
In line with the DIFC Strategy 2030, the centre is supporting sustained economic growth and further differentiating Dubai as a global hub for FinTech businesses, financial institutions, and innovation companies.