editor’s note: Today we launch Inside View, an occasional column offering insight from a Colorado business leader.
The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and 35 other chambers from around the country were hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry on a recent visit there. Over the course of a five-day visit, they gave us a great overview of the culture and the economy.
Dubai is the largest municipality (by population) in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is composed of seven city-states that share a legal, political and military federal framework. Dubai, itself, is a very new city, with most of its growth occurring in the past decade.
There are 35,000 U.S. citizens living in the UAE, and more than 900 U.S. businesses have some presence in Dubai.
Dubai acts as a kind of distribution center for the Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent, ferrying goods from across the world to those partners. The city has access to more than 2 billion people, making it a market worth our attention.
Only 3 percent of Colorado’s exports are going to the Middle East and Africa right now — the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the primary destinations. The top exports last year were aircraft engines and parts, electronic circuits and micro-assembly parts. There are four areas in which there has been considerable growth in exports from Colorado to the Middle East, including parts and accessories for vehicles, radio telephony apparatus, ceramic lab wares and centrifuges.
Colorado has its share of companies doing business in Dubai already. Some examples include architectural firms (Burkett Design and Gensler Architects), engineering and consulting firms (CH2M Hill and S.A. Miro), law firms (Patton Boggs), IT and telecommunications companies (Shen Milsom Wilke) and financial services (Western Union).
The business community understands that the competitors and the opportunities we need to focus on today are not just in U.S. communities but global giants such as Dubai. These markets provide great potential for Colorado businesses and, to help facilitate those opportunities, the chamber will have representatives from the Jebel Ali Free Zone coming to Colorado this month.
The Free Zone was established in Dubai to make it easier for foreign businesses to establish their markets without the tax implications and paperwork challenges that one can often face. This meeting will present an opportunity for local businesses to explore whether markets in the Middle East — and the Free Zone benefits, in particular — might help increase the economic activity here at home.
Of course, the question everybody has on their minds focuses on the culture and my experience as a woman during the trip. Less than 10 percent of the population of Dubai is native to the area — it is truly a cosmopolitan city. The traditional dress (no, I didn’t wear a burka) for both men and women provides a strong reminder about the differences in our culture. That said, being the mother of two teenage daughters, I like the conservative dress more and more. There also is a call to prayer five times a day — business breaks at those times and resumes immediately following. Come to think of it, I have had a few meetings stateside that could have benefited from a call-to-prayer break.
The people are warm and inviting. Women are in roles of power, and many of those in high-level positions are very young. That said, there are important lessons to learn about their experience. Being at the forefront of the world economy and anticipating and building the infrastructure necessary to create growth can pay off, but when the world experiences a recession, there also is the potential of taking a very hard hit.
As we have all read, debt is a huge issue for Dubai, and only time will tell whether it overbuilt so much that it cannot ride out the recession or if its investment has positioned it better than others for future growth. Dubai officials, of course, believe the latter.
For those interested in the region and some of the tourist attractions, I did go to the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalija, which is 164 floors. We went to the 124th floor to the observation deck. I think I could see the peaks of the Rocky Mountains from there.
I also visited the manmade Palm Islands. There’s an interstate highway that you drive (up the tree trunk) that takes you out to the artificial “fronds,” which will hold 60,000 residents upon completion.
Most important to all of us Coloradans, I tried the indoor ski slope at the Mall of Emirates. It was fun, but I assure you it has got nothing on Colorado’s slopes.
Kelly Brough is president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
