Want to start a business in Dubai? More services can now be completed instantly

Dubai: Invest in Dubai now facilitates approximately 1.5 million transactions every year, with more than half of its services delivered instantly as the emirate expands its single digital gateway for starting and managing businesses.

The platform has served more than 500,000 beneficiaries since its launch and provides access to over 1,000 business activities and more than 70 integrated government and regulatory services.

Around 53% of its services are delivered instantly, while 46% are provided proactively without requiring customers to initiate each step. The platform has also eliminated physical visits to service centres, removed more than 66 customer requirements and recorded a 97% customer satisfaction rate.

“The true measure of Invest in Dubai's impact is the experience it has created for businesses," Salwa Aladidi, Director of the Business Data Management Department at the Dubai Business Registration and Licensing Corporation, told Gulf News. "Every requirement removed, service integrated and visit to a service centre eliminated represents time and effort returned to entrepreneurs, allowing them to focus on innovation, growth and creating economic value.”

Invest in Dubai allows entrepreneurs and investors to search for business activities, reserve trade names, obtain regulatory approvals, issue commercial licences and access government and private-sector services through a single digital platform.

The platform was developed by the Dubai Business Registration and Licensing Corporation, which operates under the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, to reduce the need for investors to work through separate government systems and procedures.

Close to 29% of the Dubai Government’s entire services portfolio is now accessible through Invest in Dubai, according to DBLC.

The platform was designed around the full business journey, covering the establishment, management and growth of a company, while giving investors greater visibility over regulatory steps and requirements.

Creating the platform required government entities to align procedures, regulatory requirements and digital systems while establishing mechanisms for secure data exchange.

Participating entities worked together to redesign services from the investor’s perspective instead of digitising each government process separately.

Shared governance and coordination between the entities have also allowed additional services to be added to the platform as business and regulatory requirements develop.

“One of the biggest lessons from this journey is that digital transformation depends on effective collaboration. The achievement behind Invest in Dubai was bringing multiple government entities together around a shared vision of delivering one seamless experience for investors,” Aladidi noted.

Customer feedback and operational data are used to identify repeated requirements, unclear procedures and points where investors experience delays.

Those findings are then used to redesign services, remove unnecessary steps and increase the number of transactions that can be completed instantly or delivered proactively.

“Customer feedback is central to how Invest in Dubai evolves. We review it alongside operational data to identify where users encounter delays, repeated requirements or unclear steps,” Aladidi said.

The platform is expected to continue expanding its integrated services while increasing automation and strengthening data exchange between government entities.

DBLC is also exploring the use of artificial intelligence to provide more personalised and data-driven services throughout the business lifecycle.

“The next chapter for Invest in Dubai is about evolving from a digital platform into an intelligent business ecosystem that supports investors throughout every stage of their business journey,” Aladidi said.

The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai Trade were recently named joint winners of the Shared Digital Channels Award under the Hamdan bin Mohammed Programme for Government Services 2025.

The award recognises government entities that deliver services through connected digital channels instead of requiring customers to interact separately with different authorities.

Invest in Dubai was recognised for bringing government and regulatory services together and simplifying the steps required to establish and operate a company in the emirate.

“More importantly, it recognises the platform’s impact in delivering a more integrated and customer-focused government experience,” Aladidi said.

The platform supports the objectives of the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33, which include doubling the size of Dubai’s economy and strengthening its position among the world’s leading cities for business and investment.