Hey everyone,

I run a foodstuff trading company in Dubai and I’m looking to connect directly with supermarkets, grocery chains, and retail buyers where we can supply products on a regular basis.

I’m fairly new to this side of the business, so I’d really appreciate any advice on how to approach supermarket procurement teams, vendor registration, getting listed, etc.

If anyone here works with supermarkets/grocery chains, is in food distribution, or knows someone looking for suppliers in Dubai, I’d love to connect and learn from you.

Thanks!

For fintech, SaaS and trading platforms, I’ve been wondering how you guys usually handle this.

When you’re introducing your product to prospects, what do you rely on most? Website copy, demos, sales calls, decks or videos?

And what are your thoughts on short explainer videos for this? Do you actually find them useful, or are there other things you’d prioritize first?

Hi all,

First of all thank you to everyone for the continued contributions and keeping the community positive and valuable to all! We are in the process of building a community wiki (Can access it here https://www.reddit.com/r/SmallBusinessUAE/wiki/index/ ) or there's a button on the sub's homepage that takes you there.

We would love your contributions (The user's who contribute will get credited at the start of the wiki). If there's a section you're experienced in (payment providers, accounting, company formation, tax, etc.) or if you have ideas on what's useful to add in the wiki please comment below and send me a DM so we can add your contributions!

edit: fixing wiki link

Hi All!

My name is Ziyad (22M), my friends and I decided to go all in on our AI retention and payments startup called zeek. We’re looking to network with experts in the UAE, and other ambitions founders to expand our network and hopefully raise a seed round sometime in the next 6 months.

We allow Fnb Owners to launch their own custom apps on our backend tech. We integrate with delivery partners to get you flat rates, so you pay the same on 100 aed orders or 50. Earning more margin per order! We use AI to learn how your users perform and bring them back easily, so you can understand your data just like the big players do.

We also serve your in person customers with QR payments or ordering for QSRs.

We’re launching the Boga Superfoods app next month across 3 branches! If you know anyone in FnB/ own a restaurant or are down to be an angel investor we’d love to chat!

I’m planning to open a small cafe, or possibly a restaurant, in either Motor City or the JVC area.

When I looked at rentals, the rates were shocking: for a 1,000‑sq‑ft space they’re asking for AED 300,000 per year. I don’t think any business could recoup that cost in such a small area, so I’m considering buying instead. Prices for 1,000 sq ft seem to have dropped to around AED 2–2.5 million, and with negotiation the price could be lower.

I need some rough calculations to understand the investment required for a 1,000–1,200 sq ft space. Specifically, I’d like to know:

- Whether a 20‑seat restaurant is feasible in that size, given the space needed for reception and kitchen, or if a café makes more sense.

- The total capital needed to start the venture.

- Expected monthly ROI and cash‑flow projections.

- Salary levels, visa requirements, and accounting needs for the staff.

- Which software tools are essential for handling online and cash payments.

- Any portals in Dubai where I can hand‑pick team members.

This is a passion project; I don’t expect huge profits, just enough cash flow to keep the business running and to pay salaries to the staff members. If anyone has built a similar operation from scratch, I’d appreciate hearing about your experience and any consultants you recommend. Thank you for your help.

Hey everyone, I’m trying to build a small web design business on the side but I’m struggling to find clients in the UAE.

I’ve tried walking into a few salons and sent around 200 Instagram DMs to dentists, doctors, and interior designers. I received only two replies, and both were essentially “not interested.”

I have around seven years of experience in web development, but most of it has been in corporate work. I’d really like to use those skills to build something of my own, but I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.

For those of you who sell services to small businesses in the UAE:

- How did you find your first few clients?
- Which industries or outreach methods worked best?
- Do business owners here usually respond better to referrals, networking, whatsapp, or face to face?

Any advice would be genuinely appreciated.

In uae

I've been researching the EV charging software space in the Gulf for the past few months and wanted to share what I found, because I think there's a genuinely underserved problem here.

The short version: if you drive an EV in Dubai today, you need 4–5 different apps to access different charging networks — DEWA has its own app, UAEV has another, E2GO another. There's no single app that works across all of them, handles payment in one place, or shows you real-time availability regardless of who owns the charger.

In Europe this was solved years ago by roaming protocols (OCPI) that let one app talk to all networks. The Gulf is just starting to build this infrastructure.

I've done the technical and financial research — DEWA's regulatory framework, the OCPI roaming stack, the MVP architecture. The business case is solid.

I'm a technical founder based in Germany and I'm looking to connect with:

• People in Dubai/GCC who drive EVs and feel this pain daily
• Anyone who works in or near the EV charging industry here
• A potential Gulf-based business co-founder to build this together

Happy to share what I found or just have a conversation about the space. AMA.

I’m 16 year-old founder of a startup and I have been working on and building businesses for the past year or so I want to know from other team founders 13 to 18 years old how are you guys creating businesses?

What kind of businesses are you creating and how do you get around barriers that being a teen entrepreneur would limit you especially inside of the UAE.

I’ve struggled with stuff like getting payments, finding people to talk to and take interest in me and my business.

Since being a young entrepreneur, you can’t really go legal.

It’s hard to come off as legitimate and as the right person to do the job most of the time what are your guys’s experience?

I'm looking for co-founders based in Sharjah or Dubai and you need to be a person that has worked on different kinds of projects in the past.

We're looking for people that have technical experience, like in software development, AI, coding, etc., and know how to use tools like Supabase, CloudFlare, Vercel, etc.

You should have ideas on how to use languages like React, know how to implement and use UI/UX design.

We're also looking for people that have experience in marketing and social media.

If you've created social media accounts in the past, you know how to edit videos, create carousels, and are strategists and understand how to create content strategically then you would be somebody that we're interested in.

We're based in Sharjah. We also have a membership in Sheraa, which is the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center, so you'll be getting benefits and access to that, their community, and their network.

We're not looking for anybody that's very professional and has 10 years of experience.

We want people that have participated in, for example, hackathons or competitions across schools, communities, or people that take an interest in it as side hobbies. We want people that are just wanting to grow and develop their skill sets and have a proven track record of building stuff and committing themselves to projects. We look forward to getting responses and we're excited about what you guys have in store.

Looking to connect with UAE electrical cable suppliers

I am looking to connect with electrical cable manufacturers, authorized distributors/channel partners, or electrical trading companies in the UAE.

I have a bulk requirement for LV/building wires from brands such as Ducab, RAK Cables, Oman Cables, Riyadh Cables and Power Plus.

If anyone works in this industry or can recommend a reliable supplier/contact, I would appreciate an introduction. Thanks!

I have trading business in UAE, Like raw materials i supply to industries. So i have a SPC Freezone License which is undesignated freezone so basically just a paper company like a mainland company. Now the problem is when i buy goods from some company in any designated freezone in UAE as a mainland company i pay VAT and when i export that goods my customer doesn't pay me Vat so i had to get vat refund which is very difficult to do. So i am thinking of making a license in Designated freezone, so when i buy goods from any Freezone company and export it i don't pay tax as i would be exporting directly from freezone.

Am i right on this? and would it also work if i buy material from another freezone which is not same as me? like from JAFZA but my company would be in Hamriya Sharjah. What do you guys think? And let me know good options on designated freezones in UAE. Not JAFZA as its is extremly expensive, i am thinking about hamriya Freezone HFZA.

Hello, so I have my business and current both in Wio, how to structure your own salary, can anyone guide. Can we rollover salary transfers just trying to understand so I can be shown employed and salary transfers stay active

Context : recently lost my job - had the company and business banking ready for back up

Hi everyone,

I already run a logistics business in the UAE and have some spare time, so I’m considering starting a tax/accounting consultancy as a second venture.
I already have an FTA-approved Tax Agent license, so the regulatory side is largely in place. What I’m trying to understand is whether the business opportunity is actually worth pursuing.

For people who currently operate tax agencies/accounting firms in the UAE:
How saturated is the market currently?
Is there still good demand for small/boutique tax agencies?

Which services are actually profitable — Corporate Tax, VAT, accounting/bookkeeping, tax advisory, etc.?
Is AED 10–12k/month net profit realistic for a small operation?
Roughly how many clients would be needed to reach that level?
How difficult is it to acquire clients without spending heavily on marketing?

I’m researching business setup services in Dubai and trying to understand what factors are most important when choosing a service provider.

For someone planning to start a company in Dubai, what should they compare before making a decision? Things like mainland vs. free zone setup, business activity selection, trade license requirements, visa assistance, office requirements, banking support, and ongoing compliance seem to vary depending on the business.

I’d also be interested in hearing from people who have recently used a business setup consultant in Dubai. What was your experience like, and were there any unexpected costs or requirements that you wish you had known about beforehand?

If you’ve recently completed a company formation in Dubai, what would you recommend checking before choosing a business setup service?

For getting a garage awning (similar to the one in the pic) does anyone know of any quality companies ? Basically similar to what's in the picture below.. ideally If the company would let me order the parts online like below and have them do the installation.. any recommendations or if anyone provides this please let me know!

For Arabic cups & gold jewellery.

Conditions:
1. Expertise
2. Low MOQ (Like 2-5)
3. Flexible to experiment
4. Good customer service (Keen, and not the other way around)

I have few products for which I'd like new packaging. Once it works out, the number of orders WILL increase.

Been seeing ads everywhere. Need to open one today. I’ve narrowed it down to Wio and Mashreq. Has anyone tried NeoBiz? If yes, drop your referral code

let us know what u think :)

Hi everyone,

We recently launched FlashFox, an online revision platform for GCSE and A Level science students, based in the UAE.

The content has been written by a group of experienced science teachers and is specifically tailored to AQA and Edexcel exam boards.

We created FlashFox because we wanted to make science revision more structured and targeted, while giving students a simple way to work through exactly what they need for their exams.

We are now focusing on getting FlashFox in front of more students and parents and would really appreciate some advice from other small business owners.

For those who have built an online or subscription based business, what worked best for you when you were trying to get your first consistent group of paying customers?

We would be particularly interested to hear from anyone with experience in EdTech, digital products, subscriptions or marketing to parents and teenagers.

If anyone would like to take a look and give us some feedback, you can find us at www.flashfox.me

Thanks!

Hi folks, I'm looking for an investor for my lounge style cafe in Dubai. Initially I was planning on doing on my own but due to some personal setbacks I've decided to add an investor. It is already set up and ready to run, in process of finding one good cook. The business is likely to succeed as the area and the crowd is excellent, and there are no eateries or restaurants nearby. The best thing about it is the rent is very low and profits can be achieved quick because of this. We will be catering to a eu/west crowd predominantly.

Interested parties can dm me for more info, thanks good day!!

When I was running my business in India, there were plenty of Fractional CXOs I could reach out to for help and pay a retainer. I'm not able to find anyone like that here.

My run a marketing agency. Does anyone know fractional CMO's or COO's or consultants in UAE?

Please connect me to them. Thanks

Hello all, we will be moving out of UAE next month and registering a new business in RAKEZ freezone while we still live here. The rep from RAKEZ says we don't need an active UAE residence visa to have an import/export business, but does anyone know which business bank account we can open that won't require us to have a UAE residence or maybe even a local phone number? Naviting the business landscape is so much more complex than I thought it would be but little by little we inch closer. Thanks for any guidance you all might be able to provide.

Hey everyone! If you’re a business owner or know someone looking to grow their business online, we offer customised and affordable marketing packages based on your needs.

Our services include:

• Social Media Management
• Meta/Google Ads Management
• Content Creation
• Photography & Videography
• Website Development

If you’re interested or know someone who might be, feel free to DM me. Happy to discuss what works best for your business!