Look West – Why Asian Start-Ups in general and AgriTech Start-Ups in particular, Must Consider UAE as a Destination to Start from?

As a serial entrepreneur, you are always looking out for opportunities to expand your horizon and identify the best place to set up your next unicorn. While being a founder of two path-breaking start-ups, MyCrop Technologies (an Agritech transformer) and HnyB Technologies (a Social Media Analytics Disruptor) I am always looking for new shores to expand and leverage value they offer.

While not new to UAE (having done business in UAE and visited UAE for more than a dozen times), this time I visited UAE for a very different purpose. I have been hearing lots of good news and recommendations during my various meetings at World Economic Forum events about aggressive Start-up friendly policy environment, excellent emerging start-up ecosystem, huge improvement in start-up centric skilled resources, fast-growing economy further strengthening and last but not least huge opportunities in form of access to global markets due to UAE strongly establishing itself as a no-nonsense business destination. Great quality of life and work hard party harder social environment, no doubt is another big plus. So last full week I dedicated to exploring the possibility of setting up an AgriTech start-up in UAE.

A stronger economy will help entrepreneurs to grow their business fast and attract talent.

Someone who has consistently being slowed down by the bureaucracy of South-Asia it was a pleasant change, from the Prime Minister’s Office to Abu Dhabi Executive Office to International Center for Biosaline Agriculture all were so eager to help and it seemed they are rolling out a red carpet for innovators like me. Not just the public sector but also various stakeholders in start-up ecosystem (Venture Capital Companies, Angel Investors, Private Funds, and Personal Offices of HNIs) and agriculture ecosystem (vertical farming companies, farmer service centres, agriculture input companies, agriculture mechanisation companies, think tanks) all were so receptive and supportive that I was pleasantly surprised. Further, my interactions with the start-up community further strengthen my belief that UAE is fast emerging and will eventually be amongst the top Start-Up Capitals of the World.

UAE Government’s focus on citizens’ wellbeing, health and education is parallel to none and will make it very attractive to talent seeking to live in a country with a strong focus on the quality of life.

So Why UAE?

A staggering number of start-ups and SMEs sets the Emirates apart from other start-up hotspots, 95% of all enterprises in the UAE are start-ups and SMEs. This demonstrates the entrepreneurial nature of the economy of the UAE and the ready-made client pool for fast-growing tech start-ups. Further, the year 2019 will be the year that will propel the UAE as the topmost location for start-ups globally. The economy is growing, Dubai Expo 2020 is fast approaching, exciting opportunities are being created for entrepreneurs and policies are getting refined to attract global talent to start-up from UAE.

A Start-up Friendly Policy Environment

The UAE is already one of the world’s leading start-up hub and with more businesses flood in, attracted by generous incentives to start, the start-up market will strengthen further. There are a multitude of start-up friendly initiatives which intends to bring entrepreneurs of all ages, races and domains include but are not limited to incentives for innovators, female business owners and young entrepreneurs, extended five-year visas for older professionals, 100% foreign ownership of companies, and ten-year visas for some business owners and property owners.

Fast Growing Economy

Recently the International Monetary Fund lifted its forecasts for economic growth in the UAE to 2.9% in 2018 and 3.7% in 2019, significantly higher than its April forecast of 2% and 3% respectively. The strengthening economy is because of several factors and most of them will have long term positive impact. First, which is common for most of oil-rich nations, being an increase in oil output and rebounding oil prices, which have given the government more money to spend, hence a budget stimulus of US$55 billion. Second, the cyclical effect, the UAE comes to the end of its slowdown, is in the phase of stabilization and will embark on to fast growth phase again. Last but not list fiscal discipline, the UAE cabinet has approved a zero-deficit federal budget of AED180 billion from 2019 to 2021.

Excellent Infrastructure

One of the biggest attractions of the UAE to entrepreneurs and start-ups is the well-established infrastructure, strong banking system and stable political system. UAE is blessed with the great road network, modern mass transit system, high-speed digital information highways, and state of the art real-estate including various zones like Internet City, Media City, and Academic City where you can find most ecosystem players in a specific domain at one place. Not just business UAE has also well planned recreational infrastructures including Hotels, Parks, and Sports Facilities which are key to a quality life.

So Why AgriTech?

Under the vision of his Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince, Abu Dhabi has approved a series of incentive packages worth up to AED1 billion for local and international agriculture technology (AgriTech) and other companies to build and grow a presence in Abu Dhabi. The incentive program aims to drive the development of the AgriTech ecosystem and to establish Abu Dhabi as a global centre for desert environment and agriculture innovation.

The initiative, led by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), is part of the Abu Dhabi Government’s economic accelerator programme, “Ghadan 21”. The focus of the program is the creation of an advanced AgriTech sector to ensure food security, better conditions for farmers in not just UAE but across the globe. The program also intends to deliver a secure economy that is exploring a broader R&D agenda and secure jobs of the future.

“Abu Dhabi offers strong and competitive investment opportunities for AgriTech companies that will enable them to scale their innovative products.” – His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Under the incentive program, packages will be awarded to companies focused on delivering solutions within three key sub-sectors: precision farming and agriculture robotics, bioenergy (algae) and indoor farming. The AgriTech incentive program launched by ADIO, will not only create a vibrant AgriTech ecosystem but is also expected to generate over AED1.650 billion (US$450 million) of GDP contribution and create more than 2,900 jobs in the emirate by 2021.

The incentive program is in line with the broader UAE agenda and regulatory changes aimed at attracting global companies to establish an advanced AgriTech ecosystem in the UAE. In addition to providing generous incentives, the UAE offers a wide range of benefits to AgriTech businesses and entrepreneurs including globally competitive tax rates, world-class infrastructure, ability to handle high-volume commodities, inexpensive energy sources, favourable tariff structures, plentiful land availability, natural sunlight conditions, and geographical location that offers great expansion opportunities with millions of consumers located in surrounding countries all with growing economies and increasing food consumption.

About the Author

Deepak is a well-decorated serial technopreneur who created one of the most respected AgriTech Company, MyCrop and in past founded one of the most innovative Social Data Analytics platform, HnyB and Angel Incubator for enterprising engineering college students, HnyB Tech-Incubations.

Deepak was honoured as Technology Pioneer 2018 by World Economic Forum (WEF). He is currently a member of various WEF communities and decorated as Expert – Digital Transformation by WEF. MyCrop was also the winner of AI for Good, Nasscom, amongst top 10 Startups in Indonesia, honoured by National University of Singapore & AliPay, 60 Technology Start-Ups at Rise – Hong Kong, and top 500 innovative Start-Ups at Pioneers – Vienna.

Deepak is a regular speaker of global repute with honour of speaking at events of high repute including World Economic Forum ASEAN - Hanoi, World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of Champions (Mini-Davos) – Tianjin, AP AgriTech - Visakhapatnam, ASEAN Marketing Forum – Jakarta, Geospatial World Forum – Hyderabad, Sustainable Food Systems – Bangkok, Better Rice Initiative – Vietnam.

Deepak is a well-published author with seven published books on technology and business. He also writes articles on technology areas including User Experience & Adaptive Designs, Big Data & Predictive Analytics, Autonomous Systems & Artificial Intelligence, Wireless & Internet of Things, Mobile & Web Applications, SATCOM & Telecom, and Social Media & Cloud Computing.