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Hi everyone.


I am looking to relocate to Dubai and set up a small up-market family portraiture studio.

Could anyone advise which area(s) would be best?

The main important factors are:
- A central location with parking, providing good access by car to and from most parts of the city.
- Upmarket / prestigious area. This would give wealthy clients confidence in our service.

Any help or suggestions would be HUGELY appreciated.

Many thanks!

If that is the extent of your business model so far I would suggest you spend more time revisiting the idea. Seriously, you will not go very far with that alone considering central location and parking do not go hand in hand here. Geographical location alone will not bestow confidence in your target demographic.

i agree with the last post, but consider New Dubai as this is the upmarket area.

and do loads of research on the costs. i set up a business here 1 year ago and the local partner/sponsor and visa costs are huge. its crazy.

You should have set up in a Freezone buddy, then no local sponsor is required.

Hey arniegang,

I did the research and found that the TOTAL cost (i.e. inc. office) was higher in internet city and knowledge village than a local company. Also, wanted to be on sheikh zayed road near home.

Fair enough.

XRW-147 wrote:If that is the extent of your business model so far I would suggest you spend more time revisiting the idea. Seriously, you will not go very far with that alone considering central location and parking do not go hand in hand here. Geographical location alone will not bestow confidence in your target demographic.

Thanks, XRW-147 for your post and comments!
There is indeed much more in the way of a business model - location is one minor aspect. I mentioned it as that is what I needed advice on.

This will in fact be a branch office of an established UK business with a solid reputation and an existing (although very small) Middle East client base.

In terms of the location, the important thing is that wealthy clients feel comfortable coming to the studio and the area in general. Also, we will need to be relatively central as we need easy access by car to all parts of the city.

Also:
Does photography counts as a "professional service" company and therefore qualify for 100 percent foreign ownership?


Thanks again for your comments!

yes its a professional service, but you still need a local partner. in this case, the local acts as the "service agent" rather than a shareholder, and he is responsible for organising all the legalities.

i hv a prof serv company and use a local partner who has a company called Key Business Group that acts as local partner to hundreds of companies. annual cost is around AED 40,000 excluding visas.

chags

ch wrote:yes its a professional service, but you still need a local partner. in this case, the local acts as the "service agent" rather than a shareholder, and he is responsible for organising all the legalities.

i hv a prof serv company and use a local partner who has a company called Key Business Group that acts as local partner to hundreds of companies. annual cost is around AED 40,000 excluding visas.

chags

Thanks for that - I checked out Key Business's website, and will be getting in touch with them when we're ready to move to the next step.

In terms of location, everything's pointing to Jumeirah.

Can anyone suggest estate agents with good searcheable websites for commercial property for lease in Jumeirah? I've used Google and a couple of Dubai business directory sites to try and find agents, but it's proving a bit difficult.

Thanks again!

...I'll be looking for 2000-3000 sqft.