Dubai-it: ‘Bring your ideas and build’ – why this 26-year-old founder chose Dubai

Dubai: “That seems kind of risky.” That’s the typical reaction Swiss national Joanna Rubin was accustomed to hearing whenever she would float a business idea as a young woman growing up in Europe. Dubai, she says, flips the script. “Starting a business in other parts of the world can be a tough process. A lot of money is involved, and many people have a 9-to-5 mindset. So, whenever I would share business ideas, I remember people sometimes looking at me a bit weirdly, almost as if they were saying, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’” she said. Less than eight months after moving to Dubai, the 26-year-old business student is already working on two new business ventures in a city that has finally given her a pace of life that matches the speed at which she likes to build. “I moved to Dubai in January this year, after I spoke to a few friends who told me so many nice things about the city and the pace at which it works,” she said. “I am very business-oriented, so when I heard about the potential of the city and how quickly things move, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for,” she added. From Zürich to Boston, and then Dubai The daughter of a teacher, Rubin said her mum had always taught her children to be curious and explore new experiences. The encouragement led her to start her first business at the age of 20, a marketing and sales platform, which she still operates out of Zürich. Last year, she moved to Boston, US, to begin her MBA at Hult International Business School. With the business school also operating a campus in Dubai, she said moving to the UAE felt like the natural next step. “It’s been incredible, to be honest,” she said. “Even better than I expected.” The one word that Rubin can’t help but use to describe her experience so for is ‘easy’ – the ease with which you can connect with like-minded people, the ease with which new ideas are welcomed and immediately worked on, and the ease with which you can start a business in the city. “There’s just a very good mix of people here, who are very open to ideas and have a lot of energy,” she said. With a strong focus on AI, Rubin has already started two projects with business partners in Dubai – a recruitment platform and an affiliate programme aimed at connecting brands with businesses. “The recruitment platform was the one I started first, two months ago. Just yesterday, we had the first pitch, which went really well and we’ll hopefully find investors to grow the business,” she said. Turning ideas into action For Rubin, the difference between Dubai and other places she has experienced is not necessarily the scale of the ideas being discussed, but what happens after someone has one. “If you compare Dubai to any other place, the difference is that they make decisions and implement them right away. Whereas, anywhere else, it can take ages before anything happens,” she said. “I really love that, especially as a young person, because you want to put ideas into practice to see the results immediately. You get to learn from it and you want to do that quickly,” she said. Which is why the Dubai-it philosophy was particularly relatable to the young tech founder. Launched in June this year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum , Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai-it initiative aims to pass on Dubai’s philosophy of work to future generations. Describing it as a verb, Sheikh Mohammed said that to ‘Dubai-it’ is “to achieve something extraordinary with excellence in record time. It’s about turning big ideas into reality, just like Dubai’s incredible transformation from desert to global city in a short span.” For Rubin, that Dubai-it approach is even more visible in the AI space, where the journey between hearing an idea and turning it into something tangible becomes dramatically shorter. “You can do things so quickly. It still amazes me how much I can get done in such a short period of time. If I look back even a year, a lot of this would not have been possible,” she said. “I can meet new people, they tell me their ideas, and I can sit with what they have in their heads and turn it into something implementable very quickly,” she added. Dubai-it every day In love with the networking culture of Dubai, Rubin said it gives entrepreneurs countless opportunities to meet new people, exchange ideas and build valuable connections. Photo credit: Supplied Her typical day in Dubai also reflects that same shift in mindset. She loves waking up early, saying that is when her mind feels clearest and she can focus on her business ideas. By 9am, she is attending classes, which continue until late afternoon. “I usually do some group work at school after that and then go to the gym. And in the evening, I try to attend a networking event, if there’s one happening,” she said. “I have definitely changed my pace a lot since moving here. There is always so much happening and there are so many opportunities.” But it is not simply th