Dubai-it: From digital nomad to Dubai entrepreneur, why this 26-year-old chose the city to chase his biggest ambitions

Dubai: It’s been just 10 days since 26-year-old Azerbaijani entrepreneur Mahammadali Ismayilov has landed in Dubai, but the Dubai-it dreams have already taken root.

For the data science and machine learning expert, the city offers him the perfect environment to see his new business venture bloom, and in less than two weeks, he seems to have hit the ground running.

Having studied accountancy at university in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ismayilov found himself more interested in the world of data analytics. So, after teaching himself the ropes of machine learning and data science, Ismayilov was able to secure a job working remotely for a company in Ukraine. Around the same time, he also discovered another passion – Argentinian tango.

“I was just looking to start a hobby and started taking classes twice. I also was more interested in ‘social tango’, which involved a bigger group of people, who dance, but the event also becomes a networking event. I really enjoyed the human connection that I felt,” he said.

“The beautiful thing about social tango is how people interact with each other. I fell in love with tango and started going to events, meeting new people,” he added.

With his job allowing him to work from anywhere in the world, Ismayilov decided to become a digital nomad – travelling across 19 countries in three years from 2023 to 2026.

This year, though, Ismayilov decided to challenge himself further and move out of the comfortable nine-to-five job and dive into the world of entrepreneurship.

“It is definitely more challenging and while a job gives you the stability, I also wanted to experience something more challenging, because challenges are what make you grow. And the bigger the challenge, the more you grow, so I jumped into it,” Ismayilov said.

He also decided to shift out of the digital nomad lifestyle, looking to find one place where he would not just set up shop but could also call a home.

“I had some options in mind – London, Dubai, Thailand, or Buenos Aires,” he said.

“As Dubai was closer to Azerbaijan, and we have an agreement where citizens of both countries can stay in the other country for up to 90 days, without the need to apply for a visa, I wanted to test the demand for the service I wanted to offer in Dubai,” he added.

The concept for a startup that Ismayilov began working on was offering personal branding and client acquisition through LinkedIn. Trying to see if the service would click with potential clients, Ismayilov decided to take a trip to Dubai in September this year, to test waters.

“I came for a week to check how I feel about moving to the city and also to see the business environment. I booked my tickets and several business networking events, and after I came here, I realised that it’s a really nice place to grow yourself because I got to meet people from all over the world and see how they approach each other and value each other,” he said.

Convinced that Dubai was, in fact, the place he wanted to move, and not considering “any other option”, Ismayilov returned to Azerbaijan, packed up and made the move to Dubai 10 days ago.

In these 10 days, he has attended networking events every single week day, sometimes twice a day, and grown his friends’ network and taken meetings with potential clients.

“I have received so much positive feedback from people, have talked to some business owners and had several one-on-one meetings,” he said.

And while he is still in the process of setting up his business licene and getting his residency paperwork in order, Ismayilov can already see bigger ambitions on the horizon and has his own Dubai-it plans – to achieve exceptional results in record time.

“While right now I am focusing on LinkedIn, my vision is to grow the company and bring in all channels to help businesses grow. Dubai is the kind of hub which connects to every part of the world and that’s how I plan to grow as well,” he said.