Dubai is widely regarded as the events capital of the world. With its incredible East-meets-West location for business activities, corporate events, and sporting events, travellers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are spoilt for choice with world-class events in some of the world’s best venues – and all in one city.
Whether your company will specialise in international trade fairs, events ranging from business to sports events, corporate functions, training sessions, to conferences, opening an events management company in Dubai is a profitable business idea.Let’s start right away. In this article, we’ll look into:
- Benefits of starting an event management company in Dubai
- Steps to start an events management company in Dubai
- Cost of starting an events management company in Dubai
- How much is an event permit in Dubai?
- Working with Trade License Zone
Benefits of starting an event management company in Dubai
An event management business in Dubai offers many attractive benefits. Thanks to the streamlined business regulations and laws in the UAE, opening an event management company in Dubai is straightforward.
Dubai is a haven for investors and entrepreneurs. One of the biggest reasons is that business owners don’t need to pay personal or corporate income tax in the UAE.
With thousands of events hosted in Dubai each year, there are many attractions for tourists and travellers to visit this emirate. Opportunities for event management companies are numerous.
Steps to start an event events management company in Dubai
All companies trading in the UAE need to adhere to specific regulations for business setup, structure, company naming, business activities, and more. In this section, we will give you the steps to start an event management company in Dubai.
Step 1: Partner with Trade License Zone
The first step in how to start an event management company in Dubai is to partner with Trade License Zone. We’ll manage all aspects of your company registration and setup process, and guide you on the various governmental and municipal trade regulations for an event management business in Dubai.
Step 2: Determine your business activities
Outlining your company’s business activities is important for your event management license in Dubai. Your event management license enables you to carry out several activities. Failure to list all your business activities may result in penalties. That’s why it is best to partner with a company formation expert such as Trade License Zone to make sure that your license application and business activities are aligned.
Step 3: Choose the right business structure and jurisdiction
Dubai created innovative business zones each with regulations to support specific industries. The two main types of business zones in Dubai are Mainland Companies and Free Zone Companies.
A Mainland Company structure enables businesses to trade within the UAE. However, a foreign national is limited to only holding 49% of the business’s shares: the UAE laws require a UAE national partner to own a 51% share of foreigner-owned Mainland Companies.
A Free Zone Company is 100% owned by the entrepreneur or investor. It can be registered in one of over 40 special trade zones in Dubai. The Free Zones offer special benefits to foreign investors and entrepreneurs, such as startup incubation services, support systems, and more. Setting up your event management company in a Free Zone is the most cost-effective and straightforward method.
If you’re unsure whether to choose between a Mainland or a Free Zone company, our experts at Trade license Zone will help you decide.
Step 4: Choose a company name
Trade License Zone will help you choose and register your event management company’s name with the UAE’s Registry Office. The business name must adhere to the UAE’s naming policies, including that a business name cannot include any offensive or blasphemous language, nor any references to Allah or Islam. You can use your name in the company’s name, but you must use it in full instead of just your surname or initials.
Step 5: Event management license application
This is the final step in getting your event management license in Dubai. To ensure that you don’t make any mistakes that will not only cost you time but money too, it is advisable to let company formation experts such as Trade License Zone help you.
These are the documents to get an event management license in Dubai:
- Copies of the passports of all partners and shareholders of the business
- Two colour passport-sized photos of the partners and shareholders of the business
- A completed application form
Step 6: Apply for your visas and corporate bank account
After you’ve applied for your business license, you need to also apply for your visa and open your corporate bank account. With your visa, you’ll also be able to sponsor dependants for their visa applications. This includes your family and domestic staff.
With an event management license, you can apply for visas for your employees, too. The number of visas available for this purpose varies according to the size of your company.
Opening a corporate bank account can be a complicated process. Contact our specialist team at Trade License Zone to help you select the one that best suits your business needs.
Cost of starting an events management company in Dubai
To calculate the precise cost of opening an event management company in Dubai is complex. The costs of an event management license in Dubai vary depending on the business location, business activities, and company structure.
In Dubai, opening an events company in a Free Zone and a Mainland location is affordable, but the precise costs differ. The cost of a Mainland business license is determined by the legal category of the license application. For a Free Zone business license, the costs vary depending on the business activities and the required number of visas.
An events management license costs range between AED 15,000 to AED 30,000. If you’d like an accurate quote, contact our team at Trade License Zone to help you.
How much is an event permit in Dubai?
To host an event in Dubai, event organisers must apply for an event permit and a ticketing permit (if applicable for the event).
The cost of an event permit depends on the size of the event’s venue, the venue’s size, and the event’s activities. These costs start from AED 1,500. Event organisers are also required to pay an additional AED 10 each for ‘Knowledge Dirham’ and ‘Innovation Dirham’ to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), respectively.
Working with Trade License Zone
Setting up an events management company and getting an events management license in Dubai is fairly simple thanks to the UAE’s business-friendly laws. However, the license application and business setup remain complex processes. When you partner with Trade License Zone, we will save you from unnecessary delays or rejections and streamline the entire process for you.
The experts at Trade License Zone can get started by simply providing us with some basic documentation and a little information about the nature of your company and business activities. Then, sit back and let our team take care of the rest. We’ll manage your event management company license and visa applications, communicate with all relevant local departments and authorities, and report back when you’re ready to trade. It really is that simple.