MEAM UAE Business Awards 2018

82 MEA MARKETS / 2018 UAE Business Awards , Company Formations Experts of the Year 2018 Virtuzone is an innovative company formation firm that has helped over 14,000 companies from around the world start a business in the UAE. We explore how the firmhas come to achieve this incredible success. When Virtuzone launched in 2009, an entrepreneur in the UAE could either set up an LLC with a 51% local shareholder or establish a free zone company in a limited number of strictly demarcated free zones where he or she would be required to invest substantially in office space. Therefore, whilst the UAE offered (and continues to offer) global investors an incredibly low tax regime, would-be start-ups without substantial resources and funds behind them were priced out of the market. Virtuzone’s first innovation was to open the market up to a far larger number and range of business people, by first dramatically lowering the initial cost and subsequently by allowing this sum to be paid off over the course of the year through instalments. This meant that micro businesses suddenly had a choice - rather than expensive office space or administrative fees they could invest in their staff or marketing to produce leads. Nine years later, to be both the first company formation specialist in the UAE and still the fastest growing, with nearly 14,000 companies and annual growth of over 36%, Virtuzone is proud to be part of the incredible growth and diversification that the UAE has enjoyed. This has recently been recognised through our appointment as Etisalat (the UAE’s leading telecoms company with 300,000 SME customers)’s independent company formation partner. Given that they expect 100,000 new companies to be set up in this sector over the next 3 years, we share their great expectations. Virtuzone, part of the Virtugroup of companies, provides people wishing to establish a business and reside in the UAE with the end-to-end support they require to do this. From company license, visas, bank accounts, telephone and IT equipment/ support, through to accounting & financial support, use of office space in 3200 prestigious global locations, telephone answering, SEO and AdWords, logo and website design; Virtuzone and its partner companies aim to provide a highly supportive ecosystem designed to make both the first year in business a whole lot easier and then onwards, help them gain a performance advantage against their competitors. This is reflected both in Virtuzone’s record renewal rates (over 76% every year for 9 years), and the fact that its total number of licences have increased 36% p.a. each of the last two years, despite the macro economic factors (weakened sterling, rouble, oil and real estate rates – all key drivers of the UAE economy). This rise, in a highly competitive market, is a direct result of several factors combining to create a tipping point for the company. Firstly, Virtuzone makes a point of responding to customer enquiries faster than anyone, UA180022