Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ)

New initiative is the world’s first free zone dedicated to the outsourcing industry

Dubai Outsource Zone

Dubai Outsource Zone will provide a comprehensive infrastructure and environment for outsourcing companies to set up global or regional hubs servicing the worldwide market. DOZ’s offering includes 100% exemption from taxes, arguably the world’s most reliable technology and communications infrastructure, a one-stop shop of support services and the best possible working environment.

“Dubai Outsource Zone is both inspired and driven by the vision of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister to build Dubai into a global knowledge economy hub,” said Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone. “DOZ builds on Dubai’s past economic successes that have been inspired by Dubai’s Rulers and is aimed at building our competencies in a fast-growing sector of the global economy. The DOZ initiative will add considerable value to both the UAE’s and the region’s economies,” he added.

DOZ targets companies providing outsourcing services. Outsourcing is a new business trend where external firms handle work normally performed internally by a company. Among the many internal functions that are being outsourced today are finance, payroll processing, accounting, tele-marketing, documents processing, IT support, maintenance and even R&D and manufacturing. Outsourcing helps companies avoid large capital and labour costs making the firm efficient. It also frees up its people and resources which it can redirect towards strategic or value-creating functions. Large organisations have today evolved to serve companies´ outsourcing needs.

In the Outsourcing industry, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the fastest growing sector, with many global firms outsourcing non-core business processes to offshore locations in countries which offer lower costs. Outsourcing to other countries brings huge economic benefits. For example, according to Mckinsey, in 2002, for every dollar spent in the US on outsourcing to an offshore location, the total value derived by the global economy was $1.4 to $1.47. Every dollar spent on outsourcing resulted in savings of 58 cents to US investors and customers.

Dubai Outsource Zone seeks to build a cluster of outsourcing service providers that will bring such benefits to the global and regional economy. Substantiating Dubai Outsource Zone’s potential is a study conducted by a leading global consultancy in 2002. The study ranked it among the world’s three best offshore locations, judged on the potential of available talent, environment and economy.

“With the outsourcing service model gaining acceptance across more industries and more global markets, Dubai Outsource Zone’s unique advantages position it to become one of the key global hubs in this sector,” said Ahmad Bin Byat, Director General of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone. “Success as an outsourcing destination depends on the ability of regions to offer certain key advantages like talent, infrastructure and cost-effectiveness to global companies. Dubai Outsourcing Zone possesses these in ample measure,” he added.

Dubai Outsource Zone provides the perfect base for both captive and third-party outsourcing operations to provide mid and high-end services in areas like finance, accounting, IT, payroll processing, engineering, biotech, R&D and design. It also serves as a centre for disaster recovery facilities for call centres, which are located offshore elsewhere in the world. The Zone caters to offshoring requirements from Europe, the US and the region.

“Having established a vigorous growth in the ICT industry, we are now seeking to transfer that momentum to new sectors like Outsourcing,” said Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, CEO of Dubai Internet City. “We had been studying the outsourcing sector for a long time to design the perfect combination of services that will provide value to the global and regional outsourcing industry. At the heart of the Dubai Outsource Zone is a commitment to offer relevant facilities to global companies to enable them to create an effective globally distributed delivery model. DOZ will go a long way in strengthening Dubai’s status as a knowledge-economy hub,” he added.

DOZ’s custom-made facilities, including next-generation telecom infrastructure, office space in intelligent buildings and facilities management, enable outsourcing companies to set up efficient operations. The package of telecom services include reliable and redundant high-bandwidth connectivity, IP Telephony, Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Predictive Dialing systems, satellite communications services as well as technical and infrastructure support.

Dubai Outsource Zone is geographically positioned to offer easy access to high-quality talent from a vast region that includes countries like India, Egypt, Jordan, Philippines, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Iran. This region produces about 9.5 million graduates every year and offers skills in a variety of languages including English, Arabic, French, Hindi, German, Spanish, Urdu, Turkish, Greek and Italian.

DOZ also offers a host of business incentives and support services that incorporate global best practices. These incentives and services seek to eliminate problems faced by outsourcing companies in other offshore locations. Business incentives include 100% exemption from taxes, 100 % ownership of their business, 100% Repatriation of Capital and Profits and no Currency Restrictions.

Support services offered by DOZ are aimed at reducing operational hassles for outsourcing service providers and help them concentrate on their core business. Easy set-up, speedy incorporation and trade licensing, a fast-track 24-hour visa service to hire staff quickly and easily, as well as facilities management, hospitality and event management services enable companies to focus resources on value-adding functions.

“The establishment of DOZ and the expected growth of the outsourcing industry are expected to bring in several economic benefits for the UAE and the region,” said Dr. Bin Sulaiman. In the UAE alone, apart from the infusion of talent from other countries, it is expected to provide a significant boost to the development of the country’s own human capital. The industry promises several opportunities for fresh graduates to gain valuable exposure in various emerging sectors of the economy through both full-time and part-time employment opportunities,” he added.