American investment in the Middle East is booming, up 17% in 2012 to nearly $66 billion, and one heretofore quiet emirate on the Persian Gulf is angling for more of it.
Sharjah, the third largest of the United Arab Emirates after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has for years attracted Western interests from Hilton to Starbucks. It’s a thriving business hub but an underappreciated and mostly unfamiliar story, say the development executives working to build a separate identity for Sharjah and publicize its comparatively strong, if unsung, business case.
An unprecedented trade and tourism mission to the United States is proving Sharjah’s fresh determination to achieve a higher profile with Western investors. A Who’s Who of Sharjah business leaders signed on for a week-long tour of New York and Washington, DC starting in September; the delegation featured representation from the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, and additional government and private interests – more than 20 organizations in all.
“Sharjah enjoys a thriving economic growth and is highly ranked in terms of economic competitiveness,” said Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority. “The emirate is ready to offer opportunities to investors and has a diverse and resilient economic climate that is able to regenerate its sectors and to withstand the usual economic fluctuations.”
The trade mission was scheduled to meet with top US influencers in business, finance, banking, and media – not only to listen and gather information about investor wants and needs, but to share the Sharjah story. And the story includes:
• An enviable geographic position fronting on both the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, both sides of the Strait of Hormuz, and particularly proximate to Middle East and North African markets. Sharjah’s ports are a gateway to two billion consumers in 160 countries.
• A young and well-educated workforce; 60 percent of the Sharjah population is under the age of 25.
• Advanced transport logistics expertise and support infrastructure, which includes three deep water ports and (Khorfakkan, Port Khalid and Hamriyah) and Sharjah International Airport, hub for the Middle East’s pioneer low-cost airline, Air Arabia. An inland container depot – Sharjah Logistics City – is also planned for 2012 and the Sharjah International Airport Zone (SAIF) has facilitated sea-air transfers within 6-8 hours.
• A diverse and balanced domestic economy based on mining, construction, financial services and telecom in addition to oil and gas – an economy which has thrived amid the global economic crisis, with a 6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 2008-2010. Sharjah has more than 45,000 small and medium-sized companies and contributes 33 percent of the UAE’s total manufacturing base.
• A highly competitive suite of incentives for foreign investors, who have the option of setting up either an onshore company, with lower capital investment requirements than Dubai and no income tax, or a “Free Zone” company exempt from import/export duties and workforce restrictions.
With an exemplary economic track record; natural geographic advantages; official policies that encourage and reward foreign investment; and initiatives like the US trade mission, the largest ever by a UAE member, Sharjah intends to “break away from the pack” and establish itself as a magnet for foreign interests – a brand name in its own right that stands for innovation and prosperity.
“We are well-positioned, and confident of our competitiveness and ability to attract investors,” said Bin Jassim Al Sarkal of Sharjah’s Investment and Development Authority. The curiosity and interest expressed to the Sharjah trade delegation visiting the US seem already to be proving him right.
