Supporting Mohammed bin Rashid contributes to facilitating investment and enhancing the business environment in Dubai

Kuwaiti businessman Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Shaya, Executive Chairman of Al-Shaya Group, praised the great support enjoyed by investors in Dubai from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, recalling a number of situations in which he witnessed the speed of response and high flexibility in updating and amending laws in a way that contributes to facilitating the work of investors and enhancing the business environment in the emirate.

This came during a session entitled “From Kuwait to the Region and the World: The Rise of Retail Companies and Their Regional Empires,” as part of the Emirati-Kuwaiti Economic Forum, which was held today in Dubai, within the “UAE and Kuwait…brothers forever” week, which runs from January 29, 2026 until February 4 of this month in all the emirates of the country.

During the session, Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Shaya touched on the beginnings of the establishment of the Al-Shaya Group more than a hundred years ago and its development and expansion in the regional and international markets.

He stated that the beginning of the group’s work in the field of international brands was in 1982, with the opening of a brand specializing in children’s clothing, in response to the growing demand for this activity, making it the first brand of its kind in the region, before it later expanded to include a group of brands in the fields of fashion, restaurants, medicines, and other sectors.

Regarding the secret of success for novice entrepreneurs, Al-Shaya explained that the key lies in long-term planning and continuous perseverance, while being careful to build a good reputation, which contributes to facilitating the progress of their business and achieving its sustainability.

Regarding the challenges facing the retail sector in light of economic and technological transformations, Al-Shaya pointed out that the major Chinese companies specializing in e-commerce represent the most prominent of these challenges, since they do not bear the costs incurred by traditional retailers, such as taxes, rents, and workers’ wages.

To keep pace with the digital transformation and facilitate the access of products to consumers in different markets, Al Shaya explained that about 25% of retail trade in the clothing sector within the Al Shaya Group has become electronic, as products are delivered directly to customers from store warehouses located in the consumer’s country.

The Kuwaiti businessman praised the young Emiratis, expressing his pride that hundreds of them are currently working in the branches of the Alshaya Group in the Emirates. He pointed out that some of them were students working part-time, which reflects their perseverance and diligence, stressing that the group seeks to attract many times this number in its branches in the future.

Al Shaya added that Al Shaya Group currently operates, in addition to the markets of the Gulf and the Arab world, in a large number of countries across several continents, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Poland and the Czech Republic, with close plans to expand in Uzbekistan and Georgia.