Building Your Middle East & Africa Hub in Dubai

The opening remarks were delivered by Kenichi Hokamura, representing Biz Easy, and Mr. Gary Hooper of DAFZ, covering the purpose of the webinar and the expectations DAFZ holds for Japanese companies.

What Hokamura returned to repeatedly was a sense of urgency around "information exists, but the first-hand insight isn't getting through." "It isn't that there's no information about the Middle East and Africa — if anything, there's an overwhelming amount of it. What's missing is the primary, first-hand information truly needed for decision-making, and the real voices of companies actually doing business here," Hokamura said. This webinar was created together with DAFZ to help close that gap.

Mr. Gary Hooper, who spoke next, conveyed DAFZ's genuine commitment to the Japanese market. "Japan continues to be an important market for DAFZ," he said, expressing pride in the more than 60 Japanese companies — spanning automotive, electronics and electrical equipment, machinery, computers, ICT, food and beverage, and other sectors — that have grown within the DAFZ ecosystem. He also introduced Epson and PILLAR, today's panel participants, as "two companies representing our Japanese business community."

Hokamura closed by narrowing his ask of attendees to a single point: whether expanding into the Middle East and Africa is worth considering for their own company — hoping they would leave with the material to make that judgment. The intention to spend the next 60 minutes conveying what is actually happening on the ground, rather than generalities, came through clearly.

Mr. Daisuke Yonekura, Deputy Director of JETRO's Dubai office, offered a framing of the MENA market shifting from an "emerging" region to a genuine "main battleground" for Japanese companies, an explanation of Dubai's "hub and showcase" function, and the practical observation that success ultimately comes down to choosing the right partner.

Behind this lies a young population — the average age is 28.7 — and "post-oil" national reform agendas such as Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" and the UAE's "We the UAE 2031." The IMF forecasts UAE real GDP growth of 3.1% for 2026. "What characterizes Dubai is that it functions both as a hub and as a showcase for the region," Yonekura said, pointing to both its role as the center of regional business activity and its strength as a showcase where companies can demonstrate their activities to the surrounding consumer markets.

Logistics anchored by Jebel Ali Port (the Middle East's largest port) and Dubai International Airport (92.5 million international passengers in 2025); an institutional environment in which roughly 30 of the UAE's approximately 50 free zones are concentrated in Dubai; and tax advantages — 5% VAT and 9% corporate tax, with an effective 0% rate available to companies meeting QFZP requirements — together support this "hub and showcase" role. In March 2026, Japan and the UAE concluded a CEPA agreement.

The data backs this up: Japanese companies maintain around 1,200 locations across the MENA region overall (2025), with the UAE accounting for 347 — the largest share of any country. Asked their reasons for entering the Middle East, respondents ranked "market potential" highest (78.9% in the UAE), while rising real estate rents (56.5%) and labor costs (52.2%, up 10.0pt year-on-year) were cited as challenges.

Yet Yonekura spent the most time on partner selection. While stressing that "connections with royalty or influential figures are not essential," he pointed to real examples of Japanese companies succeeding with different types of partners suited to their industry — including Chateraise, Daiso, and MUJI.

Ms. Akshada Desai of DAFZ walked through the institutional depth of a free zone marking its 30th anniversary, a practical caveat around corporate tax, and the "one-stop" operating model DAFZ offers — all backed by concrete figures.

Established in 1996 and marking its 30th anniversary in 2026, DAFZ is Dubai's second-largest and second-oldest free zone, and the one closest to Dubai International Airport. With 18 office buildings and more than 300 warehouses, it hosts over 3,400 companies and more than 20,000 investors and employees. 2025 trade exceeded AED 47.9 billion (roughly $13.04 billion), accounting for about 15% of Dubai's total foreign trade. The zone has no currency or employment restrictions, allows 100% foreign ownership with free repatriation of capital and profits, and offers a 0% corporate tax rate for companies meeting QFZP (Qualifying Free Zone Person) requirements.

⚠The 0% rate applies only to Qualifying Income. Revenue from mainland sales or other Excluded Activities is subject to the standard 9% corporate tax, so managing substance requirements and correctly classifying transactions is essential to maintaining QFZP status.

Over 95% of DAFZ's trade comes from two categories — machinery (70%) and precious/semi-precious stones (25%) — with the machinery and electrical equipment sector growing 34% and the precious/semi-precious stones sector growing 59% compared with 2024. By sector, companies based in DAFZ break down as follows: electronics, electrical, computers and ICT lead at 28%, followed by logistics, freight and aerospace at 10%, and consultancy, business development and investment at 7% — reflecting a cross-industry business cluster.

On sustainability, the "Green DAFZ" initiative has delivered a 48% reduction in power consumption, a 49% reduction in water use, a 19,000-ton reduction in CO2 emissions, and a 66% reduction in electricity use, earning LEED (Zero Energy / Zero Carbon) and ISO certifications as well as the Emirates Energy Award.

Annual bilateral trade between the UAE and Japan reached $45.21 billion, with the UAE ranking as Japan's second-largest export market and largest import supplier in the Middle East. The UAE accounts for 52.1% of Japan's crude oil imports on a single-month basis, and bilateral trade has grown at an annualized rate of 16.4% over the past five years. Against this backdrop, 63 Japanese companies (57 MNCs, 6 SMEs) already have a presence in DAFZ.

⚠The "$45.21 billion" annual UAE–Japan bilateral trade figure cited here is a US-dollar, national-level statistic — different in both currency and scope from the "AED 47.9 billion" figure cited earlier for DAFZ's own 2025 trade volume. DAFZ accounts for roughly 15% of Dubai's total foreign trade within that broader national total.

"We are a cross-industry free zone, home to more than 3,400 regional and global companies," Desai said, noting that many Japanese companies — including Yamaha, Panasonic, Asahi, Mitsubishi, Fujikura, Toyota, and Sumitomo — have already chosen DAFZ.

The presentation emphasized DAFZ's "one-stop" structure, under which virtually every operational need can be handled within the zone: preferentially priced legal, logistics, and accounting services; visa processing; government counters for Dubai Customs, the Chamber of Commerce, Police, and the Dubai Health Authority; round-the-clock customs clearance; and multiple banks (including Mizuho Bank) and telecom partners, all located within the zone. Setting up a business is designed around three steps: choosing a license, choosing a company type, and choosing office space.

Office options range from desk-based Smart Offices to Business Boutique offices (12–15 sqm, 2 visas), Premium (25 sqm, 2 visas), and Premium Plus (50 sqm, 6 visas). For industrial use, warehouse units of 350 sqm plus a 90 sqm mezzanine office are available on annually renewable leases, alongside the expanding "DAFZ Industrial Park" — 33 warehouses including 10 cold-storage units, averaging 312 sqm each and granting 20 visas per unit.

On the financial and digital side, DAFZ offers partnerships with multiple banks (including Mizuho Bank), "PowerHub" — a platform connecting businesses with trusted service providers, the "HAYAK" rewards app, and "Scality," a program supporting startups end-to-end from inception through scale-up. Also part of the DAFZ ecosystem: the Halal Trade & Marketing Center, offering halal certification and compliance advisory, and "Tradeling," a B2B marketplace with over 400,000 registered buyers, 100,000+ sellers, and 7 million+ SKUs (2025 revenue exceeding $600 million).

From Tatsumori, we heard about the "invisible wall" the company encountered as headcount grew from 20 to 130, and how it was overcome.

Epson established a branch in Dubai in 2017 under the jurisdiction of its European regional headquarters. In August 2023, it was upgraded to a regional hub company, Epson Middle East FZCO. Today, from its Dubai headquarters, the company delivers sales and services to more than 80 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Turkey. The deciding factors were proximity to the market, an abundant talent pool, infrastructure quality, and Dubai's function as an airport hub. In scaling up from an initial headcount of 20 to a regional hub of 130, the company ran into an "invisible wall" around visa issuance and hiring. "They took our requests seriously, and thanks to their prompt support and leadership, we were able to expand without disruption to our business," Tatsumori recalled.

In prioritizing across more than 80 countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, South Africa, Turkey and Morocco are treated as first-tier targets, with Senegal, Tanzania, and Kenya positioned as the next tier. Beyond the hiring hurdle, Tatsumori described managing a workforce of 30 nationalities in Dubai alone — and more than 40 across the organization (Epson Middle East / META-CWA) as a whole — as a challenge the company is "still grappling with even now." Communicating Epson's values while building a culture where people can act autonomously remains an ongoing effort, nearly a decade after the branch first opened.

Time constraints meant the panel couldn't cover Epson's approach to geopolitical risk or its long-term vision through 2035, "Engineered Future 2035" — Tatsumori addressed both in a follow-up conversation, covered in Biz Easy's Epson Middle East FZCO insight article.

From Hatanaka, we heard how a team of just four covers such a vast region, and the partner-driven strategy unique to manufacturing.

Founded in 1924 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, PILLAR Corporation (capital of ¥4.966 billion, 1,308 group employees) runs its Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia operations through PILLAR Seal Solutions Middle East FZCO, established in DAFZ in August 2013. Alongside the four-person Dubai team, PILLAR also maintains a resident office in Algeria, an established market. Hatanaka attributed the company's ability to cover this vast region with just four staff to DAFZ's strong operational support for company registration, visas, and bank account opening. "Even as a small team of just four, we're able to run the business with help from third parties for accounting, HR, logistics, and more — which lets us offer something close to a one-stop solution. That's really the main reason," he said.

Hatanaka repeatedly emphasized the importance of "partners" for a manufacturer building a B2B presence in this region — identifying capable partners based on payment reliability, relationships with end users, industry knowledge, and compliance is, he said, the lifeline of the business. Under a strategy of "developing untapped markets, creating new markets, and launching new products," the company is currently deepening replacement demand in its established markets of Algeria and Saudi Arabia, while expanding in parallel into new areas including carbon-neutral products, semiconductor applications (mainly in the UAE), and medical businesses such as dialysis. On the gap between expectation and reality after relocating, he noted that personal relationships matter far more here than in Japan — something, he said, you can only truly understand by coming here.

Read more in Biz Easy's PILLAR Seal Solutions Middle East FZCO insight article.

As the panel discussion wrapped up, Hokamura reflected on how Epson, leading a regional headquarters, and PILLAR, carving out a niche with specialized technology — two companies of different industries and scale — had each built real businesses in the same location, DAFZ. "That fact alone speaks to the depth of this place," he said. Noting there was more he'd have liked to explore, he closed by saying time constraints meant this was where they'd have to stop, and that today's content would be covered in more depth at a later date.

Due to scheduling constraints on the day, the Q&A session was set aside, with submitted questions to be answered individually afterward.

Backed by the institutional perspectives of DAFZ and JETRO, and grounded in the first-hand accounts of two companies as different in scale and industry as Epson and PILLAR, this webinar brought together, in a single session, the primary-source information that Japanese companies considering expansion into the Middle East and Africa need in order to make an informed decision.

What stood out most from this session was how three speakers in very different positions — JETRO's Yonekura, Epson, and PILLAR — all independently emphasized the importance of partner selection. Each, in their own words, described how a trusted partner fills in what statistics and institutional frameworks alone cannot capture.

We also came away with a sense of how two organizations of vastly different scale (130 in Dubai / 4) have each put down roots here in their own way. Epson has grappled with the practical hurdles of hiring and visas alongside managing a multinational organization; PILLAR has navigated a distinctly local sense of "the weight of personal relationships." Each company faces its own version of the same underlying challenge.

Biz Easy specializes in translating this kind of on-the-ground business context and institutional overview into the actual launch and operation of each individual company's business. From pre-entry decision support such as market research and feasibility studies, to visa issuance and hiring, partner due diligence, and post-entry organization building, we turn what was discussed in this webinar into concrete, practical support tailored to your organization's structure, industry, and stage of entry. If this is relevant to you, we'd welcome the chance to talk.