Excited about the potential for Bitcoin to disrupt the global financial services industry, Doudin established BitOasis in 2015 in a city that she believed would best nurture her entrepreneurial vision—Dubai.

Today, the company is the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the MENA region, standing as a testament to the emirate’s burgeoning startup ecosystem.

With a seemingly limitless capacity for innovation, investment, and growth, Dubai has long attracted talented individuals from across the globe looking to capitalize on its emerging business opportunities. “It is a melting pot of different nationalities and backgrounds,” reveals Doudin. “Over 8,000 individuals are building in the UAE’s Web3 space alone, with a lot of talent coming from outside of Dubai.”

To Doudin, Dubai’s diverse workforce has the potential to be a business’s greatest competitive advantage. Not only can it bring a multitude of perspectives, experiences, and skills to the table, but it can also help to increase the flow of international capital—an investment that both early and established businesses can manage with the support of Dubai’s dynamic regulatory frameworks.

For many, navigating regulation is the first obstacle when starting a business. Fortunately, Dubai has built a reputation for having the regulatory clarity needed for entrepreneurs to bypass this stage, allowing them to launch their ventures with full compliance and every chance of success.

“This level of enablement is great for entrepreneurs who are starting out.”

— Ola Doudin
Co-Founder and CEO of BitOasis

The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), for instance, was critical to getting BitOasis off the ground. As the world's first independent regulator for virtual assets, it oversees the provision, use, and exchange of virtual assets in and from Dubai. Working closely with regulators, business owners can establish the industry trends to follow, the right risks to take, and the next innovations to seek out.

Top-down government approaches, like VARA, offer private companies, financial stakeholders, and investors the assurance to stake a claim in Dubai’s forward-thinking economy—which is set to double by 2033 under the Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’.

“This level of enablement is great for entrepreneurs who are starting out,” says Doudin. “Particularly if they're relocating to the city and they're not sure how to plug themselves into the ecosystem.”

Having fostered an agile business environment, Dubai is committed to helping everyone keep pace and reach their ambitions. As Doudin discovered firsthand, it is a destination where individuals can find professional fulfilment without compromising on a high quality of life.