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I did this alongside running one of the UK's fastest growing city regions, again balancing city-wide crisis management with "bounce back" initiatives. Later, leading a major public/private urban regeneration company with a multi-billion pound pipeline, I saw the same story from the corporate side: how businesses that read the recovery early, and positioned themselves for the wave of government activity, came out of it far stronger than those who waited for certainty that never quite arrived.

I now find myself watching the same film for a second time, except this time from Dubai, where I run my own business and where my current work alongside the Dubai government gives me a fairly close view of how this city's leadership is thinking. My conclusion is simple, and it is the reason I wanted to write this piece: the conflict earlier this year was Dubai's pandemic 2.0 moment, and Dubai is responding to it exactly as it responded last time - at pace, at scale, and with a level of conviction that most governments can only dream of mustering.

Consider what has already happened, much of it while parts of the Western press were still busy writing the region off with their now familiar DDS (Dubai Derangement Syndrome!). Within days of the conflict reaching the UAE, the Crown Prince personally gathered hundreds of business leaders and asked three refreshingly direct questions: what will bring tourists back, what will bring investors back, and how can we support your business? What followed was not a consultation paper but a rolling programme of action - a 1 billion AED support package by the end of March, then a second 1.5 billion AED package in May, with 33 separate initiatives spanning tourism, trade and logistics, real estate, construction, education and culture. Government fees were deferred, customs deadlines extended, Central Bank measures rolled out to keep credit flowing, and the minimum property threshold for the two-year investor visa scrapped altogether.

Then, in the middle of all this, came the announcement that told me everything I needed to know about where this city's head is really at. In late April, barely six weeks into the conflict, Dubai unveiled the Metro Gold Line - the largest transport project in its history. Forty-two kilometres, fully underground, 34 billion AED, with tenders going out this year and delivery targeted at 30 per cent faster than the Blue Line before it. Most governments facing a regional crisis would quietly shelve a project like that. Dubai brought it forward and told the world about it. Having sat inside a government during a crisis, I can tell you that is not an accident of timing - it is a statement of intent. "Dubai it!"

So here is my take, having worked through moments like this on both the government and corporate side, and now experiencing this one on the ground alongside many other BCCD members. What we have seen since March is not the response - it is the warm-up. Governments in recovery mode do not slow down once the immediate pressure eases; they accelerate, because recovery is when the argument for the future is won or lost. Dubai is determined not simply to repair the damage but to use this period to reaffirm, emphatically and visibly, that this is the best place in the world to do business. The pace of policy announcements, regulatory changes and investment of recent months is, in my view, the operating rhythm for the next two or three years.

For our members, that cuts two ways. A government moving this fast, across this many sectors, creates openings constantly, and in difficult times businesses here will genuinely feel that government has their back - something few businesses elsewhere can say right now. The challenge is that when the rules, incentives and frameworks are shifting this quickly, staying current becomes more important than ever. Miss a change by a month and you may well have missed the window.

That, to my mind, is where the Chamber must excel. What this means in practice is a few things. First, the BCCD should become the fastest route from government announcement to member understanding - rapid briefings within days of each significant policy change, sector-specific workshops where the detail matters, and updates that reach members first. The Chamber already does much of this well; the coming period demands it becomes the thing we are known for. Second, and more ambitiously, the Chamber should formalise the flow of insight travelling the other way. British business is deeply respected here, our members are dealing with these changes on the ground every day, and I see firsthand that the Dubai government genuinely wants informed input as it shapes what comes next. The Chamber, with the standing it has built alongside the Consulate and the Dubai authorities, should be gathering that member experience systematically and feeding it directly into the machine. We should not simply be briefed on the next chapter of this city's story - we should be helping to write it.

I would hesitate, in truth, even to call what is coming a 'bounce back', because Dubai never really stopped: investment continued, people kept arriving, and the fundamentals held throughout. Last time around, Dubai emerged from a global crisis faster and stronger than almost anywhere on earth. Everything I have seen, both in my career and out of my window, tells me the sequel will be bigger - and that this Chamber and its members should be right at the centre of it.

Author: 

Phil Broadhead OBE, Founder, BDHD Group and BCCD Board Candidate