Regional Updates

But for those of us who have built our lives in the UAE, the answer is grounded not in speculation, just in experience.

I want to speak to you not as a business leader, but as someone who has called this region home since the late 1970s. Someone who didn’t just read about the difficult moments in this part of the world but lived through them.

I was here during the Iran-Iraq War. I was here during the Gulf War. I have witnessed regional coups, political upheaval, and moments when the world looked at this part of the Middle East and held its breath. And every single time, I watched the UAE do something remarkable: it held steady, protected its people, and came out the other side stronger than before.

That is not hope. That is history. And I have lived every chapter of it.

I arrived here in the late 1970s, long before Dubai was the global city it is today and made the decision, early on, that this was where I belonged. I founded my first business here in 1984, a small photofinishing operation that grew into Prolab Digital and is now part of Wasserman Live Middle East. I raised my family here and built a life here that I could not have built anywhere else in the world. The UAE gave me opportunity, community, and a sense of home that has never wavered not through wars, not through recessions, not through a global pandemic, and not now.

Dubai rewards those who stay the course. Every challenge has been followed by growth.

Each time this region has faced uncertainty, there have been those who left and those who stayed. I stayed. Every time. And every time, I watched this country reward that decision not just with business growth, but with something harder to measure: the deep satisfaction of having backed a place you believed in and being proved right.

The UAE is not a country that panics. It is a country that plans. Its leadership has always taken the long view, prioritizing stability, diplomacy, and the wellbeing of the millions of people - of every nationality who have made this their home. Its priority has been clear - protect its people, maintain stability, and act with measured diplomacy. That has not changed.

The UAE’s fundamentals remain strong: world-class infrastructure, strong governance, and a long-term vision. If anything, the UAE today has more tools, more relationships, and more resilience than at any point in its history.

What I see around me right now is not fear it is a community pausing to take stock, which is entirely natural. There is a strong sense of unity across the country. Businesses continue, communities remain connected, and there is a shared belief that this moment is temporary. I have the privilege of seeing this first-hand every day through Wasserman Live Middle East delivering branding and signage, custom fabrication, live event production and experiential operations across sports, music, and entertainment. What I see on the ground confirms it: life continues, and it speaks louder than any headline.

To everyone in our community feeling uncertain right now - I want you to know this.

Your instinct to pause and reflect is completely human. But your instinct to stay, to trust this country, and to back the people and relationships you have built here, that instinct is right.

The UAE has earned our confidence many times over.

So remain confident. Stay connected. Look out for one another. And hold onto the knowledge that this country has navigated harder moments than this and emerged from all of them stronger than before.

Dubai is my home. It is where I built my business, raised my family, and developed lifelong relationships. I am proud to stand alongside every one of you in saying: we are not going anywhere.

When this period passes, I firmly believe the UAE will not just recover - it will accelerate. 

My message is simple: remain confident. This country will come back stronger.

Jayne Reader has lived in the UAE since the late 1970s and serves as EVP of Wasserman Live Middle East. She has built her career and her family in Dubai across more than four decades.

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