The UK-based software development company Godel Technologies is aiming to gain new clients and hire the more employees in the UAE as it joins the NextGenFDI programme — a new government initiative that supports digitally-enabled businesses.
Under the initiative, the company will move its regional headquarters to the Dubai International Financial Centre, joining nearly 600 other digitally-enabled businesses, the Ministry of Economysaid in a statement on Tuesday.
Goldel also plans to create 250 new job opportunities within two years.
“The UAE continues its efforts to attract FDI [foreign direct investment], innovative minds and talent,” Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said.
“Attracting leading global businesses such as Godel Technologies to invest and expand in the country’s markets reflects the initiative’s promising potentials, following its launch last July,” Dr Al Zeyoudi said.
The UAE, the Arab world's second-largest economy, is taking various measures to attract more FDI into the country.
Its NextGenFDI initiative offers multiple incentives to digital companies, including faster business set-up processes, banking readiness, simpler visa procedures and attractive commercial and residential real estate options.
It complements other programmes such as the National Programme for Coders, which is offering golden visas to 100,000 coders.
Founded in 2002, Godel currently employs more than 1,800 staff across its offices in the UK, Poland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Georgia and Ukraine. It specialises in areas such as software engineering, quality assurance, automation, data engineering, agile consulting, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, machine learning and mobile solutions.
“The opportunity to be part of the NextGenFDI programme will give Godel Technologies beneficial access to market entry fundamentals,” Neil McMurdo, Godel’s chief executive, said.
“The initiative will support our ambitious plans to grow to 250 people over the next two years and we look forward to establishing the Godel brand at the heart of one of the UAE’s leading financial hubs.”
Godel currently serves various industries such as e-commerce, finance, energy, automotive, travel, manufacturing and retail.
It has become the second company to join the NextGenFDI programme. Krush Brands, a full-stack food technology company, was the first to join under the scheme.
Launched last month by the UAE government with seven strategic partners, NextGenFDI targets approximately 300 digitally-enabled companies and aims to attract skilled programmers, data scientists and tech engineers within the next three years.
The UAE was ranked first in the Arab world and 19th globally in terms of FDI inflows, according to the World Investment Report 2022 issued by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in June.
The country attracted $20.7 billion worth of FDI last year, up 4 per cent from 2020.