Open Your Logistics Company in the UAE

While commercial space is easy to be had in a free zone – you can scale up easily as and when you need more space – it is limited on the mainland. However, you are likely to be located closer to your clients on the mainland. A business setup consultant can help you arrive at the right decision based on your business plan as well as your future expansion plans. It is actually great for business if you do not have to change your business address when you grow.

If you plan to be located on the mainland, you have to lease commercial space for your operations before you can be granted a business license. Typically, you enter into a Tenancy Agreement with the owner of the premises and get it registered so that it becomes a legally-binding Tenancy Contract or Ejari as it is known locally. This must be submitted along with your application for a business license to the Department of Economy and Tourism, Dubai.

In a free zone, it is much easier. The Free Zone Authority is the entity that officially leases commercial space in the free zone, so there is no need to separately enter into a Tenancy Agreement or get it registered so that it becomes a Tenancy Contract. You enter into a Lease Agreement with the Free Zone Authority in charge of the respective free zone where you plan to open your logistics company, but this is done as part of the application for a business license.

But before you can apply for a business license, you have to formally open a company, so that the commercial space is leased in your company’s name. A business setup consultant draws up the company formation documents and gets them notarized by a Notary Public so they have legal validity in the United Arab Emirates. The company formation documents contain the name of the company, the name(s) of the owner(s), and the purpose it is being set up for.

An experienced business setup consultant would also tell you that’ there are certain rules pertaining to company nomenclature. For example, you cannot have religious terms in the name of your company. A first name may be used only if it is the first name of one of the shareholders. The names of countries and/or cities are not allowed, but the names of geographical regions are permitted. A trade name cannot begin with a term like ‘Global’ or ‘International’.

Your business setup consultant would also be able to advise you on any further documentation that may be needed.

He/She will also assist you in opening a corporate bank account for your logistics company in the UAE, so that you can make and receive payments with ease. Owing to strict anti-money laundering regulations in the United Arab Emirates, opening a bank account is not as easy as it sounds. But with the right business setup consultant in your corner, it could take as little as two hours instead of the whole day. At FlyBiz, we make it happen!