Q&A: MARK BIRCHALL

The UAE hasbeensynonymous with growth for the past quarter of a century and Tradefair has been taking British businesses to the region to enable them to engage with local businesses. This year at Gitex, Mark Birchall – Managing Director of Tradefair, spoke to TBT about the opportunities throughout the Middle East.

TBT: Why do you continue to represent the UK here at Gitex?
MB: Gitex Technology week is a government supported event. We have organised the UK pavilion here for 25 years. It’s the ideal platform for UK companies looking to grow their business in the region to promote their products, find new contacts, work with existing contacts. This is the event for The Middle East.

TBT: Has the market changed over the 25 years you have been here?
MB: The market has changed, it’s not an emerging market anymore. There are still major opportunities here, not just in the UAE but in the whole region. We are seeing a lot of activity and initiatives in the UAE such as Smart Dubai and initiatives, perhaps 20-30 initiatives coming out of Saudi, Qatar and others in the region.

There is a big push on AI, the UK is about to sign an MOU with the UAE around AI. There is a lot of investment going on around AI and IoT in Saudi and Quatar as well.

TBT: What kind of companies have you brought to Dubai this year?
MB: We have a real mix on the stand this year. We have companies in AI, network security and digital shadows which is obviously topical at the moment. We have new companies to the market which are here exhibiting for the first time and those who are just starting to do business in the region.

We also have a group over in the Gulf Comms |Hall which is more communications and 5G type companies.

At Gitex this year the government are subsidising the cost of a number of UK companies at the show. But they aren’t just supporting it financially, we also have representatives from the British Embassy here, we have commercial officers in from Quatar, Jordan, Saudi and Oman. They are here to help the UK companies and talk to them about opportunities in the market.

We are seeing a lot of activity and initiatives in the UAE such as Smart Dubai and initiatives, perhaps 20-30 initiatives coming out of Saudi, Qatar and others in the region.

TBT: Any advice for those coming to the region for the first time?
MM: A lot of the companies we work with aren’t coming here blind. Many of them have done their research, been over here and checked out the market already. We wouldn’t advise companies to come here and exhibit without having been here and done that research.

New companies to this market should have a three-year plan, you can’t come here and expect business to just happen. It’s about building relationships, not just about coming to Gitex. You need to be back in the market three months later, six months later etc. You really need to show the local companies here if you are serious about the market.

When you look at the market with the AI initiatives, the space projects, and the whole host of other things going on it becomes obvious their whole aim is to be this digital economy. They don’t want to be a follower either, they want to be a leader.

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