“We see ourselves as the master key to the United Arab Emirates,” says Dr. Raphael Nagel. “We can provide the entrance to the market.”
On the eve of the Jerusalem Post-Khaleej Times Global Investment Forum, to be held on June 2 in Dubai, Nagel, head of the Dubai-based Abrahamic Business Circle, says that his unique organization can help increase trade between Israel, the UAE, and the rest of the world.
A well-known global investor, lobbyist, author, and philanthropist, Nagel, who is Jewish, grew up in Germany and Spain and has been doing business in Dubai since 2001, where he heads a private equity firm. In 2020, he founded the Abrahamic Business Circle, an inclusive business group that includes members of all religions and creeds from around the world. “The Abrahamic Business Circle promotes foreign direct investment to the UAE,” says Nagel.
“We need economic diplomacy. We have to do business with each other instead of beating up each other.”
Nagel says that the UAE is well-suited for promoting understanding between peoples. “I have always admired the policy of the UAE in terms of how open-minded they have been,” says Nagel. He cites the Abrahamic Family House, a unique project under construction in Abu Dhabi that is bringing together a mosque, a church, and a synagogue, in three separate buildings in one location, as an example of the tolerance and diversity that exists in the Emirates.
Members of the Abrahamic Business Circle hail from around the globe and countries throughout the region, including the Gulf states, Israel, Pakistan, Sudan, Morocco and Algeria. The Abrahamic Business Circle provides members with a global network of contacts to raise capital, buy and sell companies, locate potential investments, joint ventures, distribution, and new clients.
To that end, the organization sponsors business workshops throughout the year where members can meet, mingle, and generate business with each other, as well as an annual conference that attracts between 300 and 400 attendees. Sheikh Juma Bin Maktoum Juma Al Maktoum, a member of the royal family of Dubai and patron of the Abrahamic Business Circle, said, “The global members of the organization, including the Jewish and Arab business communities, have all shared a vision of tolerance, prosperity and economic peace that aligns perfectly well with the UAE’s cosmopolitan and multicultural environment.” Nagel explains that having the Sheikh’s support “shows that the politics of this country are open-minded to all the Jews globally and to all nationalities.” He adds that as a Jew, he has not experienced any prejudice while living in Dubai.
Nagel says that the United Arab Emirates made three notable accomplishments in the past year. “From my point of view, the UAE was the bravest country in the world this past year. We did three amazing things. First, on July 13, we sent a rocket called Hope to Mars. Second, we had the best-ever financial year in the Dubai International Financial Centre, and third, we signed the Abraham Accords even if there was a lot of conflict and difficulty from the outside.”
Nagel is working on several projects to increase business to the Emirates. The first, entitled the ‘Digital Technology Hub,’ will encompass thousands of skilled entrepreneurs and scientists from around the world working together. “We want to create a space where entrepreneurs and scientists from all over the globe can work together collaboratively. We want to create a technology campus here in Dubai, where people can live and work together – Jewish people, Indian people, Muslim people, everybody.” Nagel and his partners are actively looking for investors in his digital technology campus, and he is planning on beginning operations in 2021.
Additionally, Nagel plans to build the largest health care center and science park for male health care in the UAE. “We want to build a men’s health care center because globally, there are many mixed centers, and many for women’s health care, but there is not one only for men. We want to become the reference center for men’s health care in the world.” The planned 100,000-square-meter center will include a research center, university, hospital, and a rehabilitation center.
Nagel says that the upcoming Global Investment Forum has great potential, provided that business remains the central focus. “People are open-minded, and we shouldn’t talk about politics and religion,” he says. “That’s not our issue as businesspeople. Leave politics at home. Come here to bring your product and show what you can do. We want to see who you are. Show us that the product you want to sell is really working, and you are serious people. The UAE has huge potential, as a global hub to the world.”
Nagel advises Israelis wanting to do business in the Emirates to be transparent and straightforward in their business dealings. “Try to understand a little bit of our local culture and build a personal relationship,” says Nagel. He recommends that companies wanting to enter the market conduct the proper amount of market research beforehand. “The business culture in the Emirates is very straightforward,” he notes. “Bring a proper business proposal and tell us what you want to do.”
Nagel predicts that trade volume between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will reach $5 billion annually. “There is great potential here in a country like Dubai, where 205 nationalities are living together,” he says. “They’re doing something very right here since we live peacefully together.” He expects that the Abraham Accords will infuse a dose of Israeli hi-tech into the Emirates and make the UAE into one of the world’s technology hubs. “Our dream is to create a common market of the Middle East, with more than 400 million people living in it,” he says.
The Global Investment Forum, which will attract leading Israeli companies and businesspeople from around the world, is the first step in realizing the dream of economic cooperation.
This article was written in cooperation with the Abrahamic Business Circle.