Dubai-it: The 'two-year' Dubai plan, that turns into a lifetime

Dubai has a way of turning short-term plans into lifelong commitments, says 26-year-old Emirati entrepreneur Ali Albanna, who co-founded Open Socials in 2022 and has watched the city shape careers and communities across the globe. Albanna’s agency, launched with a Welsh business partner who also lives in Dubai, has worked with clients in the UAE and the UK to build scale strategies that have generated "hundreds of millions of views" and contributed "millions of dirhams in revenue" for those businesses.

"I think people become loyal to Dubai because, over time, they realise it gives them something that's becoming increasingly rare – confidence in the future," Albanna said. "They know their families are safe, opportunities exist for those willing to work hard, and there's a genuine sense that tomorrow can be better than today."

Albanna connects that personal loyalty to a broader civic ethos that he says has driven Dubai's transformation. He cites the Dubai-it initiative, framed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as a call "to achieve something extraordinary with excellence in record time," as emblematic of the city’s mindset — turning big ideas into reality and encouraging long-term investment in people and projects. Albanna describes encountering founders who build companies serving Africa, Asia and Europe from Dubai, and families raising children from "every corner of the world." He also notes entrepreneurs who arrived "with a suitcase and now employ hundreds of people."

Open Socials positions itself to capitalise on this environment by helping firms adapt to shifting consumer behaviour and scale sustainably. Albanna says the agency focuses on growth strategies across several operational pillars:

• content and social selling
• customer acquisition
• revenue generation
• operational infrastructure to support long-term scaling

Since launching in 2022, Albanna says the company has helped businesses build and execute these strategies across content and commerce channels, producing measurable outcomes in audience reach and revenue. But he emphasizes that commercial success is only part of the mission. "Some of the most meaningful work we'll ever do will never appear in a case study," he said, pointing to the firm's community-focused activities: supporting families, helping children facing serious illness, and backing people through personal crises.

Albanna recounts a telling anecdote from the pandemic-era migration to the UAE. He met a recent arrival who, within weeks, accessed medication and vaccines that were still in short supply in his home country. "It wasn't just the healthcare itself that stayed with him. It was the feeling that the country genuinely looked after him, even though he had just arrived," Albanna said. He argues moments like that seed trust, gratitude and belonging — factors that convert temporary stays into decades-long residence.

Looking ahead, Albanna believes Dubai’s combination of public messaging — like the Dubai-it ethos — and everyday institutional reliability will continue to attract and retain talent. "That's why so many people come for two years, and somehow they're still here a decade later," he said. "If any city can do it, it's Dubai. The greatest cities don't just attract talent. They earn people's loyalty."