# Setting up company in Free Trade Zone



## mercurysm (Nov 6, 2013)

Hi,

I am currently working in Saudi Arabia but thinking of setting up a company in one of the Free Trade Zones, possible in RAK.

I know there are plenty of agencies out there willing to take your money to set up, but does anyone have any practical first hand experience of the pros and cons and pitfalls to avoid.

I want to get involved in document management in particular scanning and document compression?

Any advice would be very helpful.

Many Thanks,

Terry


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## stamboy (Apr 1, 2013)

A friend of mine asked me how you go about setting up a company in the freezone and the costs involved.

Any help would be most appreciated


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

stamboy said:


> A friend of mine asked me how you go about setting up a company in the freezone and the costs involved. Any help would be most appreciated


I think it would depend on which FZ he wants to use. If he looks at the websites of the one(s) he is interested in, I am sure he will find most, if not all, of the information he needs to make an assessment before he makes calls or appointments for personal discussions.


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## sharene23 (Mar 6, 2014)

*Have you thought of incubating*

Your particular business sounds like it could be a tech startup. Have you thought of incubating in one of the startup incubators in Dubai? 

We also very recently arrived in the UAE from KSA. We have a startup that is a mobile classifieds app with built-in instant messaging. Think craigslist/dubizzle on steroids. 

Check us out - search "Melltoo" in your app store (iPhones or Androids)

In any event, we went the incubation route and are now in in5 Hub (in5.ae). There is an application process but if you get in, it is really inexpensive (license is about Dhs 1,200 and rent about 12K a year). I would recommend you consider this first.

As for RAKFTZ, I live in RAK and we considered getting licensed through there. It's an easy enough process if you are physically here, it gets complicated when you do things from far. Believe me, even in this age of instant communications, things still move at a snails pace when you have to use email, and it's so difficult to get anyone over the phone! 

Ultimately, you can do everything yourself, you don't really have to pay someone to do it for you. However, it requires a bit of legwork and I recommend you make a trip here to get the paperwork done. Oh, make sure you can a bank 'reference' letter from your local bank before you come here. 

If you want more info, please follow me on /snip/ and send me a message there. I'm weary of putting my info on any public forum.


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