This country is known not only for its highly rapid development (from desert to high-tech cities in 50 years) but also for the introduction of modern trends (in particular, the "green" economy). The module participants immersed themselves in the local context (historical, cultural, and business), learned about the vision and strategy of different emirates, talked to representatives of local companies.

Cultural code

During the module, participants visited several critical locations for the country's cultural life. In particular, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is one of the six most prominent mosques in the world. It is named after the first president of the UAE and is open to visitors, regardless of their denomination.

Abu Dhabi Louvre is an innovative cultural project modeled on and in collaboration with the Louvre, a cultural and museum space that should capture the productive interaction of Eastern and Western traditions, to form an idea of ​​the holistic history of humanity.

Roman Nazarenko, a theologian and doctoral student at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, accompanied the cultural tours. Participants had the opportunity to talk about Islam as a way of life and view the UAE's success through the Arab paradigm.

"Green" innovations

The UAE has long-term plans to become a world leader and a center for the export and re-export of "green" products and technologies. And this vision is already being actively implemented. For example, Presidents' MBA kmbs members visited Masdar City, the world's first zero-carbon green city project under development in Abu Dhabi. This ambitious project, which began in 2006, is scheduled to be completed by 2025 and is the world's first example of an eco-city.

And in Dubai, participants visited The sustainability city - the first project with zero energy consumption in the emirate. After a fruitful conversation with Karim El-Jis, Dimond Developers' Director of Sustainable Development, about Net Zero Energy & Net Zero Carbon principles in developers' practice, participants strolled through the oasis-like streets of a "sustainable city."

Environmental friendliness, openness, representation, and involvement are the factors that allow the UAE to rank first in the world in 23 indicators in vital sectors, to be among the leading countries in 59 needles and one of the top 10 countries in 106 hands.

Business at the pace of the UAE

In each field training module, participants get acquainted with local businesses and communicate with state and public institutions representatives. After all, the collaboration of diverse players allows achieving incredible results (this concept is called the quadruple helix, and it is studied by participants in MBA programs kmbs in different parts of the world).

In Dubai, the participants visited DIFC - Dubai International Financial Center. DIFC is a special economic zone in the city, operating since 2004, and has an independent and internationally agreed regulator, the judiciary, the standard law system, the global financial exchange, and a tax-friendly regime. DIFC offers companies 100% ownership without the need for a local partner. The selection of companies that can work in DIFC is difficult. In such large-scale projects, the problem is over-regulation (as mentioned by the representative of the Center at a meeting with participants).

The visit to the Center was organized by DIFC resident Mykola Sushko, a graduate of Presidents' MBA kmbs. He is the founder of the Smart Team, a philanthropist, and the initiator of many charitable projects. And when hiring workers, he fundamentally gives preference to Ukrainians. And this is not just a civic position: Mykola is convinced that Ukrainians are the most talented.

Within the module, participants explored the current value practices of organizations in the UAE. In particular, they met with Air Arabia. Housam Raydan, Director of Corporate Communications and Customer Experience, spoke about the work of this budget airline, founded in 2003, which currently operates flights to 67 destinations, including the Middle East, North Africa, India, Central Asia, and Europe.

Participants also visited AstroLabs, a digital development company, a partner of Google for Startups in the GFS Tech Hub Network. At the meetings with the representatives of this business, they talked about the peculiarities of doing and opening a business in the UAE, particularly about the close connection between business and culture. Especially significant is the case of Uber, which, entering this market, did not consider that people here value personal contact first and foremost and like to order a taxi by phone and pay in cash. Uber is known to offer the exact opposite. After some adjustments, the company managed to take control of the market.

In Jobetter coworking, its founder Andriy Sunko gave the participants a tour and said there are several membership options with renting a flexible or dedicated table for individuals or a private office for small and medium enterprises. Each participant has free access to all social and professional events and seminars, as well as the opportunity to receive benefits, discounts, and bonuses from partners.

Andriy Burtsev, Director of Pipe Sales in Ukraine and BSA Interpipe, took over the baton of the working meetings. He briefly introduced the company, focusing on the specifics and key challenges of doing business in the UAE, including the absence of trade barriers: anyone can sell, which means no lobbying or support for the national producer.

At the end of one of the busy days of the kmbs community, Presidents' MBA graduate Georgy Pionov hosted representatives of his Argentina Grill restaurant. He first shared his experience of starting a business in the UAE, after which Mykola Sushko and Andriy Sunko joined the conversation.

And on the last day of the module, participants visited the port, located on the shores of the picturesque Persian Gulf. DP World (Dubai Port World) is one of the world's largest port operators. The company operates 78 marine terminals and the world's largest industrial park Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA). DP World is managed by the world's largest investor and developer, Dubai World, owned by the UAE government.

Sustainability

Sustainable development is often called the central ideology of the 21st century, which has already acquired many interpretations and interpretations. We talk about sustainable development both as a strategy for all humanity and as a way of working for the organization that helps it to be successful in the long run.

At a meeting with the top management of Cundall, a multidisciplinary engineering consulting company, the participants of the module tried to look at sustainable development as a foundation for attracting talent. Richard Stratton, Managing Partner, and Olga Litkovets, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Cundall, shared critical approaches to sustainable development in their company. But they stressed that the company's vision as the best place for the growth and prosperity of talent creates extremely broad prospects for sustainability.

World Exhibition

The participants of the module devoted a lot of time to DUBAI EXPO 2020 - the space where the World Exhibition takes place from October 2021 to April 2022. According to organizers, the event will be attended by about 25 million people from 180 countries.

The official venue for the exhibition pavilion is the new 438-hectare Dubai Trade Center, including an exhibition area (150 hectares), an overground metro station, a shopping mall, residential, logistics and hotel facilities. The general theme of the exhibition is "Uniting minds, creating the future".

The exhibition is dedicated to finding ways to connect, cooperate and form new partnerships to develop innovations and ideas for a better future. Ivan Sydorenko, director of the Ukrainian Pavilion, told the participants about the concept of the presentation of Ukraine, which can be briefly expressed as SMART UKRAINE.

The entire Ukrainian pavilion is a single space divided into three thematic groups: smart life, smart thinking, smart feelings. Each of the groups opens up the possibilities of rational, technological and ecological dimension of life through the prism of technologies and tools that are available to the majority of the world's population today. Today we are witnessing constant changes in global economic processes. The only stability now is change, so mobility, rationality and innovation of thinking (which together can be described as "smart"), and is the basis of sustainable development of society.

This was also discussed at a panel discussion attended by Ivan Sidorenko, Oleksandr Khomyak (Consul of Ukraine in Dubai) and Maryna Dyachenko, co-founder, managing partner of MANEZH, graduate of Presidents' MBA kmbs.

The on-site training module is an experience that promotes change of thinking and triggers powerful transformations both in the minds of participants and, subsequently, in their businesses. And that is why it is an integral part of MBA training at kmbs.

Eduard Maltsev, head of the Presidents' MBA program, concludes: "In today's interconnected world, the ability to work with cultural codes is becoming one of the most important competencies of managers. Dubai is a very interesting example of how you can, while maintaining your identity, open up and become interesting to the whole world. The success of the city and the emirate once again demonstrates the importance of the vision - awareness of their own prospects and their own path. It is openness and will to the future that make it possible to build institutions - formal and informal, which cease to depend on the individual and become the driving force of development. "