A new survey by trading and investing platform eToro reveals that 85 per cent of UAE-based retail investors are currently invested in local equities, with many doubling down amid global trade tensions.

Confidence in UAE economy and markets

The latest UAE Retail Investor Beat, based on responses from 1,000 investors across the Emirates, shows strong home-market conviction. Of those surveyed, 39 per cent hold Abu Dhabi-listed stocks, 28 per cent hold Dubai-listed stocks, and 18 per cent invest in both.

Investor confidence in the UAE economy remains robust: 63 per cent said they are “very confident” in its current performance, with another 29 per cent “somewhat confident.” Looking further ahead, 59 per cent of respondents expressed being “very confident” in the long-term performance of locally listed stocks, while 32 per cent said they are “somewhat confident.”

Expectations for growth are also high, with 48 per cent forecasting significant gains in the UAE stock market over the next 12 months and 34 per cent predicting steady growth. Over the next five years, 58 per cent believe the Middle East will generate the strongest returns, followed by 50 per cent who view the US as the next best performer.

Real estate emerged as the most attractive UAE sector for the next 12 months (55 per cent), followed by technology (48 per cent), financial services (37 per cent), and energy (37 per cent).

Read: St. James’s Place’s Angelina Lai on mega-cap stocks, volatility, diversification

George Naddaf, managing director at eToro MENA, commented: “The DFM and ADX are among the best-performing stock exchanges in the world this year, outperforming the S&P 500 by a considerable margin. Against this backdrop, our research confirms that investor confidence in the UAE market remains strong, supported by resilient performance across local indices, solid macroeconomic indicators, and sustained earnings across key sectors. Investors are favouring real estate, technology, financial services, and energy, as these sectors continue to benefit from government-backed initiatives. The fact that 85 per cent are already invested in UAE equities reflects a clear preference for local opportunities in the current environment.”

Global tensions drive home bias and commodity interest

Despite optimism, geopolitical risks remain top-of-mind: 90 per cent of investors believe tariffs and trade wars will significantly affect their portfolios over the next six months, with 89 per cent having already adjusted or planning to adjust their investments.

The most common adjustment has been increasing allocations to UAE equities (53 per cent), followed closely by commodities (51 per cent). Among defensive assets, gold and other precious metals were ranked as the most resilient (49 per cent), while crypto (45 per cent) emerged as the second choice. Notably, crypto is already the most widely held asset class among UAE investors, with 54 per cent invested.

George Naddaf added: “With 90 per cent of investors anticipating an impact from tariffs and trade wars, and 89 per cent adjusting their portfolios accordingly, UAE investors show an impressive level of adaptability. Besides local stocks, many are reallocating towards commodities such as gold and oil, which are viewed as reliable hedges against external volatility. This suggests a disciplined, dual-track approach: reinforcing exposure to domestic markets that are shielded from the impact of tariffs, while managing risk through defensive asset classes.”

Resilience despite uncertainty

Market uncertainty has not slowed investment appetite. According to the survey, 65 per cent of UAE retail investors increased contributions to their portfolios in recent months, while 76 per cent expect to raise contributions over the next three months.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has issued a call to all school bus operators across the emirate to gear up for the start of the 2025–2026 academic year. Emphasising its vision of becoming “The World Leader in Seamless and Sustainable Mobility,” the RTA is pushing for top-tier service standards to safeguard student well-being across all age groups.

Health and safety remain central pillars of RTA’s Back-to-School programme. As part of this initiative, the authority is conducting rigorous inspections to ensure school bus operators and school administrations are strictly adhering to its transport regulations and safety requirements.

Read more-Dubai: DXB expects 3.6m passengers in back-to-school travel rush

“RTA attaches great importance to raising awareness about health and safety, as they are among the most important pillars of the Back-to-School programme,” the authority said in a statement.

The inspections are being led by RTA’s specialised teams, which are actively monitoring the compliance of transport operators with Dubai’s school transportation laws.

Strict compliance and student safety protocols

All school bus drivers have been instructed to observe traffic laws meticulously, especially in school zones and residential areas. Operators are being reminded to avoid obstructing other vehicles, reducing traffic congestion and improving road safety.

“Drivers must also refrain from obstructing the flow of other vehicles, thereby helping to reduce congestion and ensure smooth traffic movement at all times,” the RTA stated.

To support this, transport operators have been directed to implement intensive training programmes for drivers and bus attendants. These sessions focus on professional and safe engagement with students during their daily commutes. Drivers are reminded of their responsibility to uphold the highest safety standards at all times.

Meanwhile, school administrations are expected to ensure that students are escorted by bus attendants to and from the nearest drop-off points to their homes, reinforcing a seamless and secure travel process.

Modern technologies and parental reassurance

RTA has also highlighted the importance of equipping school buses with advanced safety technologies. Operators are further encouraged to keep open lines of communication with parents to reassure them of their children’s safety.

“Operators conduct driver training under RTA’s supervision and remain committed to equipping buses with essential safety features and measures,” the authority said. “They also maintain regular communication with parents to reassure them of their children’s safety during daily commutes.”

RTA reaffirmed its commitment to streamlining the school transportation network across Dubai, which plays a vital role in supporting both educational institutions and the city’s broader mobility goals.

“RTA remains committed to streamlining the daily movement of Dubai’s school transport sector, recognising its pivotal role for the nation’s leadership and its paramount importance to parents who entrust their children’s safety and comfort to these services,” the statement added.

As the new academic year approaches, RTA has extended a message of encouragement to students across Dubai to embrace the year ahead with energy and optimism. The authority has reiterated the importance of compliance with health and safety protocols for a successful academic journey.

MBRHE and Dubai Police launch joyful Back-to-School campaign

In a related development, the Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment (MBRHE), in partnership with Dubai Police, launched a cheerful “Back to School” campaign in the Muhaisnah area on August 18, marking the beginning of the academic year.

The initiative forms part of a wider series of community engagement efforts aimed at promoting education in a positive and safe environment, according to a WAM report.

Adding to the excitement were Dubai Police mascots, Officer Mansour and Officer Amna, who entertained students and brought energy to the event. A special display of Dubai Police’s luxury patrol vehicles also captivated children and parents, blending fun with valuable lessons on safety awareness.

“The initiative featured the participation of Dubai Police mascots… helping to raise security awareness among students and their families in an enjoyable yet safe setting,” WAM reported.

As Dubai gets ready for classrooms to reopen, authorities are working in sync to ensure that student safety, traffic efficiency, and community spirit take centre stage in the back-to-school season.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment (MBRHE) has provided housing support packages worth more than Dhs1.725bn to 3,027 beneficiaries during the first half of 2025. The initiative underscores the Establishment’s ongoing commitment to strengthening family stability and enhancing the quality of life for Emirati citizens.

The support included 1,390 housing schemes valued at Dhs1.184bn to assist citizens with building, maintaining, and purchasing homes. In addition, 935 housing grants worth Dhs540.3m were allocated for home maintenance, construction, and ownership requests. As part of the integrated support system, 695 land grants were also facilitated to further enable citizens to secure suitable homes.

Read: Sheikh Mohammed approves Dhs5.4 bn housing package for citizens in Dubai

His Excellency Mohammed Hassan Al Shehhi, Acting CEO of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment, highlighted the alignment of these achievements with the leadership’s vision, stating: “We are committed to translating the noble directives into tangible results by innovating a flexible and comprehensive housing system based on efficiency and service quality, contributing to higher levels of family and social stability.”

He further emphasised that these efforts are fully in line with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and the Dubai Social Agenda 33, both of which aim to position Dubai as a global leader in quality of life by advancing a sustainable housing ecosystem that promotes social cohesion and supports economic growth.

As HR leaders in the UAE and across the MENA region grapple with rapid technological shifts, regulatory complexity, and evolving workforce expectations, the role of HR has never been more strategically significant. For Vivek Arora, managing director of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Middle East & North Africa, the challenge lies in balancing innovation with the human core of the workplace.

“We live in unprecedented times in terms of the pace of evolution of technologies and their impact on the workplace,” Arora said. “HR leaders are experiencing a tension between accelerating GenAI and keeping humans at the center through investing in people, leadership, and manager development, culture, and strategic workforce planning.”

This dual challenge—embracing transformation while safeguarding culture and human intelligence—will form a central theme at the SHRM MENA Annual Conference & Expo 2025 in Dubai.

Emiratisation: from compliance to talent pipelines

In the UAE, Emiratisation continues to reshape workforce strategies. Organisations are expected not only to meet national employment targets but to integrate Emirati talent into meaningful career pathways.

“The balance lies in building skills taxonomies and mapping roles where expats can add value and bring in expertise and skills that are not prevalent in the market, and where Emirati talent can be fast-tracked via internships, mentorship, structured knowledge transfer programmes, rotations, and specialty credentials, while measuring progress regularly,” said Arora.

He cautioned against reducing Emiratisation to “a quota compliance exercise,” instead encouraging firms to build deliberate skills strategies that create complementary capabilities between local and expatriate workforces.

Well-being and the employee experience

Workforce well-being is now firmly on the strategic agenda. According to Arora, regional organisations are experimenting with a wide range of benefits beyond the statutory minimum.

“What we mostly see in focus are flexi hours, discretionary time off, employee recognition programmes, family extended well-being benefits, mental health support, gym memberships, and comprehensive cafeteria-style employee experience platforms augmented by AI,” he said.

The results are telling: “All the organisations administering such programmes report significant improvements to their employees’ overall satisfaction, engagement, and retention in the higher double digits.”

Arora added that HR professionals should share best practices more actively, leveraging regional HR networks to accelerate progress in this critical area.

AI and emerging HR technologies

While AI is already reshaping recruitment and analytics, Arora emphasised that its impact on HR will expand dramatically over the coming years.

“AI use in our region is maturing from the use of LLMs as easy-to-communicate-with assistants through NLP to leveraging GenAI for co-creating solutions to address different HR and organisational requirements to Agentic AI and the automation of entire cycles of work through RPA,” he explained.

Arora also sees strong potential in AI integrations with AR and VR to create adaptive, personalised onboarding and training experiences. “It is very important to look for synergies and explore integration with other technologies,” he noted.

The upcoming SHRM MENA Conference’s HR Tech Expo will spotlight precisely these innovations, offering HR leaders practical demonstrations of region-ready solutions.

Asked for examples of leading practice, Arora highlighted Dubai Police’s pioneering approach.

“They have leveraged technology to design multi-track UAE National programmes aligned to Emiratisation and long-term career mobility focused on future skills readiness, organisational and job architecture suitability, and fresh potential talent engagement,” he said.

The initiative integrates cutting-edge training, scholarship opportunities, and a world-class employee value proposition that aligns closely with community values.

The digital nomad effect

The UAE’s proactive visa policies and infrastructure are attracting digital nomads in increasing numbers, adding a new dimension to HR policy.

“With the advent of new technologies, the solid infrastructure, and the regulations the country has put in place to regulate telecommuting and gig work, it is now more attractive than ever for digital nomads to be weaved into the fabric of the UAE workforce,” said Arora.

But he acknowledged that rigid employment policies could hinder HR from fully tapping into this talent pool. “This is probably the biggest barrier that might limit HR’s capability from possibly employing the ‘best talents’ that come from this background,” he said.

Building culture in distributed teams

Remote and hybrid models demand new management approaches. Arora stressed that HR must play a central role in cultivating inclusivity and performance in geographically dispersed teams.

“It is critical to steer away from traditional clock-in/clock-out working models and start measuring output, as opposed to presence, and use people analytics to monitor workload, fairness, and growth access across locations,” he said.

Leadership and managerial development, he added, will be the differentiator for organisations that succeed in embedding inclusivity at scale.

Compliance and regulation

For HR leaders, adapting to flexible work models also brings regulatory challenges. The UAE has already codified multiple models of work under Federal Decree-Law 33/2021, but organisations must remain vigilant.

“HR professionals must keep abreast of all regulatory and legislative changes and updates from UAE government agencies concerning any changes in the compliance landscape,” Arora advised. He pointed to the need to track tax, social security, and permanent-establishment risks for cross-border telework arrangements.

SHRM’s role, he added, is to keep professionals updated through newsletters and events, while encouraging them to seek legal guidance where required.

Long-term workforce planning

The rise of digital nomadism is reshaping workforce planning across the MENA region. For Arora, HR must anticipate a blended workforce model combining a core employed population with a flexible “cloud” of specialists.

“Organisational culture and values will become more challenging to control; therefore, it is crucial that both HR and the organisational leadership double down on organisational values, coaching for managers, and promoting transparent and controlled work paths so the organisational culture can scale across borders,” he said.

At the same time, this shift could fuel regional innovation and strengthen global partnership networks.

The future of HR events

Arora also reflected on how HR platforms themselves must evolve. “As the employment shift continues and work models continue to evolve, focus must shift in tandem towards promoting skills taxonomies tracking, evolving internal talents and complementing them with digital nomads, and integrating AI in all aspects of HR and digital/organisational transformation,” he said.

He also called for stronger collaboration between event organisers and government agencies to expand regulatory awareness, alongside skill-based workshops and mental health interventions tailored for the region.

“This is precisely why the SHRM MENA Annual Conference & Expo serves as such a pivotal gathering—offering HR professionals not just global perspectives, but actionable, region-specific insights to navigate hybrid and location-independent workforce models.”

Ultimately, Arora believes the future of HR in the MENA region lies in striking the right balance between embracing disruptive technologies and keeping people at the heart of decision-making.

“Balancing AI with human oversight is a firm belief for SHRM that manifests in how the organisation quantifies the ROI formula to include HI—Human Intelligence and Ingenuity,” he said.

As the region’s first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC), Air Arabia has played a defining role in transforming travel across the Middle East and beyond.

In this conversation with Gulf Business, group CEO Adel Al Ali shares insights on the airline’s journey, strategy and future plans.

Air Arabia has set a benchmark as the MENA region’s first and largest LCC. Tell us about this journey since its 2003 launch — the successes, growth, and transformation.

It’s been a great journey, and overall, we’re very happy. Of course, like any journey, there were some bumps along the way. But we take pride in how Air Arabia has changed the way people travel in this region.

The airline has made flying more accessible and helped grow tourism and trade. We’ve connected families, created jobs, and transformed travel into something that’s for everyone — not just the wealthy.

How has Air Arabia adapted to evolving travel trends and consumer perceptions?

People and businesses have changed in the last 20 years, driven by technology and global exposure. Travel became something people wanted to do repeatedly. We provided the platform to enable that.

When we started, many people didn’t even understand what a low-cost airline was. Today, it’s become second nature. We gave people choices, and we went beyond capital cities to secondary airports, making travel more personal and accessible.

Over time, we’ve helped people understand the aviation industry, not just as passengers but as informed stakeholders. The more people understood, the more they travelled — and we grew together.

What are three key milestones that shaped Air Arabia into the success it is today?

First, the business model itself — bringing the low-cost, value-for-money airline concept to the region. That alone changed the game.

Second, overcoming perceptions. Initially, low-cost meant low-quality or unsafe to many in this region. But we proved that safety and service were paramount. Once passengers experienced the product, they saw that it was among the best economy offerings out there.

Third, going public. We were the first airline in the Arab world to list. That connected our customers to the business — they became shareholders. It built loyalty and transparency.

We’ve also weathered geopolitical disruptions and crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking back, these challenges made us stronger and more agile.

How has technology played a role in shaping operations and customer experience?

Massively. Operationally, tech helps us fly better, manage fuel, and run multiple hubs remotely. We can operate out of Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, and the UAE from one central team.

On the customer side, it’s been a total shift. In 2003, just 10–12 per cent of bookings were online. Today, most customers book through mobile, engage with us digitally, and only appear physically at the boarding gate. Ticketless travel was once unheard of — now it’s standard.

AI, real-time data, contact centers replacing call centres — it’s all enabled faster service and deeper customer knowledge. Tech is now a top-three cost after aircraft and fuel, and it’s an investment we’ll continue to make.

With sustainability top of mind, how is Air Arabia approaching sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and greener operations?

Technology allows us to monitor efficiency, including fuel burn and engine performance. We continuously work on reducing environmental impact — newer engines, smarter flight paths and SAF initiatives. Sustainability and efficiency go hand in hand, and we’re fully committed to both.

Air Arabia is known for its consistent growth—new hubs, underserved routes and fleet expansion. What’s the thinking behind this strategy?

Our strategy is demand-driven. We go where there’s a need — whether that’s connecting families, supporting trade, or unlocking tourism. Before us, most airlines only served capital cities. We started flying to smaller airports — Alexandria and Upper Egypt, not just Cairo; smaller cities in Pakistan, not just Karachi; and regional destinations in Central Asia.

We build markets. We started flying to Poland just two years ago, and we’re already expanding to three airports there. Sometimes other airlines follow us into those markets — and that’s healthy. It stimulates demand and grows the industry.

What challenges do you see shaping the aviation sector today, and how are you navigating them?

Challenges never go away —they just evolve. Post-Covid, supply chain issues like delays in aircraft and spares have been tough. Our region’s climate — dusty and hot — affects engine performance.

Oil prices remain a cost factor, but we hedge fuel purchases, so we manage it. Currency volatility, regulatory hurdles across different jurisdictions, strikes in various markets — these are part of the reality. You have to stay agile and adaptable.

During Covid, we shifted resources to Morocco when Asia was shut, then moved them back. Our model allows us to respond quickly. That flexibility is key.

Beyond being a transport provider, what role does Air Arabia play in regional economic development?

Aviation drives prosperity. When we started in 2003, Sharjah Airport had 200,000 passengers annually and maybe 1,000 staff. Today, it’s more than 20,000 staff and a full-fledged ecosystem — from taxis to restaurants and hotels.

Every new flight creates economic ripple effects — jobs, tourism, infrastructure. We’ve seen that in Sharjah and across the UAE. It’s not just about travel; it’s about enabling economic growth and improving quality of life.

What values have helped Air Arabia grow, and what can other companies learn from your approach?

Keep it simple. Stick to your promise. We’ve had the same business model for 20 years because it works. Change only when it adds value to customers or operations — don’t change just for the sake of it.

Leadership is about surrounding yourself with the right people and letting them do their best. If you insist on everything being done your way, you miss out on new ideas and innovation. It’s about empowering your team.

Read: Air Arabia reports Q2 2025 net profit of Dhs415m

What’s next for Air Arabia as we move into the second half of the year and beyond?

We’re growing. We have 120 aircraft on order, with five arriving in Q4 this year. Some of these have longer range, enabling us to fly nine-hour sectors east, west, or north.

We’re expanding our network, especially in the Arab world. We’re also investing in our people — our leadership development is a key focus. The brand has strong recognition across the region, and we’re excited to share our expertise more broadly and continue building a more connected and competitive aviation industry.