Day 6- DuCab and some free time!

One of the great things about traveling with a school group is that it gives you an excuse to see how companies in the region are doing business. Day 6 was our first corporate visit, DuCab (Dubai Cable) in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA).



Check point at entrance to DuCab

The free zones, such as Jebel Ali, are the only areas in Dubai that allow 100% foreign ownership. The free zones offer significant financial incentives to companies such as no customs duty, and 0% income and corporate tax. Combined with Dubai's strategic location to the Middle East and North Africa, its new and still growing infrastructure, airports, and sea ports, and access to cheap, highly qualified labor, Dubai easily lures investors into the region. DuCab is owned by the Governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but chooses to operate in Jebel Ali.

DuCab creates high-voltage cables, like those used in building up a growing area's electrical infrastructure. With the pace of growth that this area has seen in the last 30 years, DuCab's success is not surprising.

Our visit included an overview of the company from Budoor al Yousuf (from marketing) and a product overview from Anson Monteiro (a technical trainer.) Then we toured one of their manufacturing buildings, where we saw in action the complex machinery required to create cables that power the recently completed Dubai Metro.

Later that afternoon, we visited the Ibn Battuta Mall, named after an Arab traveler that explored Andalusia, Tunisia, Egypt, Persia, India and China in the 1300s. The mall is comprised of six courts, each court's architecture reflecting a region he explored.

A few of us test drove the Dubai Metro system, and headed to dinner at the Glasshouse Brasserie, a Gordon Ramsey restaurant at the Hilton Dubai Creek. Some kept the night going by going to the Irish Village Pub  (yes, the have everything here!) for drinks.