Dubai can now renew their Business Licenses through a SMS

A new initiative has been launch by the Department of Economic Development DED that will allow owners to renew their business licenses automatically through a simple text message (SMS). The owners will just have to send a text message to ‘6969’ which they will then receive a payment voucher to new their license if all the DED requirements are fulfilled. The owner will they have the option to either pay its licensing fee electronically through the phone or can then go to the nearest outlet and manually renew their business licence.

DED hopes that this new initiative will help improve the competitiveness ranking of the UAE in the Doing Business Report of the World Bank as well as help people conduct their business in Dubai in a more facilitative way.

Almost any form of business license can be renewed through the SMS without the need for any external approvals. An estimate of 2,096 commercial activities can be automatically renewed which account for 99.8 per cent of the licenses under various legal forms. There are four types of licenses that need an external approval from the Roads and Transport Agency (RTA).

Omar Bushahab, CEO of Business Registration & Licensing (BRL) Sector in DED said that ever since the launch of this initiative in 2015, they have been following up on the progress of the SMS services and have will be using feedback and suggestion from its customers in order to help develop the service.

One of the ways they followed up on the service was through a survey given to its customers. It was revealed that 90 per cent of the respondents felt that the service had significantly improved the business license renewal procedures. By creating this ‘Hassle Free’ initiative, DED is able to eliminate any issues or challenges investors and business owners faced, allowing Dubai to become more competitive and move towards achieving sustainable economic development.

The service enables its users to renew their licenses and pay their fee in two steps without the need of any paperwork. Bushahab added that DED will continuously seek to develop this service to increase customer satisfaction and help save time.

70 per cent of DED’s daily transactions revolve around the renewal of trade licenses making it’s the largest share. Other activities provided by the service include, registration of new contracts to the licence renewal system in partnership with the Real Estate regulatory Agency (Rera), making it easier for investors and businessmen.

One of the ways that the service has gotten rid of its obstacles is by have an effective cooperative relationship with the government agencies. These co-operations will help will make Dubai one of the most ideal locations for conducting business internationally.