Dubai Expats Winning the Struggle to Be Taken Seriously

Bron: AGBI Arabian Gulf Business Insight | By F. Kane

Dubai Expats Winning the Struggle to Be Taken Seriously

It is frustrating that the same tired stories are rehashed every year by the Western press. Expats in Dubai are now 'serious people,' more focused on their work.

Dubai doesn’t always receive fair treatment from the Western press, and I think I know why.

The Jealous News Editor Syndrome (JNES)
Journalists at certain newspapers in the UK suffer from Jealous News Editor Syndrome (JNES). Symptoms often appear during the cold, wet, and dark months of February and March, when rain and snowstorms batter the country and the summer sun feels like a distant dream.

A news editor – a deskbound bureaucrat tasked with prioritizing news and assigning reporters – scrolls through Facebook or Instagram for ideas and stumbles upon a post of a poolside brunch in Dubai. Sun-kissed bodies, radiant smiles, plates brimming with food, and glasses that never seem to empty.

Perhaps they recognize someone in the photo – a former colleague who escaped the drudgery of London’s newsroom for a sunnier life?

“I’ll get them,” thinks the jealous editor, booking a flight for a revenge journalism trip or assigning a reporter to write an article full of accusations recycled from similar stories published in previous years. JNES is a seasonal affliction.

It’s understandable that media regulators in the UAE grow frustrated with this repetitive narrative. Often, it’s personal and aimed at discrediting expats by attacking their chosen place of residence.

A New Reality for Expats in Dubai
I thought of this recently when I read an article by Robert Willock, MENA director at the Economist Corporate Intelligence Network, titled You Are Serious People – Reflections of an Expat.

He explained that, in the past, there might have been some truth to the claim that expats in Dubai were hedonists living out their days in the sun with bulging wallets, avoiding the taxman back home.

“This was a fun place to be,” writes Willock, “but if you aspired to reach the top, you didn’t want Dubai on your CV for more than three years lest its reputation taint you.”

An Arab CEO once told him, “You Brits are the worst thing that ever happened to this place. You send us your worst people, and all they do is drive Jaguars, play golf, and do pub quizzes.”

But this image has changed. In 2023, Willock observes “a richly diverse, multilingual, and highly educated group of top executives, all with impressive academic backgrounds, serious ambitions, and big ideas.”

A New Focus on Work and Ambition
With the post-Covid economic recovery, Dubai has become a hub for an executive class serving not just the Middle East and North Africa but also vast parts of Central and South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Expats are now ‘serious people’ (as Logan Roy might say in the hit series Succession), increasingly viewed as professionals contributing to Dubai’s growth rather than mere objects of jealousy for JNES sufferers in London.

Change After the Financial Crisis
This transformation began around the global financial crisis, which hit Dubai hard. The emirate received assistance from Abu Dhabi at the time, prompting a renewed focus on economic stability and growth.

Since then, Dubai has firmly established itself as a global city. As one Economist headline from that era put it: “Standing still, but still standing.” Fourteen years later, Dubai is not just standing but thriving.

Back in London
Meanwhile, the JNES-afflicted editor in London can watch crumbling schools, bankrupt councils, overstretched hospitals, and glitch-prone airports – and wonder when to book their flight to Dubai to finally be taken seriously again.

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