Hello, I am new to the forum and would like to ask for some assistance.
My company has found that over the last decade there has been a huge shift in the balance of the business that we have in the Middle East.
With that in mind I am looking into opening a modest design studio in Dubai (10 staff or less). Our business is in specialised furniture manufacture however we would only be looking to opening a studio for 3D CAD modelling of our products. There would be no manufacture at this stage and I don't anticipate there will be.
Having done a little research I think that it should be possible to open the studio as a branch office of the existing business (HQ in the United Kingdom) in one of the many freezones.
The questions I have are
1) Out of the seemingly dozens of freezones is there one in particular for which a design studio would be a good fit.
2) Am I wrong to be ruling out the idea of a local sponsor? It all seems rather intimidating working with somebody you don't know but the more I think about it the output of the design studio would service my existing business only and there is no product as such so that really minimizes any risk?
3) Is it worth using one of the many consultancy firms that offer set up services or should it be quite straightforward to proceed ourselves with the set up?
4) Any general advice or pitfalls to avoid?
Thanks in advance for any replies.