Nikola Vrabec, Business Development Manager at Infinum, is a frequent visitor to Dubai. His most recent visit was a conference hat-trick: he attended Forex Expo Dubai, Seamless Middle East, and the Eurasian Balkan Business Forum, meeting founders, fintech and banking leaders, and the people who connect businesses to the UAE market.
We sat down with him to talk about what he heard on the conference floors, how business in the UAE runs on relationships, and why Infinum sees the region as a long-term commitment.
Why the UAE, and why now?
Few governments plan their digital future as openly as the UAE does. The National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and Dubai’s D33 economic agenda set clear, public targets, and companies across the country plan with them in mind.
The goal is for the UAE to become the first government to run 50% of its services and operations on Agentic AI, within two years. Each entity now has a team led by its minister or head, its own targets and KPIs, and an initial list of services to move, covering citizens, residents, businesses, and the general public. Alongside this, the UAE Government will train 80,000 federal employees in what was called “the largest training program in the history of the UAE Government.” In Sheikh Mohammed’s words: “The journey to UAE Government 4.0 has begun.”
When a market knows where it wants to be in five years, you can have a real conversation about what to build first.
In Sheikh Mohammed’s words: “The journey to UAE Government 4.0 has begun.”
You attended several conferences. What stood out?
Primarily the scale. Forex Expo Dubai drew 23,816 people to the Dubai World Trade Centre in September, a Guinness World Record for a forex event! Seamless Middle East ran alongside it, with payments, banking, and digital commerce filling the halls next door.
Another takeaway is how these themes came up again and again:
- Most leaders I met have run an AI proof of concept. Far fewer have one in daily use, because nobody can say who is accountable when the system gets it wrong. At Infinum, we have developed a quality-accountability AI-native delivery framework that closes that gap.
- The UAE’s federal data protection law and sector rules in banking and health make it a board-level question where data lives and who can reach it. Security has to be built in from the first diagram, which is why it is the baseline on every Infinum project, backed by ISO 27001 certification and a SOC 2 Type II attestation.
- At Forex Expo and Seamless, brokers, banks, and payment companies all wanted to launch faster. Many are held back by older core systems that make every new feature a months-long project. Modernizing those platforms in steps, with releases that do not interrupt daily operations, lets the business launch faster without a risky full rebuild.
- National targets move fast, and hiring experienced product and engineering teams locally takes months. The answer is a partner that can cover the full lifecycle and keeps the same people accountable from the first workshop to production.
How is doing business in the UAE different from Europe or the US?
Relationships come before contracts. In Europe and the US, a first meeting often opens with scope and budget. Here, it usually opens with coffee and a real interest in who you are, where your company comes from, and whether you plan to stay.
Many people here have watched vendors fly in for a conference and never return. Trust is built by coming back, following up in person, and being patient. This way of working suits me personally. In sales, I value business relationships highly, and before getting into the details I always want to know who’s actually sitting across the table and what’s bothering them. That’s why I’ll always choose “let’s grab a coffee” over “let’s schedule a meeting.”
Because let’s face it: the UAE attracts the best from all over the world, and whatever niche you pick, someone else is probably already offering something similar. A clear offer and a well-defined niche are the entry ticket, not the advantage. What sets one company apart from another is how it works and the relationships it builds. In a market as crowded as this one, the deciding factor is the trust in the partner that they will deliver.
In sales, I value business relationships highly, and before getting into the details, I always want to know who’s actually sitting across the table and what’s bothering them.
NIKOLA VRABEC, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Who did you meet, and where do those conversations go from here?
I met leaders from a wide range of industries: banking, fintech, heavy machinery, oil and gas, hospitality and more. Their sectors were very different, but they had one thing in common: openess to new ideas and to hearing what we could bring to the table.
We talked about where their digital and innovation ecosystems stand today, where they could be in a few years, and where Infinum could help along the way. Those are the conversations I value most, because they start with the client’s ambitions, not with our services.
As for what happens next, we follow up, go deeper with the companies where we see a real fit, and keep coming back. In a market built on relationships, the first meeting is only the start.
What can Infinum offer organizations in the UAE?
Ambition here is high, and timelines are short. That combination needs one team that covers the whole lifecycle, from product strategy and design to engineering, AI, and security, without handoffs between vendors. The same team that shapes a product also builds it, scales it, and protects it, backed by 400+ people across seven offices.
On our projects, domain experts define the work, AI executes part of it, and people review everything before it ships. We lead clients through every stage, from the first idea to launch and beyond, and we always leave room for their input and ideas along the way. They’re never just watching from the sidelines. It’s their product, and they help shape it at every step.
In a market where relationships come first and long-term commitment matters, a partner who leads with confidence, listens, and sticks around for years is exactly what organizations are looking for.
What is next on the UAE roadmap?
We’re already shaping our strategy for 2027, and the UAE plays an important part in it. Before that, our next stop is GITEX Global in December, which moves to Expo City Dubai for the first time this year. It’s one of the biggest technology events in the world, and the right place to take the pulse of a market that keeps raising its own bar.
Just as important, we’ll use the trip to see our friends and business partners in the UAE again, continue the conversations we started and turn some of them into concrete next steps. Coming back is how trust gets built here, so that’s what we’ll keep doing.
If you’re building something in the UAE and want to hear a different perspective, our door is open all year round. Drop Nikola a message on LinkedIn, and he’ll take it from there.
