Digby Morgan Wins Approval from Dubai Government to Open
First, Pure Play HR Recruitment Consultancy
Digby Morgan, the UK’s leading specialist HR search and selection consultancy, has become the first, purely HR recruitment consultancy to have been granted an official licence to operate from its own offices in Dubai.
Commenting on the news, John Maxted, Digby Morgan’s founder and CEO, said: “Although it’s widely acknowledged that Dubai and the Gulf region is one of the world’s economic hotspots, this is not something that we’ve undertaken lightly. We’ve successfully been running a dedicated team of Gulf recruitment experts out of our London and Australian offices for many months whilst we fully evaluated the market opportunities and went through the long and complex process of ensuring that we would fully comply with all of the conditions necessary in order to obtain our licence to operate in Dubai.
“Given the proliferation of ‘non-specialists’ in the recruitment market, we were warmly welcomed by the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) and invited to make an application for a licence,” continued John Maxted. “Subsequently, we were delighted to hear that this licence application has been granted and that now we are the first, fully licensed HR recruitment specialist in the Gulf region.
“For companies that are prepared and resourced appropriately, the opportunities offered by the Gulf region - and that’s not just in Dubai but also includes Abu Dhabi, the whole of UAE, Doha, Bahrain and beyond - are huge,” added John Maxted. “Dubai is hugely impressive on every count and, of course, whenever there is commercial growth on that scale it calls for a significant injection of professional and talented HR expertise. There’s definitely a sense from businesses across a range of sectors that the time is right to ensure that their HR is ready and able to ensure that they meet their commercial objectives.
“The issue is now one of identifying, attracting and retaining the best talent – both from within the Gulf area itself and, additionally, from around the globe. And, of course, this is where Digby Morgan fits in. In the next few months, in addition to our new Dubai office, we will be opening a further office in Hong Kong. So, given the reach of our UK and Australasian offices, combined with that of our sister consultancy in the US, we’re certainly in a great position to service all of our client and candidate demands in the Gulf region both from around the globe and now from right on their doorstep,” concluded John Maxted.
From left to right - John Maxted, CEO, Dona Battat, Director UAE,
Simon Stephens, General Manger Dubai & Alistair Cook, COO