Ras Al Khaimah on the up
Fancy working in Ras Al Khaimah? Now's your chance.
A recent report in the Khaleej Times suggests over 1,000 companies may move to the new Ras Al Khaimah Financial City.
Jobs are likely to follow. "The financial city is expected to create thousands of jobs as it strives to become a financial services hub," says Dr Imad Haffar, chief operating officer of Rakeen, the real estate arm of the Ras Al Khaimah government, which is behind the project.
However, recruiters are not unanimously confident that the new development will generate as many jobs as predicted. "We've had no dealings with this and would see it being very difficult for them to compete with Dubai," says Will Hauxwell, associate director of the Charterhouse Partnership.
The Gulf region already has three leading offshore financial centres: Bahrain, Qatar Financial Centre and Dubai International Financial Centre, which currently has over 414 companies registered.
So will Ras Al Khaimah succeed? There are certainly upsides - the cost of housing is cheaper than Dubai for a start and traffic snarls are nowhere to be seen.