Out of the box

The localization gap in the real estate sector

Ismail Al Hammadi

November 17, 2020

The Masar Employment and Real Estate Training Platform ... a new initiative presented by the Dubai Real Estate Institute for every Emirati youth who has ambition to work in the real estate market in the Emirate of Dubai, and is looking forward to making his mark in a sector whose reputation has exceeded global boundaries, and opening the doors of real estate companies to them by offering their job opportunities on the platform.

This step is counted in the record of achievements of the authorities concerned with the real estate sector to encourage Emiratisation in the sector, which suffers from a great shortage in fact, as it is very rare to find a national cadre in specialized senior positions with real estate companies except for the promotion and marketing of developers, meaning that when you go to any development company Aqari In it you hardly find a responsible sales manager, a citizen, or a general director of sales, a citizen, they are few and count on the fingers if we enumerate them, and here we wonder: Why does the citizen cadre disappear from the real estate sector?

At the level of the records of the Dubai Land Department, we have about 520 national real estate brokers, of whom only about 200 are active, and among these 200 there is only a small group of them who are really active in the profession and achieve achievements .. Where are the rest ?!

Was the license temporary or was it just a license to run some private affairs?

This is in the real estate brokerage field. As for the other real estate fields, there is almost no talk about localization.

The real estate sector includes under its umbrella a lot of businesses, jobs and specialties if we researched them well, and we have devoted training paths to them to qualify young citizens to work in them, for example the field of selling real estate for hotels and includes hotel rooms, hotel apartments and vacation homes facilities, can we find a citizen specialized in the field of buying and selling in What kind of these are mentioned?

The same question applies to the field of industrial real estate. Dubai owns no less than 24 industrial zones. How many citizens specialize in industrial areas?

How many citizens do we find specializing in renting labor accommodations?

How many citizens specialize in renting warehouse units?

How many citizens are active in selling and leasing industrial lands?

And the same conversation is happening in other areas.

There is a big gap in the field of Emiratisation in the real estate sector, whether at the level of the job positions available to real estate companies of all kinds or at the level of entrepreneurial work in the sector, for which the concerned authorities have not yet found a special path for training and employing young Emiratis in them.

We greatly need the support of the competent authorities in this regard, and we very much need programs that contribute to refining their talents with correct training frameworks that eliminate the "fear" of the real estate sector in the hearts of some and enhance their skills in the field of sales, which requires enjoyment of emotional intelligence and the skills of the art of persuasion and building relationships easily.

We also very much need to open new doors for the real estate activities that the sector includes to enhance its efficiency as one of the most important economic sectors in Dubai .. The saying goes: “The people of Mecca are more knowledgeable about its branches.” And we say, “The son of the country is more familiar with the branches of its real estate sector,” if it were developed and trained in a correct manner in line with With the vision of the sector and its desired goals.

Finally, we thank the real estate companies interested in hiring Emirati staff, and special thanks to those who worked on developing Ismail Al Hammadi.

To read the previous articles of the writer please click on its name . 

"We very much need to open new doors for the real estate activities that the sector includes to enhance its efficiency."