Kiran Khawaja, a Dubai-based businesswoman who is the CEO and Founder of Fajar Realty, a leading real estate agency that boasts a variety of services spread across the UAE, is currently visiting Rwanda, to talk to people about some of the investment opportunities in Dubai’s real estate industry. The New Times’ Hudson Kuteesa sat down with her to talk about what Dubai has to offer in terms of real estate business opportunities. The excerpts: Tell us about your company and the real estate industry in Dubai. Dubai’s real estate has had tremendous growth in the last couple of years. The industry started around 2004, and initially, the international market was hesitant about it because Dubai is an Arabic country. But the beautiful thing about Dubai is that it is a country for everyone. In Dubai, everyone feels at home because they take care of everyone. People who invested then and now have seen a tremendous change because Dubai turned out to be the best in terms of everything. The return on investment in Dubai is extremely high, ranging from eight to 10 per cent. Some people also take advantage of the short term and can earn up to 18 per cent per year. Another big benefit of Dubai is that the money is pegged to the dollar, so there is no currency depreciation at all. This makes investors really secure, regardless of their country or background. One more important thing which we have seen in the last couple of years is how Dubai is known for luxury. Luxury property in Dubai has a capital gain of 300 per cent which is like nowhere in the world in terms of rental returns. In addition, many rich people are coming to live in Dubai. Last year, the country attracted many multi-millionaires. The real estate industry is a very flourishing one The industry is also giving jobs to many people in regard to labour and hospitality. We also tend to have one to two million expats or tourists every week, so imagine the capacity. Dubai is tax friendly. Tell us about this and how attractive it is for real estate investors. This is a very interesting point. In Dubai, we don’t have income taxes, property taxes, or taxes on rental income. That makes it even more attractive to investors because you are buying a property for which you will not pay taxes on the income you are generating. Tell us about Rwanda and what you came to do here in terms of attracting investors to Dubai. I have a very special attachment to Rwanda. I can say it is like my second home. I have a lot of friends from Rwanda. We are creating awareness of Dubai real estate in Rwanda, but we are also creating awareness of Kigali in Dubai. We want to work hand in hand with the country to promote Rwanda – how beautiful it is and how well the country has done in the last 20 years. The Visa Policy in Dubai. How friendly is it? Initially, people who were working in Dubai were getting two to three years of working visas, but in the last five to six years, Dubai started giving residence visas to anybody who buys a property. So, people have started feeling at home. People are really attracted to the ideas of tax-free, residence visas, and high capital gains. How hospitable are people in Dubai? I think they are the most hospitable people. I have traveled to almost 80 countries and I haven’t seen such a kind of hospitality anywhere. People are very warm, they are not judgmental, they are very modern. Tell us more about your company. We are among the top 10 real estate companies in Dubai. We have won 27 awards, some of which are linked to sales, some to customer services and the quality of work we are doing. I started this work 17 and a half years ago. I think people who buy from us are happy to see how well we take care of them even after the sales. We are here in Kigali for three days and if some people want to meet us and have a talk, they are welcome.
