Make It in the Emirates: What the Initiative Means for Your Business

If you're running a manufacturer, supplier, or industrial startup in the UAE, the Make it in the Emirates initiative isn't just a slogan you've seen on a billboard along Sheikh Zayed Road. It's a federal industrial policy with real procurement contracts, financing windows, and regulatory shortcuts attached. The question is whether your business actually qualifies and how to position yourself before the next forum.

Quick answer

Make it in the Emirates is the UAE's flagship industrial strategy, launched in 2022 under the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT). It bundles together the In-Country Value (ICV) programme, the National In-Country Value certificate, AED 10 billion+ in committed offtake agreements from federal entities and major corporates, and financing from Emirates Development Bank. To benefit, you typically need a UAE industrial licence, an ICV certificate scored against MoIAT's methodology, and products listed on the National Products Registry. Sectors prioritised: pharmaceuticals, food, machinery, EV components, hydrogen, and advanced materials.

What "Make it in the Emirates" actually is

The initiative sits inside Operation 300bn, the federal strategy to lift the industrial sector's GDP contribution to AED 300 billion by 2031.[1] MoIAT runs the show, but it's a multi-agency play involving the Emirates Development Bank (EDB), ADNOC, EGA, Etisalat, and the major federal procurers.

In plain terms: the government decided that buying local matters more than buying cheap. So they built a framework that rewards domestic manufacturing through preferential procurement, cheaper credit, and faster approvals.

The annual Make it in the Emirates Forum, held in Abu Dhabi, is where the offtake agreements get signed. In 2024, MoIAT announced over AED 110 billion in industrial purchase commitments across multiple forum editions.[2] That's not a press release figure pulled from the air — those are signed memoranda with named buyers.

Watch out: the ICV certificate is mandatory for supplying most federal entities and major listed corporates. Without it, your bid often won't even be scored.

Who qualifies, and how the ICV score works

Here's where most clients get the framework wrong. They assume "Made in the UAE" means assembled here. It doesn't.

The In-Country Value methodology scores you on six weighted factors: goods manufactured locally, third-party spend with UAE suppliers, investment in UAE assets, Emirati employment, expat employment based here, and revenue generated. MoIAT uses a published formula — your audited financial statements get plugged in, and a certified ICV certifier (one of the big four plus a handful of approved firms) produces your score.[3]

Scores range from 0% to over 100% (yes, you can exceed 100% through bonus weightings on investment and Emiratisation). The higher your score, the better your bid evaluation multiplier when tendering to participating entities.

To even start:

• Hold a valid UAE industrial licence from your emirate's economic department or a relevant free zone with industrial activity permissions
• Manufacture (not just trade or assemble cosmetically) the goods you're claiming
• Get audited financials from the prior fiscal year
• Engage an approved ICV certifier — expect to pay AED 15,000 to AED 50,000+ depending on group complexity

Frankly, if your business is purely a distributor or a re-exporter, this isn't your programme. Look at ICV anyway for general government tendering, but the Make it in the Emirates offtake side is built for manufacturers.

The financing and offtake side

The real reason serious manufacturers care about this initiative isn't the certificate. It's the money attached to it.

Emirates Development Bank carved out AED 30 billion to deploy by 2031 across priority industrial sectors.[4] EDB's industrial financing can stretch to 15-year tenors with grace periods, which no commercial bank in the UAE will touch on similar terms. The bank also runs a credit guarantee scheme that lets SMEs borrow through partner commercial banks with EDB backstopping a chunk of the risk.

Then there's the offtake side. Companies like ADNOC, EGA, ADQ portfolio entities, and Etisalat publish lists of products they currently import that they'd prefer to source locally. If your factory can make those products to spec, you can negotiate multi-year supply agreements before you've even built the line. That's the inversion the initiative engineered — purchase commitment first, capex second.

Costs to budget (2024 figures):
- Industrial licence: AED 10,000–25,000 annually depending on emirate
- ICV certification: AED 15,000–50,000+ per group
- National Products Registry listing: free, but requires conformity documentation
- EDB loan arrangement fees: typically 1% of facility

Free zone vs. mainland — does it matter here?

Short answer: less than it used to.

Historically, free zone industrial operators worried they'd be locked out of mainland federal procurement. MoIAT clarified that ICV certificates are issued to free zone manufacturers too, and free zone goods count as UAE-manufactured for ICV purposes provided the substantive manufacturing happens on UAE soil.[3]

KIZAD, KEZAD, JAFZA, Dubai Industrial City, RAKEZ, Hamriyah — all of them host Make it in the Emirates participants. The choice between them comes down to your tariff exposure (mainland gets you straight into the GCC customs union without further paperwork), proximity to your customers, and the specific incentive package the free zone authority offers manufacturers. KEZAD in particular has been aggressive on land lease pricing for priority sectors.

If you're picking a base from scratch, ask the free zone for a written confirmation of how their licence interacts with ICV scoring before you sign anything. Most clients don't ask. They should.

How the legal side connects

A few practical legal threads worth pulling on.

Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on commercial companies governs your corporate structure, and a manufacturing LLC on the mainland now allows 100% foreign ownership for most industrial activities under the activities list issued by the Ministry of Economy.[5] That removed the old 51% Emirati shareholder requirement that used to push manufacturers into free zones reluctantly.

Corporate tax matters too. The 9% federal corporate tax applies to qualifying manufacturers, but Qualifying Free Zone Person status (under Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023) can keep certain industrial income at 0% if you meet the substance and qualifying activity tests.[6] Manufacturing of goods is on the qualifying activities list. Get this analysed before you pick your jurisdiction — the structure decision interacts with your ICV strategy in ways that aren't obvious.

Government procurement contracts signed under Make it in the Emirates frameworks are typically governed by UAE federal law with arbitration seated in Abu Dhabi or DIFC. Read the offtake terms carefully — minimum volume guarantees often come with quality KPIs and right-to-audit clauses that can bite if you under-deliver.

For general guidance on setting up a manufacturing entity, see our overview of civil and commercial law in the UAE.

Steps to actually engage with the programme

Skip the brochures. Here's the practical sequence:

1. Confirm your activity is in scope — check MoIAT's priority sectors list and the National Products Registry to see whether your output category is being prioritised
2. Audit-ready your financials — ICV scoring requires IFRS-compliant audited statements; if you're on a cash basis or your audit is sloppy, fix that first
3. Engage an approved ICV certifier early — they'll tell you where your score will land before you commit, which lets you restructure spend or staffing to improve it
4. Register on the National Products Registry — this is your gateway to being visible to federal procurers
5. Attend the annual Forum — it's transactional, not ceremonial; deals get signed there
6. Talk to EDB before approaching commercial banks — their terms anchor what you should accept elsewhere

One thing worth saying plainly: the initiative isn't subsidised charity. It rewards manufacturers who can actually compete on quality and delivery, with the policy thumb on the scale tilting purchase decisions toward you. If your factory can't hold tolerance or ship on time, no ICV score will save the contract on the second order.

Sources

[1] UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, "Operation 300bn" strategy documentation — moiat.gov.ae

[2] MoIAT press communications on Make it in the Emirates Forum 2024 outcomes

[3] MoIAT National In-Country Value Programme methodology and certifier list — icv.moiat.gov.ae

[4] Emirates Development Bank strategy 2022-2026 — edb.gov.ae

[5] Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies, as amended

[6] Cabinet Decision No. 100 of 2023 on Qualifying Income for Qualifying Free Zone Persons

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