In a recent report in Arabian.business.com, they outlined Dubai’s 50 biggest companies, and below we have outlined the top 10.

1. DP World (Transport Sector), Market cap (AED ‘000): 31, 548, 818

2. Emaar (Real Estate), Market cap (AED ‘000): 21,075,687

3. Emirates NBD (Banking) Market cap (AED ‘000): 16,784,481

4. Du (Telecoms), Market cap (AED ‘000): 16, 320, 000

5. Mashreq Bank (Banking), Market cap (AED ‘000): 8,901,000

6. Dubai Financial Market Company (Investments) Market cap (AED ‘000): 7,906,034

7. Dubai Islamic Bank (Banking),Market cap (AED ‘000): 7, 444, 000

8. Commercial Bank of Dubai (banking), Market cap (AED ‘000): 5,552,000

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California’s Equinix Inc and du, a telecom operator in the UAE, launched an alliance on Tuesday to open an $80m data centre in Dubai to offer faster internet speeds in the Gulf region.

In a joint statement, the companies said the hub would be the first of its kind in the Middle East and would be operational from January 2013. It will be “carrier neutral,” meaning telecom operators other than du will be able to use it.

Equinix, which has about 90 data facilities globally and 4,000 customers including IBM and HSBC, has bought a newly-built mid-sized data centre in Dubai and will invest $40m in the project. Du will invest a similar amount over the next five years, providing connectivity and managed services to tenants, which are likely to include financial institutions, telecom carriers from other regions and internet content providers.

What does this mean for job seekers? Well, if you are an IT data management or warehousing professional then this is a great time to get in touch with Dubai du or Equinix as there are likely to be job vacancies from January 2013 when it opens.

According to a report by the National, a package of new and relaunched developments in Dubai is expected to contribute tens of thousands of jobs to a hiring boom across the country.

Developments approved since last month are estimated to be worth a total of Dh4 billion (US$1.08bn), following several new announcements on Saturday by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the UAE’s Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

“This is a sign of increasing confidence in the market,” said Craig Plumb, the regional head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle. “For the construction industry it’s a huge boost. All of these projects will generate jobs for tens of thousands of labourers and hundreds of engineers.

 

Why are we highlighting the Solar Sector as a hot place to develop a career in Dubai?

Well, there are several reasons. Firstly, on a global scale renewable energy is becoming an increasingly important means of generating energy for countries. For example, the International Energy Agency believes that renewable power generation will experience rapid growth over the next five years, despite economic uncertainties in many countries – and they are projecting a 40% increase in global power generation from solar, wind and other renewable resources.

Another reason why we think the solar sector is booming in Dubai is because in January this year the Dubai government officials launched a Dh 12 billion solar project over a 48 kilo-metre area near Dubai which will eventually have the capacity to generate 1000 megawatts. Dubai is looking to target renewable energy to supply one per cent of Dubai’s energy by 2020 and 5 per cent by 2030.

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The findings of a survey into the Dubai solar sector by the Emirates Solar Industry Association (Esia) and PwC were presented by Hannes Reinisch a senior manager at PwC at the Solar Industry Summit in Dubai yesterday.

Major player in solar

While most respondents to the survey expected moderate growth in the UAE’s solar industry in the next five years, more than 60 per cent expected that in a decade the industry would become a major player in the region.  Dubai has recently started building a 13MW plant and Waleed Salman, chairman of the Dubai Carbon Centre, said Dubai planned to create “not less than 800MW” by 2030

Huge career potential

It seems that the Dubai solar sector is going to see sustained growth over the next 10 years, so expect to see continued growth in demand for solar and renewable energy professionals for years to come. So, this a good area/sector to be focussing your career in within Dubai and the UAE.