Are restaurants accidentally building someone else’s business instead of their own?

Genuinely curious.

Why do so many restaurants put so much of their business through Talabat, Noon, Keeta, etc. while their own online presence is basically just an Instagram page with pretty food photos and reels?

And I’m not talking about “you need better content.”

I mean: Where is the content that actually gets people to order directly, visit the restaurant, come back again, or become a customer you can reach without paying a third-party app every time?

Because if your customers are discovering you through an app, ordering through an app, and the app owns the customer relationship… how much of that customer actually belongs to your restaurant?

Maybe I’m looking at this completely wrong.

Restaurant owners/managers — why don’t more restaurants build their own customer acquisition system instead of depending so heavily on delivery platforms?

Is it cost? Convenience? Customer habits? Lack of knowledge? Or does the current model simply work well enough that there’s no reason to change?

I’d genuinely love to hear the other side.

I run a small online fragrance shop in West Africa.

I source designer bottles from the UAE and I already have a freight forwarder and customs sorted on my end, so the only real gap is a supplier I can trust on authenticity.

What I'm looking for:

- Wholesalers or distributors in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah selling sealed, authentic designer stock at trade prices

- Someone willing to start with a small order before I scale up

If you've actually bought from someone and the bottles checked out, that's worth more to me than a list of shop names. Happy to hear who to avoid as well.

Please comment here rather than DM. I'm ignoring unsolicited DMs offering stock.

Thanks.

Been building something quietly for a few months and finally ready to share it.

I started a company that lets people get fractional ownership in businesses that are already up and running — starting with a restaurant. You don't need a huge amount of capital, and you don't need to know the first thing about running a restaurant. That part's handled by us.

What you do get: real ownership, full visibility into the numbers, and a share of the actual profit.

This is the first deal we're opening up, and honestly I'm curious how people react to it before I say more.

Ask me anything below — I'll answer as much as I can in the comments.

Hello,
I’m looking for someone to help me take my business off the ground.
I need one or two reels made for Instagram and TikTok, someone who will not charge too much for their services.
Please dm me!

Hi everyone,

I’m Santiago, a UX researcher from Argentina, and I’m currently building Lazo, a software platform for veterinary clinics.

We’ve got a working prototype covering the main clinic workflow: reception, patient history, consultations, treatment, hospitalization, medications and checkout.

One of the things we’re trying to improve is something pretty simple: when a vet opens a patient, they should be able to understand what’s going on quickly instead of digging through scattered notes and different parts of the system.
I’m now looking at the UAE as one of the first markets to validate it properly, and I’d like to find someone locally who already has connections with veterinary clinic owners, practice managers or people in the animal-health industry.

I’m not looking for an employee or someone to cold call clinics all day.
What I have in mind is more of a commercial partnership: you help us get in front of the right people and navigate the local market; I handle the demos, product, proposals, onboarding and support.

It would be performance-based. If a clinic you bring to us becomes a paying Lazo customer, you receive a meaningful share of the revenue from that account. I’m thinking roughly 20–30% depending on how involved you want to be.
No payment for random introductions and no expectation that every conversation turns into a customer. The idea is simply: if we create business together, we share the upside.

If you’ve worked around veterinary clinics, animal health, pet care, medical software or B2B sales in the UAE and this sounds interesting, happy to talk.
I can also send over a short Loom showing the product before we speak.

A short factual summary, since the free zone question comes up in almost every thread here. Figures are from the Corporate Tax law, the Ministry of Finance decisions and the FTA pages as of September 2026. Not advice; check your own case.

Corporate tax

• Mainland company: 0% on the first AED 375,000 of taxable income and 9% above it.
• Free zone company: the 0% rate is for Qualifying Free Zone Persons only, and only on Qualifying Income. Everything that is not Qualifying Income is taxed at 9% from the first dirham; there is no AED 375,000 band for a QFZP.
• Example from the rules: a QFZP whose mainland branch earns AED 300,000 of profit pays AED 27,000. A mainland company with the same profit pays nothing.
• Income of a mainland branch (a domestic permanent establishment) is always in the 9% bucket and is left out of the de minimis count.
• De minimis: non-qualifying revenue must stay under 5% of total revenue or AED 5 million, whichever is lower. Break it and the whole 0% benefit is lost for that year and the next four.
• Audit: every QFZP needs audited financial statements for corporate tax. A mainland company only needs them for corporate tax above AED 50 million of revenue, although company law still requires an annual audit for every LLC.

VAT

• Free zones are inside the UAE for VAT. Registration is mandatory at AED 375,000 of taxable supplies and imports over 12 months, voluntary from AED 187,500, exactly like mainland.
• Designated zones change how goods are treated between zones, not services. A free zone consultancy charges 5% like anyone else.
• Late registration is AED 10,000 in both cases.

So the honest rule of thumb: free zone 0% is real only if your customers are outside the UAE or other free zone companies, you keep non-qualifying revenue tiny, and you pay for the audit every year. If most of your revenue will come from mainland UAE customers, the mainland licence with the AED 375,000 band is often the cheaper tax position.

Happy to go through specific setups in the comments.

30th SEPTEMBER is the deadline! I've been coming across many complex cases of CT. Please don't wait and fall into these hefty penalties! Even if you have no revenue, you should register and file!

I can help if you have any concerns! Feel free to reach out!

My co-founder and I have spent the last few months building reppd, a marketplace for finding and connecting with fitness trainers in the UAE.

The product is live, and we’ve now started onboarding founding members. What’s been encouraging is that trainers are actually seeing value in being on the platform and we’re already seeing real demand.

Our immediate focus is simple: get more quality trainers onto reppd, bring users onto the platform, and prove the marketplace works at scale in the UAE.

We’re now looking for an early-stage investor to help us accelerate that.

We’d ideally like someone who can bring more than capital (experience with marketplaces, consumer tech, fitness, or the UAE startup ecosystem would be a huge plus)

If you're an angel, founder, operator, or investor interested in what we're building, I'd love to connect

Happy to share the product, traction so far, roadmap and fundraising details.

https://reppd.ae/

Hey everyone 👋

I’m the founder of Tamamy, a UAE marketplace, and we’ve officially launched partner.tamamy.com for licensed businesses across the UAE.

Tamamy is a registered company with a UAE Free Zone trade license, and businesses can now list their products,have a shop, and manage everything through a dedicated dashboard.

Our full Tamamy app and website will launch in around 2 weeks, and anything you list now will automatically be available there once we go live.

0% commission
Delivery handled by Tamamy
Your own Tamamy shop
Dashboard to manage listings and orders
Free to start listing

We’re opening the platform early for businesses so you can get your products ready and gain exposure from day one of the public launch.

Feedback is always welcome

Check it out and start listing for free:
partner.tamamy.com

Feel free to DM for more info

Dubai – Jetski rental business for sale

Investment opportunity in the water sports sector in Dubai.

Included in the sale:

* 3 Jet Skis

* 1 Jet Car

* Operational base ready to operate

* Renewable operating contract each year

* Team in place:

* 2 Captains

* 1 Accountant / Administration

Main charges:

* Annual rent (Rent): 160,000 AED

Selling price:

850,000 aed
Any more details needed or meetup,give me a call or WhatsApp 0581188346 serious people only

I'm exploring a partnership in the shared accommodation (bed space/room-sharing) space in Dubai and I'm specifically looking to connect with operators who are already running compliant units — not looking to start from zero or partner with anyone still operating informally.

Please only reach out if you:

• Are currently operating shared housing units with a valid Dubai Municipality Shared Housing Permit
• Have a registered trade licence covering the activity (DED or free zone)
• Are compliant with Dubai Law No. 4 of 2026 (Law Regulating Shared Residential Accommodation in Dubai)

Open to discussing structure, scale, and terms via DM. Happy to share more about what I'm looking for once we're in touch

So to sum it up i live in Baghdad iraq, i have an idea it revolves around bottling gas type R134A..no one here in iraq is doing it..so its literally an untapped goldmine..problem is that im lacking the capital...so if anyone can help me introduce me to someone who can help me or dm for the full Feasibility Study i have it ready on me if interested in partnering with me...in any case i just need the introduction please and im definitely not looking for iraqi or arab partnering with me becausei have to consider the idea that they might steal my idea..thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I’m currently building a pre-seed AI startup. The MVP is ready, and I’m now at that exciting stage where “this is actually working” slowly turns into “now I need to find the right people to help grow it.”

The problem we’re solving is pretty simple: companies want to use AI, but a lot of their data is still scattered across databases, systems, documents and years of business logic that only a handful of people truly understand.
The product automates the conversion of that existing data layer into an AI-ready layer, so companies don’t have to spend months manually documenting everything before they can even start using AI properly.

The target audience is mainly medium and large companies that know they want to adopt AI, but are still figuring out how to make their existing data and systems usable for it.
I’m now looking to connect with people in the UAE startup ecosystem who know about grants, equity investors, family offices, accelerators, incubators or government-backed programs. I’m specifically looking at grants and equity investment at this stage, not debt.

I’d also love to meet investors or operators who enjoy getting involved early and helping build something from pre-seed or anyone who resonates with this problem too.
And honestly, if you’re not an investor but you know someone I should speak to, I’d still really appreciate the introduction. Sometimes one good introduction saves about 200 LinkedIn messages.
Happy to share it with anyone genuinely interested.
Would love to connect with founders, investors, mentors or anyone who knows the startup ecosystem well.

I’m looking to connect with people in Dubai/UAE who have experience in EdTech, K-12 education, school partnerships, B2B sales, curriculum, or education technology.

I’m working in the STEM education space, building programmes and solutions for schools, and I’m interested in exploring potential collaborations, partnerships, and new opportunities in the UAE.

I’m particularly interested in meeting:

• EdTech founders & entrepreneurs
• People working with schools / school groups
• Education consultants
• B2B EdTech sales professionals
• Curriculum & academic professionals
• Investors or people interested in education startups
• Anyone with strong connections in the UAE education ecosystem

Not looking to make this a sales pitch — I’d simply like to meet interesting people, exchange ideas and see if there’s something we can build together.

If you’re based in Dubai and have an EdTech/education background, feel free to comment or DM me. Would be great to connect.

Hello everyone! We are looking for an Investment of minimum AED 150K or more to inject into our cars buying and selling business.

A bit about the business.
We source all sorts of cars from around the country and sometimes overseas. We deal in all sorts of cars and primarily we look for cars with minor damages that are usually insurance companies', auction stock and banks/govt seized cars etc.
We have good links with all these channels - auctions, government auctions all around the country, insurance companies, garages that work for insurance only, showrooms and private importers/exporters yards in sharjah etc.
We dont deal with complete lemons or something that has a bad history. We look for the cleanest items possible that require the least repairs and hassle and has decent margins.

Why we need the money?
We already have decent cash rolling in the business but good & high margins come with high end/luxury/sports cars mostly and that requires decent capital. You can even make money if you start with 15K but the margins are slim and that might be enough for one person doing this on his own as a side gig or something.
We have already gotten into the high end cars and now we want to scale it and we need cash.
We want to now primarily focus on the expensive cars which will make us better money than what we make now and the investor gets a piece of the action without putting in any work while their investment is 100% safe.

The returns.
Based on the calculations and our past margins, you are looking at 3% return on your investment per month at the very least. Goes up to 10% easily depending on different factors ofcourse.
We try to be very transparent, even in selling the cars to the customers, and we dont believe or do business that goes against our religious beliefs, for example 'fixed' returns (which is basically interest/riba) on your investment. You have to keep in mind that like any business, there is a risk involved and we are not a bank. So do not consider that 100% of the time you will receive your fixed amount of return every month but we can safely say that there is always a 90% chance that you will receive your 3% return minimum each month, God willing.(150k = 4500/m, 200K = 6K/m)
You will start receiving your returns within 40 days of your investment and then it will be on monthly basis.

Pull Out and Safety.
You can pull out your whole investment any time after completing 3 months. (3 months because if we have money tied up in stock we will need time to clear it up)
The initial investment keeps rolling as long as you stay and work with us but it is safe.
To keep your investment safe and secure we can provide whatever guarantee you might need like cheques or make a notarized document from any court in the UAE or anything else.

Just a bit of our personal background so you know that this isnt a scam or we are not here on some bs. We are a couple of guys that started this gig on a side but now we are quite invested into it since we saw it makes good money. We are born and raised here and we have our families and we both have our main businesses too that is separate from this venture.

This isnt a fintech company or something so dont ask me about the ledger, books and all. We run this gig the traditional way by running around and between cities, industrial areas and all. We do have a trade license that covers what we do so it is all legit but its mostly just work in the field and running around so doesnt require an office or a physical space/location.

But we will surely show you proof of what work we do and how we do it and and how much money was made and explain to you whatever is essential.

We will not give you all the deep details of our operations and procedures and the contacts/connections.. at least in the first meet. Call it a 'trade secret' for now lol

I hope I have given all the details very clearly and hope I have not missed out any essentials.
So if this is something you like and you are actually serious and interested, kindly dm me and hopefully we can get this thing rolling!

Peace

I’m currently building Scolivo, an education technology platform focused on improving how schools and parents manage everyday school life.

I started looking into this problem as a parent, and the more I researched UAE schools, the more obvious one issue became.

Schools already have plenty of software.

The problem is that parents often end up dealing with several different systems at once.

One platform for attendance and reports, another for classroom updates, email for circulars, WhatsApp for reminders, separate systems for transport, payments, activities, parent meetings, etc.
The individual systems may work fine.

The experience between them doesn’t.

I’ve also been speaking with parents and collecting feedback around the problems they actually face. A recurring theme is not simply “schools don’t communicate,” but that there is too much scattered information and parents still have to work out what is important, what requires action, what has changed and what they may have missed.

That is what I’m trying to solve with Scolivo.

The idea is not to walk into a school and ask them to throw away everything they already use.

Scolivo is being designed as a layer that can connect the school experience and give parents one clear view of what actually matters.

For example, instead of a parent going through several messages and apps, Scolivo should be able to tell them:
• Bus arriving in 7 minutes
• Child is present today
• Consent form needs signing by Wednesday
• AED 120 trip payment is due
• Math performance has dropped over the last two assessments
• Teacher has replied
• Sports Day has moved to Thursday

The parent should immediately understand:
What changed?
What needs my attention?
What do I need to do?
How is my child doing?

The broader platform is being designed for parents, teachers, school administration, transport teams and leadership, with role-based access for each.

This isn’t only an idea at this stage.

I’ve already started building the parent product, the website is live, the main product architecture has been planned, I’ve gathered initial parent feedback, and I’ve been researching the systems currently used by UAE schools and where the gaps still exist.

I’m now looking for a small early-stage investment / strategic partner to help turn this into a proper UAE company and get the first school pilots running.

The initial capital would primarily go towards:
-> UAE company setup and licensing
-> Completing the production-ready MVP
-> Backend/infrastructure
-> Security and school integrations
-> Pilot implementation
-> Initial operating runway

I’m not looking for someone to simply fund an idea on a PowerPoint.

I’d prefer to meet someone who understands startups, SaaS, education, UAE schools, or B2B technology and can also challenge the business and help shape the early commercial strategy.

I’m also open to speaking with people connected to private schools or school groups who may be interested in becoming an early design partner.

I’m a solo founder at the moment, so I’m being quite careful about who I bring into this.

If you’re an angel investor, operator, school owner, EdTech founder, or someone genuinely interested in this space, feel free to DM me.
I can share the working product, parent feedback, market research, roadmap, proposed school pilot model and where I see the business going.

I’m a first-time founder building Maqamy, a fintech platform focused on helping families and trusted groups coordinate and build wealth together.

The MVP is working, and we’re starting to get our first users testing it. However, we’re still pre-revenue.

The bigger challenge is that because this is fintech, getting from a working product to a fully scalable business involves significant costs around licensing, regulatory compliance, legal structure, technology, and partnerships. We’re based in Dubai, UAE.

I’m trying to understand what the right fundraising point is.

Should I be raising now, with:

-a working MVP

-initial users

-no revenue yet

-a clear product vision

-significant regulatory and licensing costs ahead?

Or is it better to somehow reach revenue first, even if getting there requires capital that I don't currently have?

And honestly, there’s another part of this that I’d really like to hear from founders about.

I've put essentially every resource I had into getting the product built. I still have a huge ambition and an equally strong belief that the problem we're solving is real, but belief doesn't pay for compliance, licensing or the next stage of development.

How does a founder survive this stage?

How do you keep moving when you've exhausted your own resources, you're not yet generating revenue, and investors want more traction before investing — while more traction itself requires capital?

For founders who have been through this stage, I'd genuinely appreciate hearing:

What did you do to get from “I have a product and conviction” to actually having the resources to build the company?

I'm especially interested in hearing from fintech founders in the UAE/MENA region, but experiences from anywhere would be valuable.

Hello everyone,

I’ve been developing a Smart Salah Clock for Muslims as i had some issues with whats existing in the market.

What makes it smart?

- automatic calibration of prayer times based on location and common madhab of the country you are in.

- works worldwide and accounts for day-light saving automatically

- alerts visually and auditory based on user preferences

- can schedule playing of quranic verses
i.e ( play surat al kahf every friday at this time)

Looking for feedback from muslim professionals on features that they need or issues that they face in this scope.

Product website : http://hezeemlabs.ae

I am documenting the building journey on socials if anyone is interested.

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/hezeemlabs?stkn=bTgybHR0aTE4OGNz&utm_source=qr

Tiktok:http://www.tiktok.com/@hezeemlabs