Dubai has named the winners of the first Dubai-it Award, and one of them has spent more than two decades turning a bold idea into one of the world's great trade hubs.
On 4 November, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, announced His Excellency Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and CEO of DMCC, as the winner in the Project Managers category. The award recognises his work developing Dubai's diamond trade and establishing trade hubs across multiple sectors.
An award for results
The Dubai-it Award honours individuals, businesses, institutions and projects for exceptional execution, innovation and measurable impact. Sheikh Hamdan described it as showing Dubai's philosophy of work in action across every field. This week's winners also include Emirates NBD, Mahdi Amjad of Omniyat, Ounass, Charlie Wright of Humantra and Chef Izu Ani.
For anyone who has watched DMCC grow, the choice makes sense. His Excellency joined DMCC in its early years and has led it as Executive Chairman since 2007. Under his leadership it has become a global trade hub that, according to Entrepreneur Middle East, is home to more than 26,000 companies from over 180 countries, employing more than 90,000 people.
Far more than a free zone
DMCC is often described as a free zone. In practice it works more like a family of industries under one roof. Diamonds, gold and precious metals sit alongside the DMCC Coffee Centre and the DMCC Tea Centre, where physical goods move through Dubai to the world. Next to them are the newer economies: the DMCC Crypto Centre, the DMCC Gaming Centre, the DMCC AI Centre and now DMCC Quantum, the home for post-quantum technology.
That range is the point. The same leadership that built a physical trade in commodities has kept opening doors for what comes next, long before those sectors were obvious.
Why this matters to bonuz
bonuz has a personal reason to celebrate. Bonuz Technology DMCC, the Dubai company behind the bonuz consumer apps, has called DMCC home since 2021 as part of the Crypto Centre community, and works from Uptown Tower.
Serious technology takes time, and so do towers. Over five years we have written almost 2.2 million lines of code, building consumer software that has to work for real people in the real world. We chose DMCC for that long road, because it stands for the same thing this award rewards: doing the work, to the highest standard, for the long term. Next we plan to register a post-quantum login module we have built in the DMCC Quantum zone. These are exciting times, and we are excited for more businesses to build here with us.
To His Excellency Ahmed Bin Sulayem and the whole DMCC team, our warmest congratulations. This recognition is well deserved, and we are proud to build from your home.
