Why Business Growth Requires License Agility in the UAE and Beyond

29 October 2025 - Jade Wong

Businesses experience changes all the time. Whether it’s new activities, new shareholders, new names, or new locations, changes to your business are inevitable. An important thing to consider is that your trade license has to change too.

In Abu Dhabi, and across the UAE and GCC, a trade license is more than a piece of paper, it’s the legal record of what your business does and who runs it. If something changes in your company and the license doesn’t match, it can cause issues with banks, contracts, or future renewals and approval processes.

That is why license amendments form a large part of what we do, helping companies keep their licenses up to date. Most amendments are straightforward - adding or removing activities, updating owners, or changing signatories.

One recent case in Abu Dhabi involved a marketing company expanding into IT and cloud services.

The Situation:

The client was expanding and needed to add new business activities to their trade license, including wholesale of tools and accessories, computer network extensions, software trading, and cloud computing services.

They also had two shareholder changes. In total the entity has 4 partners with equal shareholding. One shareholder wanted to transfer her shares from herself as an individual to her UK company. Another shareholder had received a Golden Visa and needed to become the new signatory on the trade license, replacing the current GM.

What We Did:

We handled the entire license amendment process:

Prepared and submitted the legal documents and MOA changes.
Obtained UAE Media Council approval for the new activities.
Coordinated with DED for the updated trade license.
Managed the share transfer and signatory change.

Among other key amendments, the company received an updated trade license reflecting all new activities and ownership details, keeping it fully compliant and ready to continue operations without delays.

Although this example was specific to Abu Dhabi, in practice, this applies everywhere in the GCC. Businesses are growing fast, and licenses need to keep up. Making these updates on time keeps companies compliant and ready for what’s next.

For support with your trade license processes including obtaining the license, renewing or in this case updating or making amends to your UAE licenses, contact me via the button below.