With more than 18 years of international experience across Africa, the Middle East, and the United States, Grace El Mahmoud Marabe, Consul General of the Republic of Ghana to Dubai and the Northern Emirates, brings a distinguished legal, business, and diplomatic profile to her role. Holding advanced degrees in Law and Global Business Management, she has led high-level advisory, investment, and governance initiatives across both public and private sectors.
Her extensive understanding of the Gulf region’s business culture, regulatory frameworks, and institutional landscape allows her to operate effectively at the intersection of diplomacy and economic development. As Consul General, Ms. Marabe is deeply committed to strengthening Ghana’s economic and diplomatic presence in the United Arab Emirates, with a strong focus on promoting sustainable investment, trade expansion, and strategic cooperation.
In this interview, Ms. Marabe offers her perspective on Ghana–UAE relations, priority sectors for bilateral collaboration, and her vision for building long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships between Ghana and the UAE.
As Ghana’s Consul-General in Dubai with deep UAE market experience, what are the key commercial opportunities you see today for African companies looking to enter the Gulf — and what practical first steps should they take?
As Ghana’s Consul-General in Dubai, I see the Gulf and particularly the UAE as one of the most strategic and accessible entry points for African businesses seeking global scale. The strongest opportunities today lie in food and agro-processing, where the region depends heavily on imports, brands that can meet quality and packaging standards. In addition, commodities with full traceability; and services exports such as logistics, fintech, tourism, and professional services that support growing Africa–Gulf trade flows. The UAE is not just a consumer market, but a powerful re-export and regional headquarters hub linking Africa to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
As practical first steps, African companies should engage early with their embassies and consulates to support partner due diligence, validate counterparties, and access credible networks. Equally critical is thorough market research to ensure the correct business registration, licensing, and activity classification, alongside securing all required certifications, regulatory approvals, and product compliance before entering the market.
The UAE is not just a consumer market, but a powerful re-export and regional headquarters hub linking Africa to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
Based on your work strengthening Ghana–UAE trade and investment relations, what strategies have proven most effective in attracting Gulf investors to African markets, and how can African businesses make themselves more “Gulf-ready”?
Based on my work strengthening Ghana–UAE trade and investment relations, the most effective strategy for attracting Gulf investors has been positioning Ghana as a stable, rules-based and investment-ready democracy within West Africa. Ghana’s long-standing democratic credentials, peaceful political transitions, and predictable legal framework resonate strongly with Gulf investors who prioritise stability, continuity, and risk mitigation. Investor engagement anchored through government and diplomatic channels such as embassy-led roadshows, structured B2B forums, and sovereign or institutional partnerships has proven far more effective than isolated deal-making.
For Ghanaian and African businesses, becoming “Gulf-ready” requires operating to international and Gulf market standards from the beginning. This means strong corporate governance, clear ownership structures, audited financials, and full regulatory and certification compliance. As stated above, early engagement with embassies and consulates is essential to support partner due diligence, validate counterparties, and guide proper business registration and licensing.
Events like African Marketplace 2025 showcase African culture and businesses in Dubai. How important are platforms like these for building long-term commercial partnerships, and what advice do you have for African entrepreneurs participating in them?
Platforms such as African Marketplace 2025 are extremely important because they move African engagement in the Gulf beyond visibility into relationship-building and commercial credibility. In a market like Dubai, trust, consistency, and personal relationships drive business. Therefore, these platforms create a neutral, high-quality environment for African culture, brands, and enterprises to be seen, understood, and validated.
For African entrepreneurs, the key is to treat these platforms as business entry points, not cultural showcases alone. Participants should arrive prepared with clear value propositions, compliant products, proper documentation, and a strong understanding of the Gulf market.
For African entrepreneurs, the key is to treat these platforms as business entry points, not cultural showcases alone.
From your dual perspective as a diplomat and former management consultant, what are the biggest misconceptions African companies have about doing business in the Gulf — and how can they better adapt to regional business norms and expectations?
From my dual perspective, the biggest misconception African companies have about the Gulf is that it is a quick-win, cash-rich market where relationships alone close deals. In reality, the Gulf, and especially the UAE, is highly sophisticated, tightly regulated, and deeply competitive. Trust matters, but it is built through consistency, compliance, and delivery over time.
To adapt successfully, African companies must approach the Gulf with a long-term, professional mindset. This means investing in proper market research, understanding regulatory and cultural expectations. Businesses should be precise about business registration and activity licensing, prepared for rigorous compliance checks, and patient in building relationships that evolve over multiple meetings. Those that succeed are the ones that match strong African opportunities with Gulf-level professionalism.
How can consulates and diplomatic missions like yours play a more proactive role in supporting African SMEs and startups aiming to expand into the UAE and the wider GCC, especially in sectors like tech, agriculture, and creative industries?
Consulates and diplomatic missions can play a proactive role by moving beyond protocol into structured commercial facilitation for African SMEs and startups. This starts with organising targeted SME forums, sector-specific roadshows, and curated pitch sessions in the UAE and across the GCC, aligned to priority sectors such as tech, agriculture, and the creative industries. When these engagements are anchored by diplomatic missions, they carry credibility and attract the right mix of investors, distributors, accelerators, and government-linked entities. Equally important is the active presence of missions at industry expos, innovation summits, trade fairs, and cultural platforms, where early conversations and partnerships are often formed long before formal deals are signed
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