SHARJAH – Sharjah Publishing City (SPC) has become the hub free zone exclusively for publishing and printing industries in just one year of its launch, says a press release issued by the organisation here on Sunday.
Today, 17 countries, from UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, France, Britain, India, China, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Ghana and Nigeria, are operating out of the 40,000-sqm state-of-the-art facility, which is functioning as their launching pad in the Gulf and the wider regions.
Several UAE-based publishers and allied businesses have also set up operations in SPC Free Zone.
With a multitude of logistical and professional services including printers, editors, translators, illustrators, marketing and promotions, rights trading tables, and even training, and logistics and distribution services, SPC’s state-of-the-art facilities have created a robust business ecosystem, and offer businesses the key opportunity to distribute content close to these regional markets, since speed is always a consideration, especially when shipping from the US or UK.
Culturally, the SPC Free Zone is a vibrant melting pot, which has brought together companies from a diversity of regions and nations from around the world, who are not just exploring new markets to expand operations, but also boosting the cultural movement led by Sharjah in knowledge sharing and exchange of expertise.
SPC Free Zone is also home to many of the UAE’s leading literary and cultural institutions; the Emirates Publishers Association, Emirates Writers Union, Arab Children Book Publisher’s Forum, Emirates Library, and Information Association, and The General Union of Arab Writers.
Their presence is extremely beneficial to new companies in the market and across the Arab region who are offered much-needed intelligence and counsel to understand the region’s unique needs and business environment. Local companies set up at SPC Free Zone are an added advantage as many of them offer essential allied publishing services, like Print-On-Demand and Off-Set facilities that make book production and distribution easy and cost-effective, especially for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Salim Omar Salim, Director of SPC, said: “Sharjah Publishing City reflects our ambitions to support the publishing industry, engage with the world, and become a regional cultural hub. The energetic response we have received from big players in the industry and boutique publishers alike to establish operations out of this state-of-the-art base have been so encouraging that we are all geared up to expand SPC Free Zone to offer more office spaces and business services, whenever the need arises.”
“We continue to build partnerships with regional and international publishing and printing businesses to come here in Sharjah, and further diversify the profile of companies and services at the City, which will further benefit our clientele and support their expansion activities in local, regional and international markets. This will go a long way in achieving our strategic goal of positioning SPC Free Zone as a key enabler of the regional publishing sector,” he added.
SPC Free Zone opened its doors to the global publishing market last year as a response to the growing need for a specialized publishing hub in the Arab region that can offer world-class infrastructure, strong air and sea links, supportive laws and flexible government regulations, competitive costs and a skilled in-house workforce to support the regional operations of international businesses.
SPC Free Zone was established in 2017 as the world’s very first publishing free zone offering those in the book industry the opportunity to capitalize on an array of benefits emerging from operating within a free zone environment. Further benefits also include the ideal location, at the epicenter of the globe with all the advantages of having the MENA, African and Asian region’s marketplace to hand.
