His journey from a small town in Pakistan to becoming a business owner in Dubai is a story of resilience and ambition.
Dubai: When Ammar Akhtar launched Finalrentals, he had just Dh15,000 left after paying for licensing and business setup.
There were no investors, no bank loans, and no advertising budget.
Instead, the Pakistani entrepreneur relied on years of industry experience, technology, and organic online growth to build what has since become a global car rental platform operating across multiple countries.
His story is one of persistence, calculated risk, and a belief that Dubai offered opportunities unavailable anywhere else.
From a Small Town in Pakistan to Dubai
Akhtar arrived in Dubai on 20 January 2007 from a small town in Pakistan with limited savings and no detailed business plan.
What he did have, he says, was conviction.
“The thing I remember most clearly is the certainty. I had grown up in a small town in Pakistan, and I had this very specific thought when I arrived: this is the place where I need to be.”
Like many newcomers, his first year proved difficult. He worked on consulting assignments while searching for a sustainable business model.
Within a year, he had run out of money.
Yet he never considered leaving.
“Dubai coaches you for the big leagues. The challenges and the commercial grooming start from day one, and the city teaches you never to give up because Dubai never gives up.”
Responsibility Shaped His Work Ethic
As the eldest of seven siblings, Akhtar began working from a young age to help support his family.
Long working days became normal well before he moved to the UAE.
“Being the eldest of seven means you stop being a child earlier than other people.”
That responsibility later shaped his approach to entrepreneurship.
“It teaches you that effort is non-negotiable, and it teaches you that other people are depending on whether you show up or not.”
The Career Opportunity That Changed Everything
Akhtar’s breakthrough came when he joined Budget Rent a Car as Chief Software Architect.
His role involved building the company’s online booking platform, introducing him to an industry that would define the next phase of his career.
Over the following years, he developed booking systems for more than 100 car rental companies, including international brands such as Thrifty, Dollar, and Payless.
The experience gave him deep insight into how rental businesses operated and where the industry was falling behind.
“I did not choose the industry; the industry chose me.”
Building Finalrentals With Dh15,000
In December 2016, Akhtar decided to stop building technology for other companies and launch his own platform.
He invested Dh32,000 into the business.
After completing licensing and setup formalities, only Dh15,000 remained as working capital.
Rather than borrowing money, he designed the company around efficiency.
Advertising was immediately ruled out because it simply wasn’t affordable.
Instead, he created a proprietary search optimisation system he calls SEO DIP, enabling individual pages to rank for highly specific search terms such as “rent a car in Karama.”
“The biggest single decision was refusing to spend on advertising because I could not afford to.”
That strategy allowed Finalrentals to generate most of its customer traffic through organic search instead of paid marketing.
“Constraint forced the innovation. It usually does.”
Solving a Problem for Independent Rental Companies
Akhtar believed many independent car rental companies offered excellent customer service but lacked the digital capabilities to compete online.
Large international brands dominated internet bookings, while smaller operators struggled for visibility.
Finalrentals was designed to bridge that gap by giving local rental companies access to modern booking technology and wider customer reach without requiring them to build expensive digital platforms themselves.
Dubai Provided the Right Ecosystem
Akhtar credits Dubai’s business environment with helping transform his idea into a scalable company.
He believes the city’s fast business setup processes, international talent pool, and entrepreneurial culture create an environment where founders can focus on execution rather than bureaucracy.
“Dubai removes friction that other cities treat as normal. The speed of setting something up, the assumption that ambition is healthy rather than suspicious, and the sheer density of people from everywhere who came specifically to build, all of it compounds.”
At the same time, he says success is never guaranteed.
“It is genuinely meritocratic in the hard sense. Nobody is going to carry you, and the city does not owe you a soft landing.”
Advice for Entrepreneurs
Having built Finalrentals without outside funding, Akhtar encourages founders to prioritise solving real customer problems instead of chasing investors too early.
“The most common mistake I see is people doing simple things in the most complicated way, usually to look impressive to investors who are not even in the room yet. You do not need their permission, and at the start you may not need their money.”
Today, Akhtar still describes himself as a homegrown Dubai entrepreneur.
“Dubai is the place that made me. I arrived from a small town in Pakistan with almost nothing, and Dubai is where I learned who I could be.”
For him, the city’s greatest contribution was not just providing business opportunities but creating an ecosystem where determination, skill, and persistence could be turned into lasting success.
