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Drones are revolutionizing the way that many companies do business all over the world, and that’s not limited to just a few countries. Though everyone feels the impact, not every country handles the growth the same. The United States is under FAA regulation and Canada follows Transport Canada rules; what do the laws and regulations look like in countries within the Middle East, and how do they're projects influence the market in unique ways?

On this episode of Propelling, we sat down with Charles Al Rachid, Middle East regional sales manager for Microdrones, and since 2009, he’s been with the company that started using drones as a service. Back then the Middle East had no regulations for drone technology to be implemented in the market, but he and his team worked with different government agencies within the UAE and Saudi Arabia, paving the way for some of these regulations that have taken shape over the years. According to Al Rachid, the goal is always to enable companies “to be able to provide their services in a safe, secure, and legal way.”

And they’ve definitely revolutionized the certification process as well. It used to be that an inspector would come out, watch you utilize the drone, analyze and evaluate data, followed with a lengthy trail of paperwork. Now in 2019, it’s completely online, with pilots merely having to pass an evaluation to become licensed and companies having to register their drones. Any company can have multiple drones, but all drones need to be registered, and with each permit, you have to specify which pilot will be operating which drone. It’s a “very easy, quite straightforward automated online process,” Al Rachid said.

Where things get tricky is a variety of different rules and regulations. The region hasn't unified their drone regulation under one framework, meaning from city to city, drone pilots are going to fly by different rules. Sometimes the changes are small and minute, sometimes they're drastic. Al Rachid points to a need for educating pilots on the ever-changing and diverse set of regulations in the Middle East.

Listen to Al Rachid explain the most interesting use cases for drones in the Middle East, the best ways to get clients to find tangible benefits from implementing drones into their workflow, and the biggest inhibitor for the growth of the drone market (as well as the greatest positive catalyst) in his region.