From investment banker to farmer: Why Dubai founder says UAE needs vertical farming now

Dubai: The UAE imports the vast majority of what it eats. And Roman Ulyanov, founder and CEO of high-end vertical farm Greeneration, believes that it is a vulnerability the country can no longer afford to ignore — and he and some other investors has spent $5 million building an alternative.

Walking through Greeneration's facility — a climate-controlled warehouse positioned midway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi — Ulyanov does not look like a typical farmer.

He speaks in the measured cadence of a finance professional, which is what he was before he stumbled into agriculture. “Greeneration is my baby,” said Ulyanov.

Today, his company supplies edible flowers, speciality leaves, microgreens, and vegetables to more than 350 restaurants and hotels across the UAE, from Atlantis to Jumeirah properties.

Ulyanov said Greeneration enjoyed growth at 15 to 20 per cent month-on-month in its early years.

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The banker who bet on farming

Ulyanov's path into vertical farming began not in a field but in a boardroom. "I'm an investment banker originally," he says.

"I was looking for prominent investments for my fund, and that was the moment I found vertical farming as a concept." His institution passed on the opportunity. He did not.

Starting in 2019 with a group of enthusiasts and what he describes as experiments "in a garage," Ulyanov spent years travelling to study vertical farming operations in Europe, Japan, and North America.

He tested container farms, large-scale facilities, and software-led growing systems before arriving at a clear conclusion: the real bottleneck in this industry was not technology — it was operations.

"There are a lot of reputable companies that can help you design and build a farm, and then they walk away," he says. "That region is especially critical. Greenhouses delivered, great design, a lot of money spent — and then we struggle to manage them." Greeneration’s answer was to stay in the room.

How the farm works

Greeneration's growing process begins with water from the central municipal supply, filtered through a reverse osmosis station and chilled to around 24 degrees Celsius — a necessary step, Ulyanov explains, because plants cannot absorb water above 30 degrees.

The cooled water is then mixed with minerals, including calcium and magnesium, creating what he calls a "super potion" of nutrients. The farm uses no soil.

Instead, seeds are planted in rockwool – a fire-resilient stone wool insulation manufactured from basalt - a dark, fine-grained volcanic rock- melted at roughly 1,400 degrees Celsius into a sponge-like cube, sourced from a local factory.

"We try to source as much locally as possible," Ulyanov says. "That is one of our core values."

Different plant varieties in growth stages receive different nutrient mixtures. Over 55 varieties currently grow across three rooms, with more than 70 crops in production across the company's two facilities.

They include speciality leaves such as Shiso red leaves, watercress leaves and ice plants. In the microgreens category, the farm grows broccoli, arugula, kale, coriander, mustard greens, chives, and more. The farm also grows a wide range of edible flowers, including marigold gem, begonia, buzz buttons and Egyptian star flowers.

Propagation hub, greenhouse integration

Greeneration's also works as a propagation hub - a nursery for plants that are later moved to conventional greenhouses.

"Vertical farming is amazing for growing rare ingredients that require extra attention," Ulyanov says. "We like to say it is like a Burj Al Arab for plants — perfect climate, perfect light, imitating an Italian spring."

Delicate crops such as edible flowers and speciality leaves remain in the controlled indoor environment. Sturdier produce — strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers — begins its life in the vertical farm before being transferred to rented greenhouses, where Greeneration can scale production more economically.

"The most challenging part is growing small strawberry plants," Ulyanov explains. "Once we have done it, they become stronger, like teenagers, and then they are ready to move into the more aggressive environment of the greenhouse."

Who needs the flowers?

Greeneration's 350 active clients span the UAE's top hospitality groups, including Ossiano, Five, Jumeirah, Four Seasons, Avtara, and more. The company operates its own cold-storage vans and direct sales team rather than relying on distributors — a deliberate choice rooted in the nature of its product.

Ulyanov said, “We try to co-create with chefs.” That often brings interesting requests like specific potato varieties from Dutch growing regions, bespoke high-nutrient kale varieties, or Japanese-style strawberries with a particular sweetness profile.

 The impact of war

The conflict in the wider region has placed fresh pressure on the UAE's food supply chain. Ulyanov says land freight prices between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have nearly doubled, while air freight costs have risen sharply alongside fuel prices. This has pushed up the cost of imported produce across the board.

Alexandra Levkova, COO at Greeneration, said the company has responded with a series of customer support measures: minimum order quantities have been reduced, payment terms have been extended, and deliveries now run twice daily rather than once.

"We are on the same boat," she said while speaking about the company's relationship with suppliers and clients. "We need to support each other."

Ulyanov is matter of fact about the broader significance of the moment. “Imports started to be really expensive,” he says. “And we are literally an alternative to round supply.”

The current Greeneration operation — two farms, 2,000 square metres of growing area at the main facility, a team of more than 15 full-time staff supported by around 30 part-time workers — represents an investment of over $5 million.

All profits are currently reinvested. "We don't want to stop at edible flowers and leaves," Ulyanov says. Future ambitions include premium mushrooms, functional foods — among them a kale variety enriched with the amino acid GABA — and a deeper push into the retail segment in partnership with a major distributor.

On the broader question of whether the UAE can ever be truly food self-sufficient, Ulyanov is realistic. "I don't think it is possible to replicate 100 per cent food production here, and there is no such a goal," he says.

"But in case things go really bad, you need to have some food to survive. That is why it is important to double down on local production."