Before you spend a dirham on setup, you need to know whether the market actually wants what you're selling, and where the competition already sits. We carry out detailed feasibility studies across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman, looking at demand, regulation, cultural fit, and the competitive landscape.

The output is a clear picture of whether your product or service has a viable market, and what it will realistically take to win it.

A well-structured business plan isn't just for investors. It's the document that forces you to think through how the business actually works on the ground. We help build plans that are grounded in the realities of operating in the GCC: licensing costs, staffing requirements, regulatory timelines, and realistic revenue projections.

• Objectives and operational structure
• Competitor analysis
• Proposed products or services
• Financial projections
• Marketing and go-to-market strategy

Once you know the market makes sense, the next question is how to enter it. The UAE alone has over 40 free zones, multiple mainland jurisdictions, and a constantly evolving regulatory environment. Getting this wrong at the start costs far more to fix later.

We advise on the right structure for your business, whether that's a mainland LLC, a free zone entity, a branch of a foreign company, or a financial zone like DIFC or ADGM, and guide you through every step of getting it set up.

• Jurisdiction and structure selection
• Regulatory and licensing requirements
• Risk assessment and compliance planning
• Business networking and relationship development
• Ongoing growth strategy

A mainland company lets you operate anywhere in the UAE, including government contracts and direct trade with local businesses. It's the most flexible structure for companies that want to build a real presence here rather than just a registered address.

Depending on your business activity, an LLC can now be 100% foreign-owned. We carry out licensing feasibility upfront to determine the ownership rules that apply to your specific activities, so there are no surprises later.

• DED licensing across all seven Emirates
• LLC incorporation (2–50 shareholders)
• 100% foreign ownership assessment
• General Manager residency requirements
• Share capital planning by activity type

The UAE has over 40 specialised free zones, each with its own licensing authority, rules, and advantages. The right free zone depends on your industry, your ownership requirements, and how you plan to operate. Choosing the wrong one can limit your options significantly.

We match you to the most suitable free zone and manage the setup end to end, including DIFC and ADGM for financial services and regulated activities.

If you're a foreign company that wants a legal presence in the UAE without setting up a fully independent entity, a branch or representative office can be the right move. Branches allow 100% foreign ownership and are well-suited to professional and services-led businesses.

Representative offices are ideal for companies looking to market and promote their products or services in the UAE without trading directly. We advise on the right structure and manage the approvals process.

For individuals operating in professional or consultancy fields (lawyers, engineers, doctors, accountants, consultants) a sole establishment or civil company structure is often the most appropriate route. We handle the licensing and local services agent appointment where required.

For companies involved in mergers, acquisitions, or high-value transactions, we provide escrow administration services: a secure, neutral platform for the exchange of funds or assets until all agreed conditions have been met.

This protects both parties and ensures the transaction completes cleanly, whether it involves a business sale, real estate, or a staged development project.

Most businesses entering the Middle East for the first time aren't structured to run well here. The regulatory environment, the ownership rules, and the way different jurisdictions interact all create complexity that isn't obvious from the outside.

We look at five core areas when working through a structuring exercise with a client:

• Resources vs. available infrastructure: what you have and what you actually need
• Technology and operational systems: where process can replace overhead
• Core competency focus: what the business should be doing vs. outsourcing
• HR allocation: the right people in the right roles
• Cost reduction: where spend isn't generating return

For clients operating across multiple business lines, geographies, or asset classes, the right group structure is critical, both for operational efficiency and for protecting different parts of the business from each other's risk.

We advise on holding company structures, IP ownership, inter-company arrangements, and how to use the UAE's free zone and financial zone framework to create structures that are tax-efficient, legally clean, and genuinely easy to manage.

Sometimes a business has grown organically in ways that made sense at the time but now create inefficiency, compliance risk, or barriers to raising capital or attracting investors. We help identify those problems and restructure around them.

For mergers and acquisitions, we provide escrow administration services: a secure platform for managing funds and assets during a transaction, protecting both parties until all conditions have been satisfied.

Every foreign national working in the UAE needs an employment visa, and the requirements vary depending on the type of company, the jurisdiction, and the individual's role and nationality. The process involves the Labour and Immigration authorities, and getting it wrong causes delays that cost businesses real money.

We manage the entire process from start to finish, from initial approvals through to visa stamping and Emirates ID registration, so your people can get to work without unnecessary hold-ups.

• Employment visa applications
• Investor and partner visas
• Dependent and family visas
• Emirates ID registration
• Labour and immigration account management

Growing a business in the UAE often means building a team quickly, moving people into new roles, or bringing in expertise from outside the region. We help businesses plan for that, making sure the right people are in the right structures and that the organisation can scale without creating HR problems down the line.

• Team structure and role planning
• Onboarding frameworks for new hires
• Training and capability development
• UAE Labour Law compliance

Getting the right trade licence for your activity is foundational. The wrong one creates problems that are expensive to unwind. Our team manages the licensing process across all UAE jurisdictions and handles the paperwork so it gets done properly the first time.

Opening a corporate bank account in the UAE has become significantly more involved in recent years. Banks require detailed documentation on ownership structures, source of funds, and business activity. We guide you through what's needed and help present your application in a way that gives it the best chance of approval.

• Trade licence applications and renewals
• Banking introductions and application support
• KYC documentation preparation
• Ownership structure documentation

Documents originating outside the UAE must go through a specific legalisation process before UAE authorities will recognise them. This involves notarisation in the home country, attestation by that country's Foreign Ministry, and then attestation by the UAE Embassy in that jurisdiction.

It's time-consuming and easy to get wrong. We handle the whole chain, including pre and post-employment requirements with the Ministry of Labour and the Immigration Department.

The UAE's regulatory landscape has changed significantly in recent years, from 100% foreign ownership reforms to new obligations around AML, Economic Substance, UBO registers, and annual statutory filings. Keeping up with these requirements is a real administrative burden for most businesses.

We manage the compliance calendar for our clients, making sure nothing is missed and that every filing is submitted correctly and on time.

• Annual trade licence renewal
• AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance
• ESR (Economic Substance Regulations) filings
• UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) register maintenance
• Labour and immigration account management
• AGM preparation and documentation

Good governance doesn't happen by accident. We provide ongoing company secretarial support for businesses that want their corporate records maintained properly, covering board and shareholder documentation through to statutory updates and authority coordination.

This is particularly important for businesses with international shareholders or investors who require clear, accurate corporate records for reporting purposes.

• Board and shareholder meeting support
• Statutory records maintenance
• Corporate filings and authority coordination
• Document management and archiving