Practical notes on entering, operating and — where it comes to it — leaving the Middle East. Written from having done it, not from having read about it.
13 articles, written from having done it. Start with the question you are actually asking.
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Deciding whether to go, and what it costs to arrive properly.
The impasse every vendor hits entering the Middle East, the four ways out of it, and where three years of quarterly visits actually go.
Why the Gulf entry sequence works, what it is really a proxy for, and which assets actually cross the border from the UAE into Saudi Arabia and the smaller markets.
Whether this region is right for your business comes down to four conditions. Two of them are the ones every vendor arrives having already tested, and neither is what fails.
Three parts, written from inside a fifteen-year build.
How a US display start-up built a Middle East business from nothing: no entity, no employee, and fifteen months before anyone could see the product.
A hardware company pivoted to enterprise software. The region executed it well and the subscription model still did not arrive: the Gulf bought by the room.
A value-engineering decision removed an entire segment from a regional business. What carried the Middle East afterwards was the service annuity.
Who you appoint, what you grant them, and what it costs to change your mind.
What vendors screen for when appointing a Gulf distributor, versus what actually predicts whether a partner will sell. The question is substitutability.
A distributor is your office in the territory. A partner is the last mile. One is singular by nature, the other plural, and confusing them costs years.
What exclusivity actually costs a vendor, whether UAE commercial agency law applies to you, and what to settle before you sign. Current as at August 2026.
The first hire, and the job that is not on the offer letter.
Leaving in a way that leaves the door open.
How projects are actually decided here, and how to tell which of yours are real.
Why a Gulf tender is decided during specification rather than at the bid, what prequalification actually asks for, and where projects are stopped after the award.
How to qualify a Gulf pipeline: the questions that separate a real project from an enquiry, and why most of the answers come from people other than your buyer.
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