Who this is for
Companies large enough to have real operational problems and too small to justify a partner from a global consultancy at a rate that would consume the entire budget for solving them. Typically businesses between five and two hundred people, in the UAE or entering it.
Three things we do
Management and strategy advisory
Working through a specific decision with the people who have to live with it: whether to enter a market, whether to take on a partner, how to price, whether the business model actually works at the volumes assumed. The deliverable is a decision with the reasoning written down, not a hundred-page document nobody reads twice.
End-to-end project coordination
Owning delivery of a defined project, with a plan, a schedule, named responsibilities and reporting you can actually act on. Common engagements: a new site or facility, a systems migration, a market launch, an operational restructure. The value is having one person accountable for the whole thing rather than five people each accountable for a piece.
Proposals, decks and mandate packs
Preparation of the documents a business is judged on: tender responses, investor decks, capability statements, mandate packs. Most SMEs write these under time pressure by whoever is least busy, and it shows in the win rate.
How we scope and price
| Engagement | Shape | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory sprint | Two to four weeks on a defined decision, with a written recommendation | Fixed |
| Project coordination | Duration of the project, defined deliverables and reporting | Monthly retainer |
| Document preparation | Per document, agreed brief and revision rounds | Fixed per document |
We quote a fixed figure against a written scope. If the scope changes, we re-quote before doing the work rather than after. Open-ended day rates are how consultancy engagements quietly become permanent, and we would rather not.
How we work
- We talk to the people doing the job, not only the people who commissioned us. The gap between the two is usually where the problem is.
- We write things down. Every recommendation comes with the reasoning and the assumptions, so you can revisit it when circumstances change.
- We say when we do not know. Confident answers to questions nobody has evidence for are the least valuable thing a consultant produces.
- We finish. An engagement has an end date agreed at the start.
What we are not
Whose side we are on
Al Hisn Partners acts for the client and only the client. We are retained by you, we take instructions from you, and our fee is paid by you.
We do not take fees from software vendors, suppliers or providers we recommend during an engagement. That is a common and largely invisible practice in consultancy, and it quietly shapes the recommendation.
Common questions
How is this different from a big consultancy?
Scale and price. We work with companies between roughly five and two hundred people, at fees built for that size, and the person you meet is the person who does the work. What we cannot offer is a large team for a very large programme.
Do you charge day rates?
No. We quote a fixed fee against a written scope. If the scope changes we re-quote before doing the work. Open-ended day rates tend to turn short engagements into long ones.
Will you help implement, or only advise?
Both, and we prefer both. Project coordination engagements are delivery work with us accountable for the outcome, not a report handed over at the end.
Can you write our tender response or investor deck?
Yes, that is a defined service with a fixed fee per document. We work from a brief and an agreed number of revision rounds.
What if we need legal or tax advice during the engagement?
We bring in an appropriately qualified firm and coordinate them. We do not give legal or tax advice ourselves and will say so plainly when a question crosses that line.
Who pays you, and do you ever take a fee from the other side?
Our client pays us, and only our client. We do not accept a fee, commission, rebate or referral payment from a counterparty, or from any agent, provider, supplier or institution we introduce or work alongside. If one is offered, we decline it. This applies across every service we provide, without exception.