Who we are and
what we do
Advisory in trade, marketing and human capital — delivered by consultants who've done the job themselves, not just advised on it.
Every stage, one direction
How we work, whatever the engagement
One owner per stage
A single named owner on your side and one on ours. Decisions do not wait for a committee.
Fortnightly checkpoints
Short and written, always ending in a decision or a dated next step.
Evidence before opinion
Data from the market, not from a slide library. When we are estimating, we say so.
Built for the relevant market
Structures, partners and messaging chosen for how your market actually works.
Three practices, one firm
Growth rarely fits inside a single specialism
Trade advisory
Structures, routes and partners for moving goods and money across borders.
- Market intelligence
- Route to market and partners
- Compliance, customs and logistics
- Company set-up, accounting and finance
Marketing advisory
Technology, brand and product that turn demand into paying customers.
- Marketing technology & CRM transformation
- Full marketing life-cycle audit
- Brand and product development
- Marketing organization review & consultation
Human capital advisory
Talent and people systems — on its own, paired with our trade advisory, or as any combination of the three practices.
- Talent acquisition and executive search
- Workforce planning and org design
- Learning and development
- Performance, pay and HR systems
Trade advisory
From the first market question to a running company with goods on the shelf.
The trade journey
Five stages. We can run one, or all of them.
Bringing a product into the Gulf, mapped end to end.
Market intelligence
Before a single container moves, we answer the questions that decide whether it should.
Market research
- Market size and growth
- Regulatory and pricing environment
- Competitor and brand landscape
- Buyer behaviour and seasonality
Your product's position
- Where it sits against local and imported alternatives
- Price corridor and margin structure through the chain
- Landed-cost and shelf-price modelling with duties, VAT and logistics
What the UAE needs
- Product categories with import demand and thin local supply
- Re-export demand from neighbouring markets
- A shortlist of products worth bringing in first
Route to market
Sales channels, partners and the structure that fits your customers.
Distributor or agent
Fastest entry, least control. We search, screen and negotiate — then help you exit when you outgrow them.
Own entity
Free zone or mainland, depending on who buys from you. Full control of brand, price and data; opens the tender market.
Retail and modern trade
Listing with the major grocery and DIY chains; margin, promotion and listing-fee negotiation.
E-commerce and marketplaces
Advising on which e-commerce platforms, marketplaces and Last Mile Delivery services are the best fit for you.
Compliance, documents and permits
Requirements depend on the product. We map them before the shipment, not after.
What we prepare and obtain
- Import licence and customs code registration for your entity
- Product registration with the relevant authority
- Conformity certificates and lab testing where required
- Labelling, Arabic-language and packaging requirements
- Halal, organic and other certifications where relevant
- Certificates of origin, commercial invoices, packing lists, insurance and shipping documents in the correct form
How we work
- A product-by-product compliance map before you commit to production or packaging
- We handle authority submissions and follow-up in person
- Documents reviewed against the current customs and authority checklists
- A single file per product that you can reuse for every shipment
Logistics, customs and warehousing
From factory gate to customer, with the costs known in advance.
Freight and routing
Sea, air and land options costed and compared; forwarder selection; consolidation for smaller volumes.
Customs clearance
Declarations, duty and VAT handling, free-zone to mainland transfers, and handling of inspections and holds.
Warehousing
Bonded and non-bonded storage, temperature-controlled where needed; 3PL selection and contract terms.
Last mile and distribution
Delivery to retailers, distributors or end customers across the UAE and onward to the wider Gulf.
Company set-up, accounting and finance
The legal and financial base that lets the trade run.
Company set-up
- Free zone versus mainland advice, based on your customers
- Licence application, approvals and visas
- Office, PRO and government liaison
- Local director and shareholder arrangements
Accounting and finance
- Bookkeeping, VAT registration and returns
- Corporate tax registration and filings
- Management reporting your head office can read
- Audit coordination
Trade finance and banking
- Corporate bank account opening and compliance file
- Letters of credit, guarantees and payment terms
- Currency and receivables risk
- Working-capital lines with local banks
The regional context
Why the Gulf, and why companies get stuck
The region is open for business. The path in is not obvious from outside.
The opportunity
- The UAE is the re-export hub for the Gulf, East Africa and South Asia — one entry point, many markets.
- Import-dependent economies with steady demand for food, building materials, machinery, consumer goods and technology.
- Free zones, 100% foreign ownership and a growing tender market for locally registered companies.
- Time zone and flight connections make it the natural bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa.
Where it goes wrong
- Jumping into a business model without careful consideration of GTM models.
- Choosing a distributor without a way to check them.
- Product registration and labelling requirements discovered after the shipment lands.
- Free zone versus mainland decided on cost, not on who the customers are.
- Landed cost calculated without duties, VAT, storage and last-mile.
Who we work with
Three trade situations we see most often
The first-time exporter
A manufacturer or brand with a proven product at home and no presence in the Gulf.
How we help: we run the full journey — market brief, route, compliance, first shipment, and the entity if the numbers justify it.
The company outgrowing its distributor
Already selling through a partner; growth has stalled, and control over brand and price is slipping.
How we help: we design the switch to a direct entity, negotiate the exit and rebuild the channel without losing existing customers.
The hub builder
A company that wants Dubai as its base for the wider region, not just the UAE.
How we help: we structure the entity, the logistics and the finance for re-export, and open the tender and key-account markets.
Marketing advisory
From the technology behind the customer relationship to the brand, the product and the organization that runs it.
Marketing technology transformation
Where most marketing functions are furthest behind
CRM, AI agents and the customer lifecycle, designed and built as one system.
CRM selection & implementation
The right platform, configured around your sales and service process, not a generic rollout.
AI agents: analysis & development
Where automation and AI agents genuinely save time — scoped, built and measured against the task they replace.
Full customer lifecycle design
Acquisition through retention mapped and automated as one system, not a set of disconnected campaigns.
MarTech stack audit
What's in place, what's missing, and where the data stops flowing between tools.
The rest of the function
And everywhere marketing touches the business
Full marketing life-cycle audit
Acquisition through retention, channel by channel, scored and ranked into a fix list you can act on.
Brand
Positioning, identity, voice and guidelines that hold up across every market and channel you operate in.
Product development
From concept and customer validation through to launch, pricing and iteration.
Marketing organization review & consultation
Structure, roles, reporting lines and the agency and vendor mix, measured against the plan it's meant to deliver.
Performance marketing & analytics
Paid, owned and earned channels, with attribution and reporting leadership can actually read.
Content & localization
Campaigns and messaging adapted for each market and language you operate in, not translated after the fact.
And more under each of these — marketing advisory at Arcus is scoped to the gap in your function, not sold as a fixed package. Most importantly, each piece is delivered by experts who have done the work in their careers.
Human capital advisory
From the first hire to the systems that develop and keep people after they join.
A broad bench
Talent acquisition to training, and everything it takes to run people well
Delivered end to end, or as focused support wherever you need an extra hand.
Talent acquisition & executive search
Sourcing, screening and closing roles across the Gulf, from first hire to leadership.
Workforce planning & org design
Structure, role design and reporting lines built for where the business is going, not where it started.
Learning & development
Onboarding, skills academies and leadership programmes built around the roles you actually have.
Performance management
Goal-setting, review cycles and feedback systems people actually use.
Compensation & benefits
Market benchmarking, pay structures and incentive design that hold up at audit.
HR policy, compliance & Emiratisation
Handbooks, labour-law compliance and workforce-nationalisation planning.
Culture & employee engagement
Surveys, action planning and retention programmes tied to real decisions, not a score on a dashboard.
HR technology & HRIS
Selecting and implementing the systems that run the people function, from applicant tracking to payroll.
You can request a single service in this domain, or ask us to own the full human capital plan for the company you're setting up with our trade advisory.
Why Arcus
Four reasons clients stay past the first engagement
On the ground
For our trade advisory clients, we're in Dubai — dealing with the authorities, ports and banks in person, and knowing which counter to stand at.
One roof
Trade, marketing and human capital teams working to the same plan, so the entity, the channel and the people behind it are built together.
Delivered by the expert
Each service is delivered by an expert who has done it themselves, not just advised on it.
Any one, or all three
Trade, marketing and human capital advisory — standalone or combined, scoped to exactly what you need.
Leadership
An advisor who has done this himself
30+ years in foreign trade
Across the Gulf, Turkey and Europe: sourcing, export, import and distribution.
Founder and exit, Dubai
Founded a B2C and B2B food business in Dubai, grew it and sold it. Market entry, licensing, distribution and retail listing, done first-hand.
Owner, trade company in Turkey
Owns and runs a trading company that is a globally approved supplier to global brands — with the quality, audit and compliance discipline that status requires.
Get in touch
Let's talk about your next stage
Tell us which practice you need — trade, marketing, human capital, or any combination — and you'll leave with a clear view of the first step.