Advisory · Delivered in the UAE
Feasibility studies, AML programmes and internal controls, done to a standard.
A feasibility study a bank will read, an AML program a Ministry of Economy and Tourism inspector will accept, and sustainability training with a certificate behind it.
Feasibility studies · UAE
A study the bank, the free zone or the investor will actually read.
A feasibility study is asked for at four moments. A bank asks before it lends. Some free zones and authorities ask with certain license applications. An investor or a new partner asks before putting money in. An owner asks before opening a second branch or a second company, and that is the one that saves the most.
The study answers one question with numbers: does this venture pay, and when? It sets out the market and the demand, the cost to set up and the cost to run, a cash flow for the first three years, the break-even point, the funding needed and how it is repaid. Every figure ties to a stated assumption, so the reader can change an assumption and see what moves.
It is written for the reader, not the writer. A credit officer wants the repayment cover and the security. A free zone wants the activity, the space and the headcount. An investor wants the return and the exit. We ask who will read it before we start.
Feasibility studies are one of the activities on the firm's Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism license, 1206648.
What is in it
- The market. Who buys, how much, at what price, and who else sells it.
- Set-up costs. License, premises, fit-out, equipment, visas and the working capital needed before the first sale.
- Operating costs. Rent, salaries, supplies, marketing, the software and the fees, month by month.
- Cash flow. Three years, monthly in the first year, with VAT and corporate tax in the right months.
- Break-even. The sales at which the venture covers its costs, and the month it gets there.
- Funding and repayment. How much is needed, from whom, and the cover on each repayment.
- What if. The result if sales come in lower or costs come in higher than planned.
AML compliance · UAE
If you are a designated business, the law expects a program, not a policy on a shelf.
Federal Decree-Law 10 of 2025, in force since 14 October 2025, replaced Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2018 and places anti-money laundering duties on designated non-financial businesses and professions. Its implementing regulation is Cabinet Resolution 134 of 2025. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism supervises four kinds: real estate brokers and agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, auditors and accountants, and corporate service providers. The size of the business does not matter. The Ministry inspects, and it publishes the fines it imposes.
Auditors and accountants are on that list, so we run the same program ourselves. The one we build for you is the one we have to keep.
What we do
- Register the business on goAML, the Financial Intelligence Unit's reporting platform, and keep the registration current
- Write the AML policy and the business risk assessment, from your customers, products, countries and channels
- Set the customer due diligence procedures: identify the customer and the beneficial owner, screen against the sanctions lists, and apply enhanced due diligence where the risk is higher
- Prepare and file suspicious transaction reports through goAML when the procedures call for one
- Define the compliance officer role, help you appoint the person and support them through the year
- Train the staff, keep the attendance record, and repeat it every year
- Review the program annually and before a Ministry inspection
Sustainability training · UAE
GRI Standards certified training, and a short course for the people who sign things.
The GRI Standards are the framework most first sustainability reports and most supplier questionnaires are built on. The GRI Standards certified training is the course the Global Reporting Initiative itself certifies, delivered with the DCarbon group, a GRI certified training partner for Egypt and the MENA region with operations in Abu Dhabi. Two days, sixteen hours, and a certificate from GRI at the end. It is for the people who will write the report: the finance, HR and operations staff who hold the numbers.
ESG for executives is a short course for owners, board members and senior managers. What banks and large buyers are asking for. What IFRS S1 and S2 and the GRI Standards require. What Federal Decree-Law 11 of 2024 requires every company to measure and report on emissions. And what to decline. No homework and no certificate, just enough to make the decisions the report will depend on. Delivered with the DCarbon group.
When the training is done and a report is needed, the same people help write it. See Sustainability reporting.
The two courses
- GRI certifiedTwo days, sixteen hours. The GRI Standards from the foundation standard to the topic standards, with a reporting exercise. GRI certificate on completion. For the people who will prepare the report.
- ESG for executivesA short session, in your boardroom or ours. The requests, the standards, the law and the decisions. For the people who will approve the report.
- Who deliversThe DCarbon group, a GRI certified training partner, with the firm's own GRI Certified Sustainability Professional.
- WhereAt your premises, or at the office in Port Saeed, Dubai.
Why an audit firm
Advice that has to survive a reader.
A feasibility study is read by a credit officer. An AML program is read by a Ministry inspector. A sustainability report is read by an assurance provider. We spend the rest of the year on the other side of those tables, auditing, filing and signing assurance, so we know what each reader checks first, and we write for that.
Questions we are asked
Four straight answers.
- 01
Which businesses count as designated non-financial businesses?
Under the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's supervision: real estate brokers and agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, auditors and accountants, and trust or company service providers. Lawyers and notaries are supervised separately. If your license activity is close to one of these, send it to us and we will tell you.
- 02
Do we need a feasibility study to get a license?
Some free zones and authorities ask for one with certain applications, and banks ask before a facility. Send us the request you received and we will tell you what the study needs to contain and how long it takes.
- 03
Is the training certified?
The GRI Standards certified training is, with a certificate issued through GRI's certified training program and delivered with the DCarbon group, a GRI certified training partner. ESG for executives is a briefing, not a certified course, and does not carry a certificate.
- 04
What does it cost?
A fixed fee, quoted within one business day of seeing your license and the request you are answering, before any work starts.
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