What is The Partnerships Advisory?
- Execution-focused Strategic Advisory firm
- Financial Services, Technology, Digital Transformation
- Cross-functional Board & C-Level Experts
- Dubai based, impact across Middle East & Africa
Financial Services
Volume Growth
Successfully helped a Retail bank grow its short term lending volumes with 15%+ CAGR over a 5 year period to surpass USD 270 M.
Market Expansion
Engaged with an investment bank to grow its advisory services footprint across Eastern Europe (Croatia), Middle East (Saudi, Kuwait, Lebanon) and Africa (South Africa).
Payment Networks
Supported a Visa and MasterCard licensed principal bank to launch Credit, Debit and Prepaid products, partnering with Exchange Houses, Airlines and Telecom.
Product Development
Enabled a multi-national bank’s UK office to establish home mortgage products offering Sharia compliant financing for UK assets.


Digital Transformation
Digital Strategy
Delivered Board level Digital Strategy review in Istanbul, Turkey for the largest bank in Tanzania covering strategy, transforming tech platforms and robotic process automation.
Transformation Execution
Our team has experience in driving transformation of a business from a legacy to a digital business for a leading Technology company.
Innovation Strategy
Delivered the strategy to build a culture and mindset of innovation with focus on Digital Transformation using Emerging Tech for an Insurance brokerage subsidiary.
Emerging Technologies
Our Experts are Board Members and Mentors of leading Startups that work with Emerging Technologies. Ability to run a hackathon or a personalized accelerator program.
Technology
Tech Architecture
Developed an Enterprise Architecture for a global bank working closely with their Wholesale Banking function.
Global Service Centre
Built a Global Service Centre and IT Help Desk for an international Bank and led the global production support transformation.
Tech Infrastructure
Built IT infrastructure, Cyber security and Ecommerce across multiple business verticals for Forex, Real Estate, Financial Services.
Big Data & Analytics
Evolved & designed the first continuous Audit system for a Bank to enhance the quality of audit.


Fintech + Startups
Bank Partnerships
Advised a digital banking proposition start up with 90k users on engaging with 9 banks, insurance companies and the regulator.
Marketing Strategy
Created brand identity guidelines for an entity later awarded the Best Hotel Partner at the Middle East Hotel Awards 2015.
Vendor Negotiations
Advised the CEO of a NASA certified tech company on an opportunity to retail its products with Virgin Megastore based on strategic distribution review.
Regulatory Compliance
Advised the first crowd funding platform in the Middle East region on DFSA compliance.
Transaction Advisory
Financial Modeling
Delivered LBO model to a family office for a $150M residential real-estate buyout.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Advised UAE’s largest Islamic Bank by assets on potential ~$30M fintech acquisition.
Valuations
Advised an Abu-Dhabi based Fintech on Valuations modeling for a successful $8.4M Series-A equity fundraise.
Feasibility Studies
Advised Dubai-based family office on India-focused hospitality investments.


Board Advisory
Chairman’s Role
Strengthened the Chairman’s oversight mechanisms for a multi-national Bank with 4 subsidiaries, 20 board-level committees, and over 100 Board Members, ExCo & ManCom Directors.
Board Member Evaluation
Optimized board structures across various institutions in the Middle East & Africa, to align with strategic imperatives.
Parent Subsidiary Alignment
Designed a Governance Strategy for one of East Africa’s leading Bank and its subsidiaries across multiple markets.
Board Governance
Advise Boards on Financial Risk, Credit Risk, Technology Risk, Governance Risk, Operational Risk, Reputational Risk & Crisis Management.
Environmental, Social & Governance
ESG Audit
Benchmark Audits for Board assessment of Sustainability performance.
ESG Risk Reviews
Dashboard of key ESG Risks for visualization, monitoring and analysis of key ESG metrics.
ESG Integration
Develop ESG investment screening frameworks, integrate ESG Decision Research & Analysis.
ESG Reports
Reports following global guidelines and international frameworks on regulatory policy, systems and processes.
