Why Dubai
The UAE has the conditions that built the fractional model in the US and the UK, concentrated into one market, and Dubai is where they meet first.
An SME economy
SMEs are around 94% of UAE businesses. The country passed 1.4 million registered companies, with 250,000 added in 2025 alone.
A gap that grows with them
Founders end up making executive decisions across every function without executive support around them, and a full-time C-suite hire is slow and costly at that stage.
Demand led by finance
With UAE Corporate Tax, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the most in-demand fractional role (Khaleej Times, August 2026), and operations, technology and marketing leaders are sought too.
Sources: MBRSG; The National; Khaleej Times.
Fractional in Dubai
Built by operators
Rhys Holding and Sam Loyd met in Dubai as fractional executives and built Fractional here.
“Having built, operated and sold an SME myself, I understand how heavy the leadership gap can become. Across the region, many growing businesses reach a point where the founder is making executive-level decisions across every part of the business, often without executive-level support around them. Fractional was built to change that. We give businesses access to flexible C-suite talent that embeds directly into the business, while backing every engagement with the support, structure and governance needed to help it succeed. We are building a collective of senior leaders that stands behind the businesses we serve.”
“The fractional model is well established in mature markets and the results speak for themselves. More and more markets are reaching the point where the conditions that drove that adoption internationally are very much present, and the demand from SMEs for a smarter, more agile approach to senior leadership is growing. Fractional is the structured, collective response to that demand.”
Dubai is the founding hub of a collective now live across the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
