In the Gulf’s professional services market, scale no longer guarantees the first call.
For Wahaj Siddiqui, founder and managing director of Oblique Consult, the region’s next phase of advisory will be defined less by imported brand equity and more by speed, trust and proximity to the client. Founded in 2017, Oblique was built around a simple gap Siddiqui saw in the market: large corporates and government clients needed finance, tax and accounting advice that understood the GCC from the inside out, rather than advice “imported” from New York or San Francisco and repackaged for the region.
As Gulf economies move deeper into diversification. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme, the UAE’s push to widen its non-oil economy and the broader regional race to attract capital, talent and technology are changing what clients expect from advisers. For Siddiqui, the firms that win will be those able to combine technical depth with local relationships — and deliver it faster than the old consulting model allowed.
“The methodology is very local, very GCC specific,” he says in the interview, pointing to a team and partner base largely raised in the region. In markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, he argues, trust is still built person to person. Global names may carry institutional credibility, but the GCC advisory market often rewards continuity: the person advising a client today should still be there next year.
That approach has helped Oblique position itself as a first point of call for clients across finance-related mandates. Siddiqui describes the firm’s model as deliberately long-term and, at times, “non-commercial” in the way it builds relationships. Once trust is earned beyond the numbers, clients come first to Oblique — and only look elsewhere if the firm cannot deliver.
The timing is important. Across the region, demand for advisory is being driven by sectors tied to domestic investment cycles. Siddiqui identifies real estate as the standout market, particularly in Dubai, with construction, luxury retail and hospitality benefiting from the spillover. Technology is a close second, as Gulf governments compete to attract entrepreneurs and build more mature innovation ecosystems.
Watch the full interview with Wahaj Siddiqui, Founder and Managing Director of Oblique Consult, for more on GCC advisory, AI, Saudi expansion and the sectors driving demand across the region.
