DIWAN

Studies & Intelligence

Intelligence with context. Foresight that shapes decisions. The DIWAN register publishes commissioned studies, briefings, and market intelligence across sectors and jurisdictions.

Briefings room Membership

StreamsAll Trade & Capital 60 Law & Regulation 26 Country Files 200 Demand & Buyers 40 Platforms & Growth 169 Brand & Positioning 3 Commodities 27 Business 54 Technology 179 Cyber Security 3

GeographyAll

United Arab Emirates 23

Antigua and Barbuda 1

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1

Brazil 1

British Virgin Islands 1

Central African Republic 1

Hong Kong SAR, China 1

Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 1

Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 1

Northern Mariana Islands 1

Sao Tome and Principe 1

Senegal 1

Seychelles 1

Sierra Leone 1

Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 1

St. Kitts and Nevis 1

St. Lucia 1

St. Martin (French part) 1

St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1

Sudan 1

Suriname 1

Sweden 1

Syrian Arab Republic 1

Trinidad and Tobago 1

Tunisia 1

Turkey 1

Turks and Caicos Islands 1

Virgin Islands (U.S.) 1

West Bank and Gaza 1

Yemen, Rep. 1

Platforms & Growth

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Photo · Sebastian S / Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-088Feasibility

FORFAIT · 13 OCT 2026

Market Signal: The Winners' Market

Three signals from 13 September - 13 October 2026: a two-year unicorn, a barbell market funded from home, and Silicon Valley arriving at inception

GCC platform capital surged back in the window - $1.65B in Q3, up 108% - but to fewer hands, from closer by, and earlier: barq became MENA's largest-ever Series A ($329.5M at $1.85B) two years after launch with an Omani bank on the cap table; the Wamda and Magnitt prints confirmed a barbell (record $813M of mega-rounds over an early-stage base down 45%) with MENA investors at a three-year-high 58% of capital; and Ben Horowitz, Avra and East40 backed Riyadh's Echelon at inception. The study maps what each actor should do in 90 days.

$329.5M @ $1.85BBARQ SERIES A - LARGEST IN MENA HISTORY (15 SEP)

$1.65B · +108% q/qQ3 2026 MENA VENTURE FUNDING (WAMDA, 12 OCT)

-45% y/yEARLY-STAGE DEAL COUNT, 9M 2026 (MAGNITT, 13 OCT)

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17 min$149Read →

Photo · janith devinda / Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-074Legal review

LEX · 01 OCT 2026

What the Gulf Actually Asks: Incorporation, Directors' Duties and Exit Costs in the GCC

A demand-driven legal review answering the questions readers put to the platform most — mainland vs ADGM vs DIFC, what boards owe, and what employment exits cost

Reader demand on the platform clusters on three questions: where to incorporate in the GCC, what directors owe once incorporated, and what employment exits cost. This study answers all three — a six-door comparison of UAE mainland, ADGM, DIFC, Saudi Arabia, QFC and Bahrain/Oman; the ADGM directors'-duties framework in plain language; and the notice and end-of-service formulas for DIFC, ADGM and the UAE mainland — with indicative costs and a decision playbook by profile.

≈46%SHARE OF READER QUESTIONS ABOUT FORMATION & JURISDICTION CHOICE

≈ USD 1,000ADGM TECH START-UP LICENCE, PER YEAR

14 daysDIFC NOTICE FOR MOST TENURES (3 MONTHS–5 YEARS)

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Photo · Stijn te Strake / Unsplash

CTY-SA-2026Country intelligence

FORFAIT · 28 SEPT 2026

Saudi Arabia: First Reading 2026

Economic and Social Projections

By 2025, Saudi Arabia's GDP is projected to reach USD 1.28 trillion, with a real GDP growth rate of 4.5%. The population is anticipated to grow to 37.0 million, with a high urbanisation rate of 84.6%. Inflation is expected to remain stable at 2.1%, while the unemployment rate is projected to decrease to 3%. These trends indicate a recovering economy amidst ongoing challenges.

USD 1.28 trillionGDP, CURRENT USD (2025)

4.5REAL GDP GROWTH (2025)

USD 34,537GDP PER CAPITA, CURRENT USD (2025)

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22 min$39Read →

Photo · Riyas Mohammed / Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-068Legal review

LEX · 23 SEPT 2026

How the Gulf Hires and Lets Go — The Employment Edition

Third reading of the Ask-desk demand signal: gratuity, notice, savings schemes and nationalisation quotas — the employment rulebook actually in force across the GCC in 2026, and what it costs to get it wrong

Readers of the legal platform keep asking a third family of questions after formation and directors' duties: how to hire, pay out and let go. This edition answers the recurring asks — end-of-service gratuity, notice periods, the quiet shift from accrued gratuity to funded savings (DEWS and the UAE federal scheme), the 2025 Saudi labour-law amendments, ADGM's 2024 Employment Regulations, and the Emiratisation penalty escalator — with worked numbers and a 90-day employer playbook.

~1 in 5ASK-DESK QUERIES CONCERNING EMPLOYMENT, TERMINATION OR NOTICE

5.83% → 8.33%DEWS / UAE SAVINGS-SCHEME CONTRIBUTION (FIRST 5 YEARS → AFTER)

7–90 daysDIFC STATUTORY NOTICE SPAN BY TENURE

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Photo · Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-056Legal review

LEX · 06 SEPT 2026

GCC Directors' Duties: The Governance Edition

One board seat, three legal families — what Gulf directors personally owe in 2026, and what breach now actually costs

The fourth edition in the demand series answers the second-largest question cluster on the legal platform (≈20% of reader queries): what do directors and managers personally owe, and when does the company's problem become theirs? The answer has changed. Between the Dubai Court of Cassation's AED 152m personal award against a vice-chairman and CEO, the UAE bankruptcy law's shadow-director reach, KSA's 2022 law with the region's first express business-judgment defence, and the NMC proceedings in ADGM — where judgment on civil fraud claims against the founder and former CEO was reserved on 3 July 2026 after a 15-week trial and a US$600m mid-closing settlement by Bank of Baroda — personal liability in the Gulf has moved from paper risk to enforced norm. This study maps the duties across mainland UAE, ADGM, DIFC and Saudi Arabia, prices the breach, and gives five board seats a 90-day protection playbook.

US$600mSETTLED BY BANK OF BARODA DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS OF THE NMC TRIAL IN ADGM, JULY 2026 — WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY

AED 152mAWARDED PERSONALLY AND JOINTLY AGAINST A FORMER VICE-CHAIRMAN/CEO AND SUBSIDIARY MANAGER — DUBAI COURT OF CASSATION, APPEAL 866 OF 2024

≈20%SHARE OF READER QUERIES ON THE LEGAL PLATFORM THAT CONCERN DIRECTORS' DUTIES AND GOVERNANCE — THE SECOND-LARGEST DEMAND CLUSTER

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Photo · Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-050Legal review

LEX · 05 SEPT 2026

Where the Gulf Incorporates — The Formation Edition

The GCC's dominant legal question, answered for 2026: mainland vs financial centre vs Saudi entry — venues, costs, tax and the new rulebook

Nearly half of everything readers ask a GCC legal platform is one question in different clothes: where should this company live? This study answers it for 2026 — a year in which DIFC, ADGM and the QFC all posted record intake simultaneously, the UAE mainland gained venture-style share structures and statutory redomiciliation, Saudi Arabia replaced foreign-investment licensing with registration, and a 15% domestic minimum tax quietly harmonised the top end of the market. Includes a venue scoreboard, cost and tax tables, the 2026 legal rails, and a decision playbook for five founder archetypes.

≈45%SHARE OF PLATFORM READER DEMAND THAT IS FORMATION / JURISDICTION CHOICE

8,844DIFC ACTIVE COMPANIES AT END-2025 (RECORD YEAR: 1,924 NEW, +28%)

13,353ADGM ACTIVE LICENCES IN Q1 2026 (OPERATIONAL ENTITIES +34.5% Y/Y)

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16 min$149Read →

Photo · Veli Yunus Ünal / Unsplash

CMD-DIWAN-005Feasibility

FORFAIT · 24 JUL 2026

The Quiet Diversification Scorecard: Gulf Non-Oil Exports 2026

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar measured against the Malaysia standard — what is genuinely scaling, what is statistical noise, and where the investable core sits

2025 delivered record non-oil export headlines across the Gulf — but decomposition shows the UAE's +45.5% is gold-inflated and Saudi Arabia's +18.9% masks a −0.1% fall in domestic-origin shipments. Benchmarked against Malaysia (86.4% manufactured exports; ECI #27 vs UAE #35, Saudi #60, Qatar #83), the genuine convergence is concentrated in petrochemical derivatives and aluminium, both stress-tested by the 2026 Hormuz closure. The study ranks the four scaling sectors and closes with a ranked investable shortlist: downstream polymer conversion, aluminium recycling/rolled products, outside-strait logistics, and selective agri-food platforms.

AED 813.8bnUAE NATIONAL NON-OIL EXPORTS, 2025 — RECORD, +45.5% YOY (GOLD-INFLATED); THE 2031 TARGET HIT FIVE YEARS EARLY

−0.1%SAUDI DOMESTIC-ORIGIN NON-OIL EXPORT GROWTH, 2025 — THE HEADLINE +18.9% WAS RE-EXPORT-DRIVEN

86.4%MALAYSIA'S MANUFACTURED SHARE OF EXPORTS, 2025 — THE BENCHMARK NO GULF STATE APPROACHES

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Photo · Darcey Beau / Unsplash

CMD-DIWAN-002Feasibility

FORFAIT · 22 JUL 2026

Golden Visas and Beyond: The GCC Residency Economy in 2026

Benchmarking the UAE, Saudi and Qatar residency products against a closing West — and sizing the property, schooling, insurance and advisory economy they feed

Between October 2023 and February 2026 the investment-migration market inverted: Europe withdrew supply while the Gulf productized it. This study benchmarks five class-matched residency products, quantifies the residency-linked economy anchored by Dubai's AED 917bn property year, and maps the 12–24 month regulatory outlook and advisory funnel.

+9,800PROJECTED NET MILLIONAIRE INFLOW TO THE UAE IN 2025 — THE WORLD'S LARGEST (HENLEY & PARTNERS)

AED 917bnDUBAI REAL-ESTATE TRANSACTION VALUE IN 2025 ACROSS 270,000+ DEALS (DLD, VIA ZAWYA)

US$200kQATAR'S NEW PROPERTY-RESIDENCY FLOOR, ANNOUNCED OCTOBER 2025 — THE GCC'S CHEAPEST TICKET (IMI DAILY)

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