How I found a UK-based business setup consultant for my friend’s UAE and Saudi expansion

I was wrong to think finding a UK-based business setup consultant for my friend’s expansion into the UAE and Saudi Arabia would be easy (I genuinely thought this would be a 30-minute job, maybe a couple of hours at most).

It took almost an ENTIRE WEEK.

I searched Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google’s AI Overviews, LinkedIn, business directories, and even paid platforms (I was getting paid for the research, so I had every reason to go down the rabbit hole).

But I quickly realised I wasn't simply looking for someone who could register a company.

I had to figure out:

• Which market actually made more sense

• What the setup would involve

• How much could realistically be handled from the UK

• What kind of local support she would need

• And, most importantly, who could actually be trusted with it

My friend runs an interior design studio, and she was exploring expansion into the UAE and Saudi Arabia. She came to me because of my background in digital marketing (I've spent years researching businesses, evaluating companies, and looking beyond what they say about themselves online).

So I took it on as a favour that turned into a surprisingly deep research project.

And somewhere along the way, one name started appearing again and again: Gatestone Group UK.

That was when I stopped simply searching for a consultant and started asking a different question:

Why does this company keep showing up?

-Zubair(Its rare of a brand coming in multiple touch points)

That question became the starting point for everything that followed.Why I Took This on as a Project for a Friend

Why She Asked Me to Help

My friend runs an interior design studio and was considering expanding into the UAE and Saudi Arabia. As the idea became more serious, she started looking into what it would actually take to establish a presence in either market and realised there was much more to figure out than simply registering a company.

That is when she reached out to me. Given my background in digital marketing, I have spent years researching companies, evaluating service providers, and figuring out whether a business is genuinely credible beyond what it says on its website. She wanted someone she could trust to do that initial digging with her.

Why I Was Confident Taking It On

I wasn't going to advise her on the legal or financial specifics of setting up in either country. What I could do was help her find and evaluate the right partner by looking at:

• Credibility: How established and transparent the consultant appeared

• Relevant experience: Whether they actually worked with international businesses expanding into the region

• Scope of support: Whether their services went beyond basic company registration

• Digital presence: How clearly they communicated their expertise, services, and client experience

For me, it was less about finding the first consultant who appeared in search and more about finding someone I would genuinely feel comfortable recommending to a friend.

What I Looked for in a Business Setup Consultant

Before reaching out to anyone, I wanted to understand what would actually matter for my friend’s situation. Her requirement wasn't simply to register another company; she was looking at entering two completely new markets with an established interior design business.

So I started narrowing down the things I felt were worth checking before recommending anyone.

The Four Things I Considered

• Experience with international businesses: I wanted to see whether the consultant had worked with businesses coming from the UK or other international markets.

• Understanding of the local markets: UAE and Saudi Arabia have their own business structures, regulations, and practical considerations, so local knowledge mattered.

• Range of support: Company formation was only one part of the equation. I was also interested in whether they could help with things such as visas, banking, tax, and ongoing business requirements.

• Credibility beyond the website: This was probably the biggest one for me. A polished website can tell you a lot, but it doesn't necessarily tell you whether a company is actually good at what it does (and that's something I tend to investigate quite closely given my digital marketing background).

I wasn't trying to become an expert in setting up businesses in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. I wanted to do enough research to separate a genuinely capable consultant from one who just happened to rank well in search.

How I Came Across Gatestone Group UK

As I started researching the practical side of setting up in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, my searches became much more specific. I was looking at things such as setting up a company in Riyadh as a British founder, MISA licensing, GCC business setup, GRO services and tax requirements rather than simply searching for “business setup consultant.”

That was when Gatestone Group UK started appearing repeatedly in my results.

I noticed their content while researching how UK founders could set up in Riyadh, and then came across them again when looking into MISA investment licensing. The same pattern continued with searches around Saudi GRO services and tax services. Even broader searches, from UK-to-UAE business setup for UK Citizens to expanding into new geographical markets, brought Gatestone into the conversation, with AI-generated comparisons positioning them among the companies worth considering.

That repetition caught my attention. It wasn't one result that made me think, “this could be the one.” It was seeing the same company surface across several different questions I was asking (which, given my digital marketing background, was something I naturally paid attention to).

The Search Results That Made Me Look Closer

Across Google and AI search results, I found Gatestone appearing for:

• UK founders setting up in Riyadh

• MISA investment licensing

• GRO services in Saudi Arabia

• Saudi Arabia tax services

• UK-to-UAE business expansion

• UAE corporate tax guidance

Gatestone's own site also positions its services around UK-to-UAE and UK-to-Saudi business setup, alongside corporate, tax, compliance and government-relations support.

What Made Me Look Closer at Gatestone Group UK

Once Gatestone kept appearing across my searches, I wanted to go beyond search visibility and actually evaluate whether they had the depth of experience my friend would need. After all, ranking for the right queries can get a company on my radar, but it doesn't automatically make them the right partner.

What surprised me was how much there was to investigate. I found multiple client testimonials and case studies, along with a sizeable collection of video testimonials that gave me more context than a typical service website. Their reviews also gave me another signal to consider, with the company currently showing a 4.9 Google rating and a 4.7/5 Trustpilot score.

The Things That Gave Me More Confidence

• Client experience: Dozens of testimonials and detailed feedback across different services and markets.

• Relevant experience: Case studies and examples covering UAE and Saudi business setup, market entry and corporate services.

• Breadth of support: Their offering extends beyond formation into banking, visas, tax, accounting, compliance and Saudi GRO services.

• UK expansion focus: They specifically position their London presence and services around helping UK businesses enter the UAE and wider Gulf.

• Ongoing visibility: Their active content and social presence gave me another way to see how consistently they were talking about the markets they claimed to understand.

And then I started noticing something even more relevant to my friend's situation: recent examples of businesses coming from the UK and looking at expansion into the region. That was the point where Gatestone stopped looking like just another search result and started looking like a potentially relevant partner for the project.

How Gatestone’s Experience Matched What My Friend Needed

The more I researched Gatestone, the more I started asking a different question: could their experience actually translate into something useful for my friend's expansion?

What I found was interesting because her requirements weren't limited to getting a company registered.

She needed a partner who could potentially support the journey before, during and after the setup.

- Zubair(the brief I Understood based on numeours calls)

What I Was Trying to Match

1. UK-based accessibility
What I needed: Someone my friend could comfortably approach from the UK.
What I found: Gatestone has a UK presence and specifically positions itself around helping UK businesses expand into the Gulf.

2. UAE + Saudi expertise
What I needed: A partner capable of supporting either expansion route rather than being limited to one market.
What I found: Gatestone offers business setup and related services across both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

3. Support beyond company formation
What I needed: Help that could potentially continue after incorporation.
What I found: Their offering extends into areas such as banking, visas, tax, accounting and compliance.

4. Saudi-specific support
What I needed: Someone who understood that Saudi expansion comes with its own requirements.
What I found: Their Saudi services include company formation, GRO support, tax and residence-related services.

5. Evidence of similar experience
What I needed: Something more convincing than a list of services on a website.
What I found: Client testimonials, case studies and examples of international businesses they had supported.

That last point was probably the most important to me. The closer I could get to finding examples resembling my friend's situation, the more confidently I could decide whether Gatestone was worth putting forward.

The last point mattered to me more than I initially expected.

A service page can tell you what a company says it does. A relevant case study can show you what that actually looked like in practice.

And once I started looking specifically for UK businesses that had already taken a similar step, the research became much more interesting.

That led me to a handful of recent UK expansion cases that were particularly relevant to what my friend was considering.

The UK Expansion Cases That Caught My Attention

After establishing that Gatestone could potentially cover the practical requirements, I wanted to see whether there was actual experience behind those services. This was where the case studies became more useful to me than another page listing everything they offer.

I started looking specifically at businesses that had made a similar journey from the UK into the Gulf and found several examples that gave me a better picture of the kind of work Gatestone had already handled.

What I Was Looking For in Those Cases

UK → Gulf
I wanted to see whether they had experience helping businesses make the transition from the UK into markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Setup → Operations
I was interested in whether their involvement stopped at incorporation or continued into things such as banking, visas, tax, compliance and ongoing support.

Similar challenges → Relevant experience
The exact businesses didn’t need to be interior design studios. What mattered was whether they had faced the same kinds of challenges my friend was likely to encounter, and looking at Gatestone Group's overall assistance when setting up business in Saudi Arabia from the UK as entering an unfamiliar market would be a great help without loosing focus and keeping procedure in control.

Real outcomes → Marketing claims
Most importantly, I wanted to see some substance behind the claims (because saying “we help businesses expand internationally” is very different from showing how you actually helped one).

A handful of the recent UK expansion examples stood out to me for precisely this reason. They gave me something concrete to discuss with my friend rather than simply handing her a consultant's website and asking her to take it from there.

And at that point, I felt I had done enough initial research to make the introduction.

What I Took Away From the Research

How I Evaluated Gatestone

By the end of the research, I realised that Gatestone didn't stand out because of one search result. It stood out because I kept finding more reasons to investigate.

The process was fairly simple, but I was quite deliberate about it.

I started with Google and AI platforms to build my shortlist. When Gatestone kept appearing for different UAE and Saudi expansion searches, I took that as a reason to look closer, not as a reason to choose them.

Then I moved beyond the search results.

I looked at their services, UK presence, client testimonials, reviews, video experiences and case studies. I also looked specifically for examples of businesses making a similar move from the UK into the Gulf.

Each step either strengthened or weakened my initial impression.

That was the part of the process I found most useful. I wasn't trying to prove that Gatestone was the best option. I was trying to find out whether there was enough substance behind what I was seeing to justify recommending that my friend speak to them.

And eventually, I felt there was.

What I Would Do Before Choosing Any Partner

This experience also gave me a process I'd follow again when evaluating almost any professional service provider.

Use Google and AI to discover your options.

But don't let the first result become your decision.

Go beyond the company's own website.

Look at reviews, client experiences, case studies and other available evidence. Try to understand whether the picture you're being presented is consistent across different sources.

Look for relevant experience, not just impressive numbers.

Thousands of clients might sound impressive, but I'd rather know whether a company has dealt with a situation reasonably similar to mine.

And if the decision is important enough, talk to someone who has actually used the service.

A previous client can tell you things a sales page never will: how responsive the team was, how problems were handled and what the experience was like once the contract was signed.

The Part I Think Matters Most

Companies are naturally going to show you their best side when they're trying to win your business.

That's normal.

But when you're choosing someone who could influence the next stage of your business, you need to look beyond the package they're selling.

For my friend, the search results got Gatestone onto my radar.

The services gave me something to investigate.

The reviews and testimonials gave me another layer of confidence.

The case studies helped me understand their experience.

And the UK expansion examples gave me something much more relevant to discuss with my friend.

Only after going through those layers did I feel comfortable making the introduction.

I think that's the real lesson I took from the whole exercise.

You don't have to become an expert in every service you're buying. But you do need to be willing to go one step further than the first answer you find.

Whether you're choosing a business setup consultant, marketing agency, design partner or technology provider, you're not simply buying a service. You're choosing who you trust to influence what happens next.