It’s great to be back.
This week marks my first time back in our UAE office since Finance Week in December 2025, and I’d forgotten quite how much I enjoy being here.
There’s an energy about the UAE that is difficult to replicate. Businesses are ambitious, decisions happen quickly, and there seems to be a genuine appetite for growth – not just in the UAE, but across the wider MENA region.
And for Nicholas Howard, that makes this an incredibly exciting market.
Supporting businesses through hyper-growth
One of the areas I’m particularly looking forward to developing while I’m here is our work with founders and businesses going through rapid growth.
Recruitment during hyper-growth presents a very different challenge.
You need great people – quickly – but you also need to think about what the recruitment function should look like six, twelve or eighteen months down the line.
That’s where I think Nicholas Howard can offer something a little different.
We can provide the speed, reach and expertise of an external recruitment partner, while also helping businesses think about how they build their own internal recruitment capability as they mature.
That might mean helping to establish processes, advising on hiring strategy, supporting employer branding, providing market intelligence or even helping recruit the internal Talent Acquisition team that ultimately reduces the organisation’s reliance on agencies.
For us, that isn’t a bad outcome.
It’s the whole point.
We want to be the recruitment partner a growing business needs now, while helping them build the recruitment capability they will need next.
UAE today. MENA tomorrow.
While the UAE is obviously a major focus for Nicholas Howard, the opportunity across the wider MENA region is equally exciting.
We’ve spent many years recruiting internationally, so building genuinely global networks isn’t new to us. What is exciting is applying that experience to one of the fastest-growing and most ambitious regions in the world.
I’ve got a busy few days ahead with lots of meetings, conversations and hopefully plenty of coffee!
I’m looking forward to meeting new businesses, reconnecting with existing contacts and learning more about where organisations are experiencing their biggest hiring challenges.
Most of all, I’m looking forward to getting Nicholas Howard really flying in the UAE and across MENA.
I’ll report back on Monday with Part Two – what I’ve learned, what surprised me and where I think the biggest opportunities lie.
For now, though, it’s just brilliant to be back.
