Clients & Projects

The situations we are brought into, and the mandate that follows.

Client mandates are held in confidence. Engagements are described by sector and scope of work only. References can be arranged where the client agrees.

Held mandates

Representative engagements

Retained mandates currently or recently held, described without identifying details.

Industrial group, UAE

Fractional CFO and governance mandate for an industrial group

Situation

An owner managed group where financial control, workforce administration and long term ownership planning all sat with the founder personally, with no structure that would survive his absence.

Mandate

Financial reporting and control, cost structure review across the workforce, and the governance framework and succession planning required to make the group independent of any one individual. The outcome was a clearer decision framework, formal reporting for owners, and a finance function less dependent on founder-held knowledge.

Joinery and fit out, Dubai

Project mandate on a capacity expansion for a joinery group

Situation

A joinery business expanding capacity, where the investment case, the funding required and the effect on job costing had not been set out in a single financial model.

Mandate

Capital expenditure appraisal and the financial model behind the expansion, the funding structure and the lender discussions supporting it, and revised job costing and overhead absorption across the larger cost base. The mandate is current.

Contracting and fit out, Dubai

Retained fractional CFO for a building contracting group

Situation

A contracting business winning work faster than its reporting could keep pace with, where project margin was only visible after completion and cash was managed against the bank balance rather than a forecast.

Mandate

Ongoing CFO responsibility covering the monthly close, project-level costing, cash forecasting against certification and retention cycles, and the organisational structure of the finance and administration team. The outcome was a repeatable reporting and cash-control cadence that gave management earlier visibility of project margin and funding needs.

Telecom and connectivity, owner based in Dubai

Finance and systems mandate for a telecom infrastructure group

Situation

A group running fibre and satellite connectivity businesses on legacy ledgers, where segment results, project costs and funding needs could not be seen clearly or on time.

Mandate

Rebuild of historic accounts and a director's dashboard, project-level costing and cash flow modelling for large fibre builds, review of customer and supplier agreements, and the move to a new ERP with a chart of accounts built by business segment. The mandate is current.

Typical mandates

Situations that lead to an engagement

Illustrative rather than a client list. These are the situations Meraki is most often engaged to resolve, and the shape the mandate takes in each.

Trading and distribution, Dubai

Working capital locked in stock and receivables

Situation

Profitable on paper but permanently short of cash, with the overdraft at its limit every month end. Nobody could say how much of the facility was funding slow moving inventory rather than trade.

Mandate

Ageing analysis of stock and receivables, a 13-week rolling cash forecast, collection discipline enforced through the sales team, and a restructured facility sized to the real working capital cycle rather than to habit. The outcome was a practical view of cash requirements and a more disciplined route to facility discussions.

Professional services, Dubai

Revenue recognised late and margin invisible by assignment

Situation

Fees billed on milestones with work in progress carried informally, so neither assignment profitability nor staff recovery rates could be established until long after the work was delivered.

Mandate

Revenue recognition policy rebuilt around work in progress, cost per billable hour established by grade, assignment-level margin reporting introduced monthly, and pricing revised on the resulting evidence. The outcome was timely visibility of assignment economics before pricing and resourcing decisions were made.

Family group, Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Every decision still routed through the founder

Situation

A multi entity family group where the founder personally approved payments, contracts and hires, and the second generation had no visibility of the numbers they were expected to inherit.

Mandate

Delegation of authority and approval thresholds written and implemented, consolidated group reporting introduced, a board pack established for the family, and a documented succession framework. The outcome was a more transparent governance rhythm and a clearer handover path for the next generation.

Contracting, Abu Dhabi

Audit delayed and the balance sheet not defensible

Situation

A prior year audit running months late, with unreconciled control accounts, unsupported balances carried forward and an auditor unwilling to sign without qualification.

Mandate

Reconstruction of the balance sheet, reconciliation of every control account, preparation of a full audit file, and a close calendar that keeps the following year clean. The outcome was a defensible audit trail and a close process designed to prevent the same backlog returning.

Industrial and manufacturing, Dubai

A facility review approaching and nothing the bank will accept

Situation

A refinancing weeks away, with the bank asking for monthly management accounts, covenant workings and a forward looking cash forecast, none of which the finance team could produce to a reliable schedule.

Mandate

A reporting pack built to what the lender actually requires, covenant headroom modelled and reviewed monthly, and a forecast prepared ahead of the review rather than assembled during it. The outcome was a lender-ready information pack and a repeatable process for monitoring headroom.

Real estate and property, Dubai

Entity level results buried inside a single set of accounts

Situation

Rental income, service charges and development costs across several owning entities recorded in one ledger, so no individual asset or entity could be assessed on its own performance.

Mandate

Chart of accounts redesigned by entity and asset, historic transactions reallocated, consolidation built above the entity layer, and monthly reporting produced at both asset and group level. The outcome was entity-level visibility that supported clearer asset, funding and group decisions.

Coverage

Sectors and coverage

Sectors: Contracting and fit out, industrial and manufacturing, trading and distribution, real estate and property, professional services, telecom and connectivity
Earlier sectors: Satellite infrastructure, fund management and investment vehicles, and private trust structures, from thirteen years of fractional and interim work before 2020.
Market: Clients based in the United Arab Emirates, principally Dubai and Abu Dhabi, mainland and free zone
Company profile: Established revenue, an existing finance team, and a board or shareholder group that expects formal reporting
Engagement length: Retained mandates run for as long as the capability gap exists, with a documented handover as the exit

Confidentiality

Client names are not published

Financial mandates carry access to information no company wants listed on a website. Meraki does not publish client names, logos or figures. Where a prospective client needs a reference, one is arranged directly with a current client's consent.

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