Startups & scaleups
Early-stage ventures and growth-stage businesses.
Boutique advisory firm · GCC / MENA
Ambition. Made real.
Founder-led strategy, applied AI and growth advisory.
GCC & MENA focus. International reach.
20+
Years of founder experience10+
Industries across a careerGCC & MENAPerspective. Presence. Execution.
Who we support
Investors & funds
VC / PE firms, limited partners (LPs) and other investors.
Family offices & private clients
High-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Corporates & private sector
Mid-sized businesses and US / EU multinationals.
Government & public sector
Public institutions and government-linked entities.
01 / Our expertise
From strategy
to execution.
Commercially driven. Technology-enabled.
Built around the right people.
Strategy & go-to-market
Strategy, positioning and market entry. From the roadmap to hands-on GTM execution.
- Market entry
- Positioning
- Business planning
- GTM execution
AI & digital transformation
Applied and sovereign AI. Model choice, LLM routing and on-premises deployment, with local privacy controls scoped into delivery.
- AI strategy
- Generative AI
- Process automation
- Digital maturity assessment
Growth & commercial performance
Sales, acquisition and retention. Growth acceleration and turnaround.
- Growth strategy
- Customer acquisition
- Retention
- Commercial turnaround
Digital marketing & design
Marketing, brand and product design. UX, UI and conversion optimization.
- Brand & product design
- Customer experience design
- Digital marketing
- Conversion optimization
Capital & ecosystem advisory
Supporting VC firms, LPs, investors and family offices with opportunities, portfolio-company growth and ecosystem connections.
- VC & PE firms
- LPs & investors
- Family offices
- Ecosystem support
Project delivery & venture building
C-level as a service, PMO leadership and specialist teams that can scale to 35–50 people for larger mandates through the right partner setup.
- Venture building
- PMO leadership
- Fractional C-level
- Dedicated teams
The way we work
Independent advice.
Hands-on delivery.
Barry Advisory is a founder-led boutique advisory firm based in the United Arab Emirates, focused on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with international delivery. Fred Barry supports founders, boards, investors and leadership teams with strategy consulting, AI and digital transformation, commercial growth advisory, capital and delivery. A mandate can run from a focused decision to fractional leadership or a dedicated team.
Explore our approach & engagement modelsFrame the decision
Agree the business problem, sponsor, scope and what would make the work useful.
Build the evidence
Test assumptions against customer, operating and financial evidence. Make the trade-offs visible.
Deliver with ownership
Connect the roadmap to people, decisions and measurable progress, with a clear handover.
02 / Selected leadership & advisory
Flagship engagements.
AI leadership. Digital strategy. Growth. Market entry.
Hub71+AI vertical lead · Growth & Strategy
AI vertical leadership
Fred leads the Hub71+AI vertical as part of Hub71’s Growth and Strategy team and oversees end-to-end accelerator delivery in Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala-backed ecosystem.
He is organizing Hub71+AI’s first hackathon with OpenAI, the first OpenAI hackathon with startups in the region.
ABU DHABI · UAE
The engagement
CEO advisor
E-commerce turnaround
E-commerce’s share of total revenue rose from 0.1% at Fred’s arrival to over 12% at his departure. E-commerce revenue grew 85× over 18 months, with the final result reported after his engagement.
SAUDI ARABIA
The engagement
Chief Product & Growth Officer
Product & growth leadership
Product and growth leadership at Merit Incentives in Saudi Arabia; previously advisor to the CEO.
SAUDI ARABIA
The engagement
Market expansion advisor · past
KSA marketing & UAE market entry
Developed the KSA marketing calendar strategy and built the UAE go-to-market strategy, which was successfully executed.
KSA & UAE · PAST ADVISORY
The engagementFounder · Barry Advisory
Fred Barry
Strategy connected to the people, technology and operating decisions needed to deliver it.
About Fred Barry- Board & CEO advisory
- Fractional leadership
- Venture & project delivery
03 / The experience behind the advice
Deep experience.
International perspective.
More than 20 years across 10+ industries, with experience in Canada, Taiwan, Europe and MENA.
Venture builder
Venture across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and India.
5 years at Amazon
EU B2B marketplace launches and Morocco site leadership.
AI research
Xerox Labs, European Research Center.
Corporate experience
Earlier international professional experience.
04 / Selected completed engagements
Experience. In numbers.
AI, commerce, growth and investment.
A selection of reported outcomes.
French apparel retailer
+200%
e-commerce growth
Board advisory on AI and digital transformation. 3× conversion; a €2M offshore technology project with a 40% cost reduction.
Engagement detailsUAE AI SaaS · Pre-seed to seed
10×
reduction in inference costs
CEO advisory on an in-house LLM and local inference. Lower inference costs with the same user base.
Engagement detailsSpanish fashion startup · Seed
4×
runway
CEO advisory on growth and cost optimization. 100% month-on-month growth for three consecutive months.
Engagement detailsUAE Web3 startup · Seed
$1.2M
funding secured
CEO advisory on fundraising and due diligence. Time-to-close reduced by 30%.
Engagement detailsUAE B2B marketplace · Seed
6×
customer lifetime value
CEO advisory on VC meetings and growth operations. 50% lower marketing spend; $275K in Google Cloud and Ads grants.
Engagement detailsFamily office · AI & blockchain
90%
of applications screened out
CIO advisory on investment due diligence, using a structured AI and blockchain assessment.
Engagement detailsSelected completed engagements. Client identities withheld under NDA. Figures are reported results from the company presentation; project scopes and measurement periods vary. These are not guarantees of future performance.
05 / Capital & ecosystems
Capital. Connections.
Practical support.
For VC and PE firms, limited partners (LPs), investors, family offices and ecosystem builders. Across the GCC and MENA, from assessing opportunities to supporting the businesses and programmes behind them.
Capital & ecosystem advisoryVC firms & portfolio companies
Opportunity scouting, commercial diligence and pre- and post-investment support, with hands-on growth, AI and execution expertise for portfolio companies.
LPs, investors & family offices
Commercial opportunity assessment and selective introductions to relevant funds, founders and specialists, shaped around each investor’s priorities.
Ecosystems & accelerators
Programme delivery, startup readiness and partnerships connecting founders, capital, corporates and public-sector stakeholders.
Selected advisory & accelerator references
Loyal VCAdvisor · Venture capitalNBT Next Big ThingGrowth Navigator · GCC accelerationPractical perspectives
Better questions.
Better decisions.
Opinion · Fred Barry
The 15-person question
A lean advisory core. Serious execution. The case for redesigning the firm around AI.
Read the opinionDecision guide
The AI operating case
Quality, cost and a practical calculator.
Read the guideDecision guide
Your next market
A decision brief for UAE and Saudi entry.
Read the guideDecision guide
Growth that adds up
Acquisition, retention and unit economics.
Read the guide06 / Start a conversation
Let’s discuss
your next move.
A new market. A business to transform.
A team to build. Let’s make it happen.
Based in the United Arab EmiratesGCC & MENA focus · International reach
Founder-ledDirect access. Senior experience.