Business Analyst

About the engagement

A 65+ year-old furnishing solutions provider — bespoke fabrics, tailoring, and fit-out across curtains, upholstery, soft furnishings, and furniture for both residential and hospitality clients — is evaluating a strategic re-entry into the Dubai market.

We are staffing 1 Manager and 1 junior analyst to lead the engagement end to end: from framing the study through to a board-ready go/no-go recommendation, partnering directly with the client’s CEO and senior advisors.

The work spans three connected workstreams:

1. UAE market-attractiveness study (at both market and company level)

2. Business plan with a full financial forecast and sizing of the capital requirements;

3. Internal cash-flow / FP&A tool for the CEO, with support to strengthen the in-house finance function over time.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead the market entry study, starting by defining "need to believe" conditions and deal-killers for the UAE market.

• Conduct primarily secondary research (with scalable options for primary outreach) to assess the mid-market gap and margin viability between IKEA and luxury tiers.

• Build and pressure-test a full financial forecast and capital requirement sizing to validate the ~$500K initial entry budget.

• Develop a dynamic cash-flow management tool for the General Partner to run day-to-day operations on a rolling 12–18 month basis.

• Synthesize complex data into a board-ready recommendation and partner directly with the CEO and senior advisors.

What we’re looking for

• Background in Top-tier Management Consulting (ex-MBB) or Investment Banking.

• Proven experience executing market-entry/growth studies and assessing regional market attractiveness.

• Exceptional financial modeling and FP&A capabilities, with the ability to build operational finance tools from scratch

• Strong GCC market experience, specifically within the UAE/Dubai landscape.

• Executive presence with demonstrated comfort advising and presenting directly to C-suite and board members.

• Sector experience in furnishings, interiors, textiles, or retail would be ideal

Why Gratia is your next step

• Designed for independent professionals who want the freedom of private practice with the support of a global community. We offer both part-time and full-time options.

• Compensation is tailored to your tier and your evolving portfolio of expertise.

• Elevate your profile by working directly with leaders at innovative global organizations like USA Today Co., Endeavor, and New York Life.