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Handshaikh also offers tailor-made onboarding support as part of the welcome training of new staff to an organisation having Gulf interests.

We can also offer virtual or face-to-face training for your senior staff to answer their questions and smooth the process of transition to a new working environment. For further advice and information, please make contact.

Handshaikh can comment on and assist in the preparation of presentations and other material (such as proposals) to be submitted to Arab clients. Early consultation with Handshaikh can save you time and frustration by helping you to structure content appropriately so that you achieve the right outcomes for your business.

Handshaikh can deliver a short presentation as part of your overall sales and marketing pitch to potential Gulf clients thereby helping to demonstrate your organisation’s cross-cultural awareness and competence in handling Gulf clients and contacts.

Handshaikh can provide a brief, e.g. 30-minute, contribution to your in-house training seminars or other events, example titles being: ‘A look at cross cultural matters in the Gulf’ or ‘How business is done in the Gulf’.

Although Handshaikh is primarily concerned with assisting Westerners who have business interests in the Gulf, many clients ask for advice on life and circumstances relevant to spouses and children who will accompany or join the ‘bread winner’ in the Gulf from time to time. This advice is normally provided in two parts: (1) the unchanging or background circumstances of the country / location followed by (2) an up-to-date brief on schooling, job opportunities, shopping, air travel and medical facilities etc. appropriate to the family concerned. Handshaikh has useful contacts with Gulf-based companies who provide a ‘reception’ service for new expatriates.

Handshaikh can advise on the most suitable layout and style of documentation intended for Gulf Arab readership and – as a preliminary to translation – Handshaikh can proof-read or help you to structure your existing English language documents to suit a Gulf Arab audience ensuring that you achieve the best outcomes for your business. For example, a proposal that emphasises opportunities for Joint Ventures and the employment of local Arabs will be well received. Handshaikh can make recommendations to assist your selection of competent, confidential translators. Good translation takes time so allow for this in your planning process.

The contractual relationship between a foreign company and a Gulf national or company is not easily severed regardless of the performance of either side. There are scores of unhappy (and happy) Gulf business relationships. The selection of any sponsor/agency relationship should be decided only after the greatest possible care has been taken in the selection process. Handshaikh can advise on potential pitfalls.

Handshaikh has provided articles on cross-cultural and other contributions for a number of broadcasters – see Media. These have included the BBC World (Arabic, Persian and English) Services; Sky News; NBC’s ‘Street Wise’; British Business Group Dubai’s ‘BBG Calling’ and ‘Britain In Business’; Financial Times’ Business ‘Resident Abroad’; ‘The Treasurer’ magazine; Qatar British Business ‘Forum’; Kogan Page’s ‘Doing Business in the UAE’ and ‘Doing Business in Bahrain’; Dubai TV’s 24 hour Business Channel; Dubai TV; Dubai FM; Emirates airline in-flight audio programme; UN’s Climate Change Conference in Doha. Handshaikh is ready to provide Gulf cross-cultural input to all media.

Although not a job agency or career counselling organisation, Handshaikh may be able to advise on the best routes for seeking employment in the Gulf.

Many Gulf Arabs visit business premises and factories in the West and elsewhere. Typically, these visitors form all or part of a Technical Committee tasked with evaluating your bid to an Arab tender. Handshaikh can advise on guidelines and procedures to follow which will ensure that their visit to you is a success. Handshaikh’s book has an extensive chapter offering advice on how best to manage visits to your premises.

These are special and usually closed events. Increasingly there are also open, hybrid (in-person and online) events at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce. see above for the Cross-cultural seminars page.

Everyone! Our programmes are aimed at both newcomers and those more familiar with the Arab world and are the perfect opportunity to find answers to all those questions you might have been embarrassed to ask. It is best to include not only those who will be in direct personal contact with Gulf Arabs either as resident executives or as visitors, but also ‘Head Office’ staff of all grades and levels who need to comprehend the nature and techniques of Gulf business, and the cross-cultural stresses involved so that they can react and play a part appropriately, not least in the selection of the right staff to go to the Gulf.

Most Gulf Arabs, especially the younger Gulf Arab, have a good awareness of The West and of Western norms and behaviour. Regrettably, the opposite is often true in terms of Western understanding of the Gulf and its nationals. The latter are therefore well-used to innocent but ‘clumsy’ Western behaviour in or with Gulf. It therefore follows that any Westerner who indicates some understanding of the Gulf, of Islam, of the structure of Gulf Society and of ‘how things work’ (all topics covered in these courses) will be seen as particularly welcome and as ‘special’. Such a Westerner and his or her organisation will almost certainly be welcomed more easily than other organisations. This may well give the edge in terms of winning a major contract.

One or more speakers, well experienced in the Gulf, give a series of short, informal talks in your board or training room (or in a local hotel) on subjects appropriate to your audience’s needs.
Typical programme here.

A room with comfortable chairs, a projector and a screen (preferably not a LCD screen). Catering for tea, coffee, sandwiches etc. to be provided as you see fit, at your cost.

Handshaikh face-to-face lectures are typically half day events (approximately 4 hours with time for Q&A), but we are happy to discuss shorter or longer events to suit your requirements. Typical programme here.

Handshaikh will be pleased to give basic advice free of charge.

Most certainly! Stop everything until you have spoken to Handshaikh! You may be about to make a big mistake in contractual terms.

Handshaikh often participates in organisers’ pre-departure briefing for their delegates.

Many organisations have people who have had dealings with Gulf Arabs. Handshaikh will seek to contact such people beforehand to capture their experience by encouraging comments and anecdotes from all such persons (sometimes as a ‘formal’ speaker within the programme) to the benefit of the whole audience. Handshaikh talks ‘with’ an audience, not ‘at’ it.

Please call or email for basic advice. Handshaikh’s book  Don’t They Know It’s Friday?’ covers this topic in detail.

Absolutely. These important topics feature in most Handshaikh’s events.

Please call or email mail@handshaikh.com for basic advice. A woman should not initiate a handshake with a Muslim man, but a man should certainly shake hands with another man, Muslim or not. Handshaiklh’s book ‘Don’t They Know It’s Friday?‘ covers these and similar topics in detail.

Handshaikh often provides this type of advice.

Handshaikh will be pleased to play a part – large or small – in your event either on-site or on-line. Some organisations use Handshaikh to give a short talk on cross-cultural matters affecting life and business with Gulf Arabs as an interesting and deliberately ‘different’ topic to set managers and staff thinking about broader issues.

Most certainly. Handshaikh’s book ‘Don’t They Know It’s Friday?‘ has an extensive chapter on this subject.

Hybrid, i.e. onsite and online events are offered. The first step is to reserve two or three dates in the diary so that you may establish within your company etc. which date is the most popular. Handshaikh will later wish to talk about your needs in some depth, ideally about a month or so beforehand so that the seminar itself satisfies your requirements. But short notice events are also possible. Please call or email.

Usually just one speaker; sometimes two.

No, but Handshaikh can make recommendations.

All Handshaikh sessions include some explanation of these and several other terms to help de-mystify the Region as a whole. NB: Arabs are not all the same! Handshaikh is particularly experienced in the Arabian Gulf countries, i.e. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. And the facts of Islam are included respectfully in all seminars. Handshaiklh’s book ‘Don’t They Know It’s Friday?‘ covers these topics in detail.

PATIENCE! And Resilience. Handshaikh can help write the country and cross-cultural elements of a Job Specification. And don’t select someone that may be needed in a couple of years to move on; try to send someone who can spend many years with your Arab clients.

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