Is management talent availability a real constraint for private equity portfolio companies in the Gulf?
Management talent has historically been a genuine constraint for Gulf private equity portfolio companies — one addressed largely by importing expertise from abroad, with the explicit goal of transferring knowledge to local populations who would eventually take over. That succession wave is progressing, but it still faces setbacks. The critical challenge today is no longer simply finding talent: it is ensuring that genuine knowledge transfer and succession actually happen, rather than cycling through imported expertise indefinitely.
Over the last decade and a half, as Gulf economies shifted from hydrocarbon-focused public sector spending toward domestic diversification — with non-oil GDP becoming the key benchmark — the demand for qualified operational management in private businesses intensified sharply. The region's private equity landscape was not built on the depth of local management talent available in more mature markets. Expatriate executives were brought in to bridge the gap, in what was always intended as a transitional model: import the skills, upskill the local workforce, then hand over. The model has worked in part, but unevenly.
What has changed more recently is the nature of the projects themselves. The scale and ambition of transformation programmes being undertaken across the GCC — particularly in Saudi Arabia, where sovereign vehicles like the Public Investment Fund are driving programmes of extraordinary scope — are actively attracting international talent who want to participate in once-in-a-generation work. As Eyad Faraj notes on Beyond the Deck, the draw is no longer just compensation: it is the opportunity to be part of something structurally unique. This dynamic is gradually shifting the talent conversation from scarcity to selectivity.
"This is a private business where CEOs never had to answer to anybody but himself and his family members who sit on the board. And all of a sudden, you have an international investor who says, I love what you've done with the business, but these are my ideas."
— Eyad Faraj, Partner, Roland Berger
This dynamic captures a tension that sits at the heart of Gulf private equity: professionalising management in businesses that were historically owner-operated, while simultaneously managing the expectations of international investors who arrive with their own frameworks and priorities. The talent question is therefore not just about availability — it is about governance readiness, accountability structures, and the willingness of incumbent management to operate under external oversight. The PE value creation agenda depends on resolving all three.
About Eyad Faraj
Eyad Faraj is a partner at Roland Berger within the transaction and investor services practice, based in Bahrain and covering the broader Gulf Cooperation Council region. His vantage point on Gulf investment dynamics is notably multidimensional: he has operated across capital markets, investment banking, and strategy consulting — a combination that allows him to engage with transactions not just as a strategic adviser, but with direct experience of how deals are structured, priced, and executed in practice.
Originally from Bahrain and having worked both inside and outside the region, Faraj brings a dual perspective that is rare in the Gulf advisory space. He understands the structural specificities of Gulf family-owned businesses and sovereign-led investment vehicles from the inside, while also being able to frame them against the expectations and frameworks of international investors. This positioning makes him a particularly credible voice on questions of talent, governance, and value creation in Gulf private equity — the precise terrain covered in this episode.
His work within Roland Berger's transaction and investor services practice places him at the intersection of capital deployment and operational transformation, advising clients at the moment when financial ambition meets the realities of management capacity and governance readiness.
See also
Foreign investors often underestimate layers of complexity that do not appear in standard due diligence — including the limited bandwidth of management and other structural factors specific to the Gulf market.
Governance is the first and most critical layer international investors must assess before committing capital in the Gulf. Many target companies are private, and governance structures differ significantly from Western norms.
The IPO market in the Gulf is emerging as a viable and increasingly important exit route, complementing traditional trade sales or strategic sales — with key developments on exchanges such as TADAWUL and ADX making this path more accessible to investors.