What size companies do you work with?

We work primarily with SMEs and mid-market organisations across the Middle East — companies that have product-market fit and are ready to grow deliberately, but need senior strategic support without the overhead of a tier-one consultancy.

How do you structure engagements?

Most engagements begin with a fixed-scope diagnostic (2–4 weeks) that produces a strategic brief. From there, we agree on either a project-based implementation, a monthly retainer for marketing department outsourcing, or a hybrid. You always know what you are paying for before you commit.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. We are based in Egypt and serve clients across the Middle East. For diagnostics and key workshops we typically come on-site; for ongoing execution we work remotely with a clear governance cadence.

How long is a typical engagement?

Diagnostics run 2–4 weeks. Implementation projects run 8–16 weeks. Marketing department outsourcing is a monthly retainer, typically with a 3-month initial commitment so we can demonstrate measurable progress.

Yes, routinely. We treat client confidentiality as non-negotiable and will sign your NDA or provide our own mutual NDA before any substantive conversation.

What makes you different from a typical agency?

Agencies sell execution (posts, ads, designs). We sell clarity first — strategy, research, and a disciplined thinking process — then organise the execution around it. You are buying a consulting discipline, not a content subscription.

Fractional CMO vs Full-Time CMO

The choice between a fractional and a full-time CMO is rarely the first question — but it is the question most founders skip past and regret later.

I sat with a Cairo fintech founder last year who had hired a full-time CMO at 2.2 million EGP a year. Six months in, the CMO was frustrated. There was no clear strategy to execute, no team to lead, no positioning to defend. The founder was frustrated because the CMO seemed to be "doing marketing" but nothing was changing. By month nine, the CMO was gone — and the founder was back to running marketing himself, badly.

That is the most common pattern I see. The mistake is not the hire — it is the sequence.

The mistake most founders make

Founders hire a full-time CMO too early — before the strategy is set, before the team is built, before the company can actually use a senior person at full capacity. The CMO arrives and finds no clear strategy to execute, no team to lead, no budget discipline. They spend six months trying to clarify the basics. The CEO gets frustrated that the CMO isn't "doing marketing". The CMO gets frustrated that the basics aren't done. By month twelve, the CMO is gone.

Then the CEO says CMOs don't work for this business, cancels the function, and goes back to running marketing himself — for another two years.

The right sequence is the opposite: clarify the strategy first (often with a fractional), build the team and the system underneath, then hire full-time to execute at scale. Strategy first. Hire second.

The cost comparison

In Egypt, a credible full-time CMO costs 1.2 to 2.5 million EGP a year, fully loaded. In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, 1.5 to 3 million AED or SAR. That is before equity, before bonus, before the team they will want to build around them.

A fractional CMO in Egypt runs 60 to 120K EGP a month. In the Gulf, 25 to 50K AED or SAR a month. Roughly 25 to 40 percent of a full-time CMO's loaded cost — for senior strategy and leadership two to four days a week instead of five.

There is also the risk math. It takes 6 to 9 months to recruit a senior CMO in this region. The wrong one takes 12 to 18 months to fail. CMO failure rates past 18 months sit at 40 to 50 percent. When you hire a full-time CMO, you are placing a 4 to 6 million EGP bet on a person, with a coin-flip chance they don't survive two years.

When full-time makes sense

You are past 200 million in revenue and marketing complexity is genuinely high — multiple markets, multiple products, real budgets at risk. You have a clear three-year growth plan that needs senior leadership in the room every day. You have already validated the strategy (often through a prior fractional engagement) and now need someone to execute at scale. Or you operate across multiple markets where senior in-house presence is non-negotiable.

In these cases, fractional will frustrate you. Pay for full-time.

When fractional makes sense

Your revenue is 10 to 200 million and a full-time CMO would be either underutilised or unaffordable. Your strategy is still being shaped — you need senior thinking, not yet senior capacity. Your team is still forming and you need someone to architect and recruit it properly. You are entering a new market and need 12 months of senior guidance through the risk window. You had a bad previous CMO hire and need someone to stabilise the function and help you recruit the next one properly. Or you are preparing to raise or sell and investors want senior marketing leadership visible on the org chart — without a permanent commitment.

In all these cases, fractional is not a compromise. It is the right tool.

The transition

This is the part most founders get wrong, and it is the easiest to get right.

When you outgrow fractional, your fractional CMO should help you hire their full-time successor. Not as a courtesy — as a deliverable. They know the business, they know the strategy, they know what the role actually requires. They should sit in on candidate interviews. They should help write the JD. They should manage a structured 3-month overlap where they onboard the new CMO properly — strategy docs, agency relationships, team introductions, reporting cadence.

Three months of overlap is the sweet spot. Less, and the new CMO arrives cold. More, and you create confusion about who is in charge. The fractional's last job is to make themselves replaceable.

If you are weighing fractional against an agency instead, that is a different comparison.

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