Market entry & feasibility
We test demand, competition, operating costs and regulatory fit on the ground, and give you a clear go or no-go to take to your board.
Fifty-Five East · 25°12′N 55°16′E
Global ambition. Local ground.
Fifty-Five East is a cross-border advisory firm for companies and investors building in new markets. From our base in Dubai we help you enter, set up and grow with people who work on the ground as well as on the slides.
The gap we close
New markets reward the companies that show up.
The fastest growth in the world is a long way from most head offices. Plans made in one time zone often meet the ground a year late and over budget. That's rarely because the market was wrong. Usually nobody was standing on the site.
01 — DISTANCE
Far from the decision
Your team is asleep while partners, regulators and contractors are at work. Small questions turn into week-long delays.
02 — RULES
Approvals that reward preparation
Foreign-investment rules, entity choice, tax and moving money home all shape the deal. They're manageable when you plan for them early, and expensive when you discover them late.
03 — TRUST
Partners you haven't met
The right local partner saves you years and the wrong one costs you them. Telling them apart takes time on the ground.
Who we serve
A bridge that runs both ways.
Most of our work starts with a company in one market that needs to succeed in another. Our job is to make each side clear to the other.
Companies
Going into new markets
Corporates and scale-ups planning a first office, plant, partnership or sales channel abroad, and wanting a clear view before they commit.
Investors
Backing projects from afar
Funds, family offices and investor groups that need independent eyes on the ground: diligence, monitoring and reporting they can trust.
Local businesses
Working with international partners
Strong regional companies getting ready for international partners, customers or investors, with the governance and reporting those partners expect.
Services
From the first question to a working operation.
Hire us for one step or the whole journey. When a step needs a licensed lawyer, auditor or tax adviser, we bring in trusted firms and coordinate them. You keep one point of contact throughout.
Entity setup & approvals
We help you choose the right legal structure and work through foreign-investment approvals with local counsel, so the setup fits where you want to be in five years.
Partners, sites & suppliers
Joint-venture partners, distributors, landlords and contractors, shortlisted and met in person before you commit.
Financial planning
Budgets and cash-flow models in local currency with a home-currency view, plus planning for funding, currency risk and getting money home, alongside your tax advisers.
Board & investor reporting
Clear reporting for boards and stakeholders: milestones, spend against budget, risks, and the decisions we need from you.
On-the-ground project management
Site visits, milestone tracking and day-to-day coordination in the market, led by one person who replies during your working hours.
How we work
Four steps, each with a decision at the end.
Nothing moves to the next step until you agree it should. At every step you know what you'll pay, what you'll get and what could go wrong.
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Step 1
Diagnose
What are you building, by when, and with what budget? We test the brief against the market before anyone books a flight.
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Step 2
Ground-truth
Site visits, partner meetings and conversations with regulators. We report what we saw, including anything that changes the plan.
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Step 3
Structure
We settle the entity, approvals, budget and partners with local counsel and advisers, and write it up for your board to sign off.
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Step 4
Run
We stay on as your team on the ground until the operation can run without us.
Reach
Starting where growth is fastest. Built to go further.
We would rather know a few markets deeply than many from a desk. We start in the regions where our people already run projects, and we grow with our clients.
Focus
Asia
Where we began and where our teams work today, across real estate, logistics, infrastructure and technology. The world's biggest growth story, and its most varied rulebook.
Base · 55°16′E
Middle East
Our home in Dubai: neutral ground for contracts, coordination and meetings with both sides, and our gateway to the wider Gulf.
Next
Wherever you're going
We follow our clients. When a project takes us into a new market, we put the right people on the ground before we ask you to rely on us there.
Why Fifty-Five East
The meridian both sides can reach.
Dubai sits on the 55th meridian east, between the capital of the West and the growth of the East. From here we can be on site within hours and on a call with your head office the same afternoon.
Our name is our position: east of centre, close to the ground.
55°16′EOur meridian, in Dubai
UTC+4A working day that overlaps Europe and Asia, and the start of the Americas' day
NonstopDirect flights to most of the world's major business capitals
NeutralA trusted place to contract, meet and settle disputes
Contact
Tell us where you're headed.
A short note is enough: what you want to build, where, and roughly when. We'll reply within two working days with an honest view, even if that view is that you shouldn't do it.
HeadquartersDubai, United Arab Emirates
Working acrossAsia, the Middle East and beyond