The questions clients ask before the first call.

A fractional executive provides CEO, COO or C-suite leadership for a set number of days a week, usually one to three. You get the experience and capability of a senior hire without the full-time salary, benefits and notice period. For a growing business that needs C-suite thinking but is not ready for a full-time appointment, it is often the right commercial decision.

Fractional is part-time and ongoing, one to three days a week, continuing until the business no longer needs it. Interim is full-time and time-limited, typically three to twelve months, covering a specific gap, transition or transformation. Both are available, and many clients use both at different stages.

A non-executive director attends the board, provides governance and challenge, and holds the executive team to account. A Chief of Staff is more actively involved in execution, owning value creation plan governance, managing the investor interface, and leading the cross-functional projects that have no natural internal owner. It sits between a NED and a full-time interim. Ben is available for fractional Chief of Staff, Chief Transformation Officer and Operating Partner roles.

Yes. We are based in Dubai and hold a UAE project management trade licence, and we work across the GCC, the UK, Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. Both principals are internationally mobile and available to work on-site where the engagement requires it.

Yes. We work on day rates, monthly retainers, fixed project fees and board advisory mandates, depending on the engagement. We agree the right structure in the first conversation.

Both principals are available at short notice. For interim and fractional roles this usually means within one to two weeks of agreeing terms. For a transformation project, we can begin a diagnostic within days. There is no lengthy onboarding, that is the point.

Logistics and distribution, food and FMCG, QSR and food retail, contract catering, F&B and hospitality, postal networks, private equity-backed businesses, agribusiness and food security, and start-ups and scale-ups. Ben and Joanna have operated at senior level across all of these. The experience is direct, not advisory.

It depends on the engagement. A fractional CEO role produces ongoing commercial and operational leadership. An interim turnaround produces a stabilised business and a handover plan. A transformation project produces a diagnostic, a conversion strategy, a phased roadmap and, where relevant, implemented change. A market entry project produces a validated commercial model, regulatory setup and an operational launch plan. We agree what an engagement will produce before we start.

Yes. Some situations benefit from both principals operating at once. A PE-backed food or logistics business might engage Ben on commercial and operational recovery while Joanna leads supply chain and procurement restructuring in parallel. Two senior operators at a combined rate that stays a fraction of two permanent hires.

Contact Ben or Joanna directly, by phone, WhatsApp, email or LinkedIn. No account managers, no contact forms. A 30-minute conversation at no cost to understand the situation, and a clear proposal within five working days if there is a fit.