Building momentum beyond business set-up with Sharjeel Akhtar
Managing Partner, Momentum, on creating a trusted partner for entrepreneurs & enterprises
What inspired you to establish Momentum Business Setup, and what gap in the UAE market were you looking to address?
After nearly a decade in UAE corporate services - thousands of set-ups, thousands of consultations - I kept seeing the same problem. Ambitious people arriving here and getting processed, not served. Cookie-cutter advice, slow execution, no one actually invested in the outcome. The UAE had no shortage of business set-up firms. What it lacked was a firm that combined genuine regulatory depth with the speed and hunger of a startup.
How has Momentum evolved from a business set-up consultancy into a broader growth partner for startups, SMEs, and investors?
We expanded because our clients demanded it. Company formation leads to licensing questions, which leads to banking, compliance, restructuring, succession. We built the capability to handle all of it - free zone, mainland, offshore, foundations, Wills, corporate governance. Today a client can walk in at day one and stay with us through every stage of their business life. We’re called Momentum to help clients sustain theirs.
What is your vision for Momentum’s role in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and enterprises?
The UAE is graduating from a place people come to do business into a place people build legacies. That requires a different kind of firm - one that understands regulatory architecture, not just registration. Momentum wants to be the firm behind the firms that matter. The infrastructure partner serious operators rely on to go further, faster.
