Advisor
Layla Haddad
Founder, company formation, Dubai. Fourteen years forming companies across all seven emirates.
Founder · Dubai office
Layla Haddad
Layla grew up in Sharjah, studied law at the American University of Sharjah and spent six years structuring companies for a Dubai law firm. In 2012 she opened Manara with one desk, one phone and a rule she still keeps: each client has one advisor, from the first conversation to the renewal.
She leads every formation file herself or with one of the formation team, and still walks into the economic department when a file needs a conversation rather than a form.
She speaks Arabic, English and French, and is the person to ask when the right jurisdiction isn’t obvious.
- companies formed personally
- 600+
- founded Manara
- 2012
- languages
- 3
How Layla works
Layla’s first question is never about licences. It’s about who your customers are, where you’ll live and who you’ll hire in the first two years, because those answers choose the jurisdiction for you.
She writes every plan in plain words, with two or three options side by side and every fee shown. Clients often say the plan alone was worth the consultation.
Areas she’s asked about most: mainland or free zone, holding structures in DIFC and ADGM, regulated activities, and moving an existing company between jurisdictions.
I never once stood in a queue. Layla handed me a folder with my licence, our visas and a bank card, and asked if I wanted coffee.
Recent insights
All insights-
UAE corporate tax in your first year: what a new company must do
Registration, the 9% rate, small business relief and the 0% free zone rate, explained for companies formed in 2026.
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The UAE golden visa: who qualifies and how the application works
The ten-year residence visa explained: the main routes, sponsoring your family, the steps, the fees and when it’s worth it.
Talk to Layla
Forty-five minutes, in person or on a call. The first consultation is free.