About Manara: the operator behind it

The returns

In the summer of 2009 I typed "life in Saudi Arabia" into Google, turned down a better-paid consulting seat in Dubai, and moved to Riyadh. I arrived years before the world started paying attention, and worked in airline pricing and revenue management at flynas through the Arab Spring. Almost nobody with a structured advisory background was in the Kingdom that early.

Then I left, and came back, and left again. Mexico, the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Andorra. Each time I came back the argument for staying was stronger and I still went. The fourth return was the one that held. I have now lived and worked through two distinct phases of this country: 2009 to 2011, and 2024 to today.

Most people advising on Saudi Arabia arrived after it became obvious. I am not more clever than they are. I am just earlier, and I came back.

The operating record

The record is evidence for the claim above, not the claim itself.

Institutional residential

Ran single-family rental operations at institutional scale, into the thousands of homes across twenty markets. Leasing, revenue and resident operations as a system rather than a set of buildings.

Riyadh

Brought to this market the most successful lifestyle residential brand of the last two years, and changed how people here understand the line between hospitality, residential and community living. Built operations, leasing and revenue from zero across three communities, home to more than a thousand residents from around seventy countries. Guided more than 200 expatriate families through their Riyadh landing, and built the programming they lived in.

Before that

BCG. INSEAD MBA, the most international MBA classroom in the world. Built healthcare service networks from zero on three continents. A residential thesis, published in 2021 and executed since across the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia: the strongest residential businesses sit where property fundamentals meet technology and service.

I talk about how the compound market actually works, and what separates a project that fills from one that struggles, on the Inside Saudi Arabia podcast, and I write about market entry, senior placements and residential strategy in Riyadh at victorbarrero.com.

The move you are making, I have made

Sixty-three countries. Homes and operating chapters on four continents. I have relocated my own family across borders repeatedly, with young children, with paperwork in the wrong language, with a start date that would not move. The teams I have run have housed thousands of families, on two continents. That is the depth behind every plan Manara writes.

We choose who we work with

We work with people and companies whose intent we believe in. We say no, and we say why. A first call that ends in "we are not the right answer for this" is a good outcome, and it happens often enough that you should expect it.

The six reasons we decline →

How to choose an advisor

Three questions sort this market quickly. Ask them of anyone, including us.

Who does the work?

The global relocation brands sell you a logo, then subcontract your file to whichever local vendor answers. At Manara the person on this page scopes the plan and stays accountable for it.

Have they made this move?

Much of the local industry is run by executives who have never relocated internationally themselves. Every judgement call here is made by someone who has done it, repeatedly, with his own family.

Is it a business?

Goodwill concierge outfits exist, and some are kind. But your landing deserves a licensed Saudi company with a commercial registration, professional partners and something to lose.

The entity

Manara Connect Company (شركة مانارا كونيكت) · MISA IR 24926258314 · CR 7054311076 · VAT 314478783100003 · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

How we operate

One owner

One team accountable for the whole timeline. Never a referral and a goodbye.

Licensed hands

Regulated work is done by regulated professionals, named in your plan, engaged directly by you.

Fixed fee

Scoped against the written plan, stated before work begins, exclusive of VAT. Third-party fees are always stated separately.

I stayed.