Kudo Advisory Aims to Turn AI Ambition into Action in the Gulf

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 12-05-2026

4 min

Gulf boardrooms boast bold AI budgets, yet many still ask, “where’s the return?”.

Dubai’s Kudo Advisory aims to turn AI investments into measurable, scalable results.

Founder Vijay Jaswal says clarity, governance and discipline are often missing.

The firm promises end-to-end support, from strategy alignment to “implementation oversight”.

As AI spending surges, bridging pilot projects and real scale becomes essential.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere in boardroom slides across the Gulf these days. Big budgets, bold statements, glossy pilots. Yet when you scratch beneath the surface, many companies are still wrestling with the same question: where’s the actual return?

That’s the gap Dubai-based Kudo Advisory says it wants to close.

The newly launched consulting firm is focused on helping enterprises turn their AI investments into measurable, scalable results across the Middle East. It was founded by Vijay Jaswal, previously Regional CTO at enterprise software players including IFS and Software AG. In simple terms, he’s seen how large organisations buy into powerful tech… and then struggle to make it stick.

“Kudo Advisory exists to make AI move,” Jaswal said in comments around the launch. He pointed out that while intent and spending on AI in the region are strong, outcomes have often lagged. The problem, as he sees it, is not enthusiasm but clarity, clarity on where real value lies, how to govern AI properly, and how to execute with discipline. The firm’s aim, he explained, is to help leadership teams choose the right opportunities, put firm guardrails in place, and ensure delivery actually happens.

It’s a timely bet. PwC Middle East has estimated that AI could contribute up to $320 billion to the region’s economy by 2030, with the UAE expected to capture one of the biggest slices of that economic impact. And yet, anyone who has worked inside a large enterprise knows that moving from a pilot to something fully embedded in operations can be a bit of a faff. There’s internal resistance, siloed data, unclear KPIs, you name it.

I’ve seen startups in our Arageek community chuffed to bits after landing a big enterprise AI contract, only to realise that implementation is where things get messy. Strategy decks are spot on; execution, not always. So I reckon there’s space for advisory firms that focus less on AI hype and more on governance, operating models and hard metrics.

Kudo Advisory says it will provide end-to-end support, from aligning AI strategy with business priorities to setting up governance frameworks that ensure safe and responsible use. It also plans to work on operating model design and prioritising use cases, essentially helping companies figure out which AI initiatives deserve attention and which are just shiny distractions.

That said, what stands out is the emphasis on delivery. Beyond strategy, the firm highlights programme management, implementation oversight, and performance measurement. In other words, not just telling companies what to do, but making sure it actually gets done, with accountability attached. In a region moving fast on digital transformation, that pragmatism might be its strongest card.

Even the name has a deliberate meaning. “Kudo” comes from the Japanese word 駆動, meaning drive or propulsion. It corelates with the firm’s stated mission: turning AI intent into forward motion. Not theory. Not endless pilots. Movement.

From its Dubai headquarters, Kudo Advisory plans to work with CEOs, CIOs and wider leadership teams across the UAE and the Middle East, helping them define, govern and scale AI in enterprise environments. The focus, according to the firm, is on moving beyond conceptual conversations and towards measurable business outcomes.

On the flip side, advisory is a crowded space, and enterprises are spoilt for choice when it comes to consultants promising digital transformation. The real test will be whether Kudo can prove its value in the trenches, inside complex organisations where change management is often harder than the technology itself.

Still, as AI investment continues to accelerate across the Gulf, bridging the distance between ambition and operational reality feels not just useful, but neccessary. And if firms like this can help the region’s companies move from pilot purgatory to proper scale, that’s something many founders and enterprises alike will be watching closely.

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