In Dubai the company profile is often the first document a buyer, procurement team or potential partner asks for. It gets attached to tenders, sent after a first meeting, forwarded on WhatsApp and printed for exhibitions. Because it travels without you, it has to answer questions on its own.
Start with who will read it
Before writing anything, list the people who will open the profile and what each of them needs to decide. A procurement officer checking whether you qualify for a tender wants licences, capacity and references. A distributor deciding whether to carry your products wants the range, the brands and the supply terms. An investor or partner wants the track record and the people behind it.
One profile can serve several readers, but it should be built around the most important one. If the contents keep pulling in different directions, a short main profile plus a separate product catalogue or project portfolio is often clearer than one long document trying to do everything.
What to include
Most strong company profiles cover the same ground, in roughly this order:
- A clear opening statement. One or two sentences on what the company does and for whom. If a reader stops after the first page, they should still know this.
- Who you are. When and where the company was established, the group it belongs to if that matters, your offices and the markets you serve.
- What you do. Services or product categories, each with a short explanation of what is included. Group them the way a buyer thinks, not the way your departments are organised.
- How you work. Your process, capacity, facilities, certifications and quality standards, where these affect the buyer’s decision.
- Proof. Selected projects or clients with a short note on what you did. Only include names you have permission to show.
- People. Leadership and key team members, with roles and relevant experience. Real photographs work better than stock images.
- Contact and next step. Names, phone numbers, email, website, office addresses and what the reader should do next.
Licence details, registration numbers and similar formal information can sit on a final page for the readers who need them, rather than interrupting the story at the front.
What to leave out
- Long mission and vision statements that could belong to any company.
- Claims you cannot back up, such as being the leading or the best provider.
- Every project you have ever done. Choose the ones closest to the work you want more of.
- Stock photographs of handshakes and skylines that say nothing about your business.
- Details that go out of date quickly, such as staff numbers or project counts, unless you are prepared to update the profile whenever they change.
Write for scanning, then for reading
Most people skim a profile before they read it. The headings should tell the story by themselves, so someone flicking through the pages still picks up the main points. Under each heading, lead with the point and follow with the detail. Short paragraphs, plain words and specific facts read better than long blocks of corporate language.
Specific beats general. “We supply chilled and frozen products to supermarkets across the northern emirates” tells a buyer far more than “we deliver excellence in food distribution”. If you have figures you can stand behind, use them, and keep a note of where each one came from so it can be checked and updated later.
Arabic and English versions
Many UAE businesses need the profile in both languages, either as two separate documents or as one bilingual document. Two documents are usually easier to read and to keep up to date. A single bilingual profile works when the same document must go to mixed audiences, but it needs a layout planned for both scripts from the start.
Arabic reads from right to left, so an Arabic profile opens from what an English reader thinks of as the back, and page layouts, charts and image positions may need to be mirrored. Arabic text also takes up a different amount of space from the English. Have the Arabic written or checked by a native speaker who knows your industry rather than relying on a direct translation, and choose Arabic typefaces that sit comfortably beside your English ones.
PDF, print or both
Decide early how the profile will be used, because it changes the design.
| Format | Works well for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Email, WhatsApp, tender submissions and website downloads. | File size, readability on a phone and links that still work. | |
| Printed profile | Exhibitions, meetings and documents left behind after a visit. | Paper, binding and finishing choices, and print runs that go out of date. |
| Both | Businesses that pitch in person and online. | Keeping the two versions in step when details change. |
Most profiles are now read on screens, often phones. A landscape layout suits laptops and meeting room screens, while a portrait layout is easier to print and to scroll on a phone. Whichever you choose, keep the text large enough to read without zooming and compress the images so the file can be emailed.
Design details that make a difference
- Follow your brand guidelines: the same logo, colours, typefaces and photography style as everything else you produce. A profile that looks different from your website and signage makes the company look less established.
- Give each section the same page structure so readers learn where to look.
- Use real photographs of your team, premises, products and projects wherever you can.
- Leave space. Crowded pages are hard to read and make a company look less sure of itself.
Our work for 7 Falcons is a company profile for an investment and development business, built around a clear content hierarchy. SAPCO and Trusbrands show the related job of organising a product portfolio and a catalogue by brand and category, so buyers can find what they need quickly.
What to prepare before briefing a designer
- Your brand guidelines and logo files, in Arabic and English if you have them.
- Your current profile, if there is one, with notes on what is not working.
- Who will read it and what you want them to do next.
- Draft text, or the facts a writer will need: services, history, projects and team.
- Photographs you already own, and a list of what still needs to be shot.
- Whether you need PDF, print or both, and in which languages.
Our brand brief template covers most of these points and works as a starting point for a profile brief too.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a company profile be?
As long as its main reader needs, and no longer. Many businesses find that a focused main profile plus separate catalogues or project sheets is easier to manage than one long document. Cut anything that does not help the reader decide.
Should a company profile be in Arabic and English?
If your buyers, partners or government contacts read Arabic, yes. Plan both versions together so the structure matches, and have the Arabic written or checked by a native speaker.
Who writes the text, the designer or us?
Either can work. You hold the facts, and a writer can turn them into clear, consistent copy. Agree at the start who writes, who checks the facts and who signs off the final version.
Does a design quote include printing?
Usually not. Printing depends on quantity, paper, binding and finishing, so it is normally quoted separately. Ask for print-ready files and a screen-ready PDF as part of the design scope.
How Abcon can help
Abcon plans, writes and designs company profiles, catalogues and presentations in Arabic and English, working from your brand guidelines or building them with you if you do not have any yet. See our company profile and presentation design service, or tell us about your profile and what it needs to do.
For practical support with this decision, explore our company profile and presentation design and corporate and group branding services. Each page explains the scope, how we work and what to consider before commissioning the work. Talk to us about your business challenge.
