Zara Ahmed FCA

"SMBs don't need a junior associate rotating through their books every six months. They need the same senior reading the same ledger every quarter. That's the whole model."

Zara qualified as a chartered accountant with Grant Thornton UK in 2009 and moved to Dubai in 2013 with PwC, where she spent seven years in audit — including the 2017–18 UAE VAT implementation work for two of the region's largest hospitality groups. She co-founded ClearBooks in February 2020 to bring PwC-grade files to SMB clients who typically can't access senior partners. She signs every audit opinion and reviews every statutory file personally.