About Us
Our group of companies brings together The SMO, Thesmo Events, and Thesmo.AI, founded in Abu Dhabi and built around a single idea: strategy, capability, and technology should work together through one coordinated ecosystem, not through disconnected providers.
From one advisory desk to three businesses
Founder Wale Buraimoh spent seven years building banking systems, seven more running strategic projects in financial services, and nineteen years in strategy and performance consulting across the UK, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE before founding The Strategy Management Office in 2023. Thesmo Events and Thesmo.AI were built out from that same practice to carry the same methodology into training and technology.
2005 — Consulting begins
Strategy and performance management engagements for blue-chip, public sector and SME clients.
2007–2023 — UAE deep-dive
16 years across UAE utilities, financial services, and higher education strategy and risk leadership.
2023 — The SMO founded
An integrated strategy consultancy launched to serve higher education and beyond.
2025–2026 — Group expansion
Thesmo Events and Thesmo.AI launch as sibling practices, each with its own identity and roadmap.
Coordinated, not conglomerated
Clients get a single point of accountability across advisory, capability-building and technology — without any one business being subordinate to another.
Shared methodology
All three practices are built on the same five management domains: strategy, risk, performance, projects, and operations.
Independent identities
Each practice has its own brand, its own homepage, and its own client relationships.
One accountable team
A single engagement can draw on advisory, training and AI tooling without subcontracting to vendors.
Regional roots
Abu Dhabi headquartered, with delivery experience across the UAE, GCC, MENA and EMEA.
Built on 34+ years of experience
Wale Buraimoh
34+ years spanning software engineering, strategic project management and management consulting across the UK, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Executive Finance Programme, University of Oxford; MBA, Open University.
“Our mission is to empower organisations across the Middle East and beyond to achieve strategic excellence through evidence-based consulting, innovative thinking, and sustainable transformation.”
Three practices. One accountable partner.
Founded in Abu Dhabi, our group of companies brings strategy consulting, executive education and management AI together, so clients get advice, capability and technology from one coordinated team.