Lending
Won the project but the distributor wants paying before the client does? How UAE IT companies fund hardware, late invoices, retention and licences, and why profitable ones still get declined.
You win the project and the client signs the LPO. Then the distributor wants paying for the hardware within 30 days, and the client pays you 90 days after handover.
Financing for IT companies in the UAE is built for exactly that gap. In our experience, most integrators taking on a large project do it with a business loan sized to that project. There are narrower options too, such as paying the distributor on your behalf or borrowing against an invoice once it is issued. This guide covers the loan first, then each point where an integrator runs short, and why a profitable IT business still gets turned down.
Because the money goes out before it comes in, and the bigger the project, the wider the gap.
An integrator buys cameras, switches, servers and licences from a distributor on short terms. In our conversations with integrators, 30 days is normal and a new account often pays on order. The client pays after delivery or commissioning, and across the UAE around two in five B2B invoices are paid late (opens in a new tab), according to Atradius's 2026 survey. The same survey found credit sales make up 47% of B2B transactions in the UAE. Waiting to be paid is normal here.
Payroll does not wait. Since 1 June 2026, private-sector salaries are due by the first of each month, and the 15-day grace period has gone (opens in a new tab). Your engineers get paid on the first whether the client has paid you or not.
The demand is real, which makes it worse. Gartner forecasts MENA IT spending of $169 billion in 2026 (opens in a new tab), up 8.9%, with data centre systems growing 37.3%. More projects mean more hardware bought ahead of payment. For a lot of integrators the heaviest stretch is the last quarter, with GITEX running 7 to 11 December (opens in a new tab) this year.
Yes, and it is the most common route we see. A short-term business loan sized to the project (opens in a new tab) covers the hardware and your engineers' salaries in one go, and you repay it over months rather than years as the client pays.
It works because one loan covers everything the project needs. A lender looks at the business behind the request, mainly your trading history and bank statements. A signed LPO from a client the lender recognises makes the loan far easier to justify than turnover alone.
Size it to the project, and match the repayment period to when the client pays. A loan much larger than the contract behind it, or repaid over years for a project that pays out in six months, is harder to approve and costs more than it needs to. If you would rather not pledge property, see our guide to unsecured business loans in the UAE (opens in a new tab). For how business loans work more broadly, read our guide to SME business loans in the UAE (opens in a new tab).
A loan is not always the cheapest answer. When one cost is the problem, a narrower product can fit better, and the next sections cover those.
If the hardware is the only gap, finance the purchase itself (opens in a new tab). With supplier or payable finance, a lender pays your distributor, and you repay when the client pays you.
It suits a project with a signed LPO and a client a lender recognises. The lender looks past your balance sheet to the order itself: who the client is, and whether you have delivered similar projects before. The margin matters too, because it has to leave room to repay. A thin-margin project with an unknown client is harder to fund than a solid one from a repeat customer.
If the order is large relative to your usual size, read our guide to purchase order finance in the UAE (opens in a new tab). It covers what a lender needs to see before it funds an order you cannot yet pay for.
Pay the distributor sooner, so the limit clears. A credit limit caps how many projects you can run at the same time, and for most integrators it is the first ceiling they hit as they grow.
When a lender pays the distributor on your behalf, your balance with the distributor comes down and the limit frees up for the next project. If your distributor offers a discount for paying early, the saving can cover part of what the finance costs. Worth asking before you assume the limit is fixed.
Once you have invoiced, the invoice itself can be financed. With invoice discounting, a lender advances part of the invoice value now and the rest arrives when the client pays, less the lender's fee.
Our guide to invoice discounting in the UAE (opens in a new tab) explains how it works, and invoice financing versus a working capital loan (opens in a new tab) helps you pick between the two.
Government work needs a closer look. Abu Dhabi has required its public sector and state-owned entities to pay suppliers within 30 days of invoice (opens in a new tab) since 2019, and Dubai committed to paying SMEs within 30 days instead of 90 (opens in a new tab) the same year. Those rules cover what a government entity pays its direct supplier. If you are installing the network under a main contractor, your payment terms are whatever your subcontract says.
Be honest with yourself about two things before you apply. Not every lender will fund invoices owed by a government or semi-government client, because the lender has to accept the client as the payer. And if one client makes up most of your revenue, fewer lenders will look at you than if the same revenue came from ten.
If your cabling or CCTV goes in as part of a fit-out, expect retention. In UAE construction contracts it is typically 10% of the contract price (opens in a new tab), with half released at completion and the rest after the defects liability period, usually a year after handover.
Retention on its own is hard to finance, because the money depends on an inspection that has not happened yet. What you can finance is the certified, invoiced part of the work. Plan your cash on the basis that the last 5% arrives a year after handover.
Yes, but they call for different products.
Annual licences are often paid to the vendor upfront while the client pays you monthly. That is a gap with a known end date, which suits a short-term working capital line more than a long loan.
Maintenance contracts work the other way round. An AMC book is steady income arriving every month or quarter. If that income shows up clearly in your bank statements, it is the kind of revenue that revenue-based financing (opens in a new tab) lends against, with repayments that move with what comes in.
Mostly dates, and they depend on your size. Businesses with revenue of AED 50 million or more must appoint an accredited service provider by 30 October 2026 (opens in a new tab) and start mandatory e-invoicing on 1 January 2027. Everyone else appoints a provider by 31 March 2027 and goes live on 1 July 2027.
Most SME integrators are in the second group, so there is time. The cash point is simple. An invoice that is not issued correctly does not get paid on time, and a clean, correctly issued invoice is also the first thing a lender checks if you want to finance it. Get the new process working before your first big invoice of 2027 goes out.
It is usually the shape of the business that worries a lender. Four patterns come up again and again with integrators:
Since 13 September 2026, a lender licensed by the Central Bank that rejects an SME must give the reason in writing (opens in a new tab), under the SME Customer Protection Regulation. It applies to CBUAE-licensed institutions only, and a written reason is not a right to be approved. It does tell you what to fix. If it has already happened to you, read our guide on what to do after a bank rejection (opens in a new tab).
The same set of documents opens most doors, and having it ready is what keeps a request moving:
A signed LPO or contract for the project is often the strongest document in the pack, so lead with it.
GrowthIQ is not a capital provider. The platform helps you find the lenders you are most likely to qualify with.
You complete one application. It is assessed against the credit policies of multiple lenders, matched to the product that fits where your money is stuck, and routed only to the lenders you plausibly meet. Complete applications typically take two to three weeks end to end. There is no retainer and no upfront advisory fee. A success fee applies only if financing is disbursed.
If you have won the work and the cash is the only thing in the way, check your eligibility (opens in a new tab) or see how GiQ Match (opens in a new tab) works.
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