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April 28, 2024
April 25, 2024
The Middle East and African region are six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. The competitive landscape is shifting across the region as consumers’ tastes change, new digital champions emerge and governments deregulate. This has attracted several high-net-worth individuals and investors to the Middle East and Africa seeking second citizenship or residency. RIF Trust was established to address this demand for Citizenship and Residency-by-Investment solutions, which is now a booming industry.
Almost a decade ago, Mimoun A. Assraoui (RIF Trust’s Founder and CEO), left the banking world to establish RIF Trust in 2013. Mimoun has over 24 years of experience in Middles East and Europe. He has worked at different international banks, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices throughout the Middle East and Africa. After noticing the opportunity, Mimoun leveraged his expertise in banking and entrepreneurial mindset and founded RIF Trust. His ambitious vision towards industry leadership has helped him shape RIF Trust’s core values of outstanding service, a smooth process, and transparency while building its international network of offices. In 2020, Mimoun was nominated to be the Trade Commissioner for Vanuatu in the UAE.
Initially, the challenge that the team at RIF Trust faced was establishing itself in an increasingly crowded market with a range of practitioners. By staying true to its core values, partnerships, and sheer determination the team overcame this challenge and was successful in building a respected and trusted global brand. Since then, RIF Trust has become the leading advisory in the Middle East and Africa.
RIF Trust has become the largest global investment migration advisory in the Middle East and Africa. It has over 90 staff worldwide spread over 21 offices, including Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Egypt, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, KSA, South Korea, UAE, UK, and the USA.
RIF Trust is a government-approved partner and authorized agent of the world’s most powerful residency and citizenship programs, including Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Vanuatu, and Malta. Its global presence and size allow RIF Trust to offer over 20 different program options for their clients, which ensures that they have a wide range of solutions to choose from in the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. Mimoun adds, “Following our merger with Latitude Consultancy in 2018, we are guided by a diverse board of directors who are pioneers in our industry with a combined 100 years of experience in both building and offering Citizenship and Residency-by-Investment programs.”
Among the wide range of offerings, the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship-by-Investment program has gained the most popularity amongst their clients. The biggest attractor for this program is that the applicants can receive their second passports in as little as 4 months after the file has been submitted. “The St Kitts and Nevis passport currently ranks 25th worldwide and has the greatest global mobility in terms of total visa-free countries amongst all the OESC members,” explains Mimoun. The St Kitts and Nevis passport grants entry into various travel hotspots worldwide, including the EU, UK, Singapore, amongst many others. Furthermore, Portugal is one of the most prominent Residency-by-Investment programs in the world. Since its launch in 2012, the Portugal Golden Visa has attracted more than 26,700 individuals to Portuguese shores. The Golden Visa enables the holder to live, study and work in Portugal while also having a flexible path to Portuguese citizen and thus EU citizenship.
RIF Trust is a global company with an entrepreneurial culture. The team is committed to continually striving to improve its solutions and to better understand the lives of their clients. Acknowledging the continuously growing and competitive landscape of the industry, the team at RIF Trust is swift in adapting and anticipating the social, political, and economic factors that will disrupt the business and service.
With the advent of COVID-19, rapid digitalization was unanticipated. Despite the sudden circumstance, RIF Trust adapted to remote working and worked on digitizing the application and payment process. Moreover, RIF Trust’s marketing team was dedicated to creating more educational content in various languages for each program. This content was published through new platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok.
“Our people are our most important resource, and we treat our employees, clients, and partners like family,” states Mimoun. The open culture at RIF Trust and its core values are the reason behind the high rate of retention and client referrals. The team invests its time in building a strong bond with each of its stakeholders. The key to a successful investment migration business is to focus on offering its clients with best possible information and communication to make the best decision for themselves and their families.
Recently, RIF Trust was appointed as the Investment Migration Council’s Regional Representative Office for the Middle East, due to its outstanding scale, repute, and resources in the region. The company aims to become the international leader of the investment migration industry. Mimoun is confident that with the current growth rate the company will achieve that status in very short order.
RIF Trust strives to keep developing and winning mandates in its three market segments: B2C, B2B, and Government Advisory. Mimoun concludes, “We like to surround ourselves with like-minded colleagues and partners that help push our industry forward and bring innovative solutions to our esteemed clients.”
Despite their growth as a company, RIF Trust has never forgotten their entrepreneurial mentality. They continue to work hard each day to improve their service to ensure they can maintain their leadership position and stay ahead of competitors.
For more information on Citizenship or Residency by Investment, go to www.riftrust.com.
