A consultant who happens to be a founder.
Natalia Mena is a Commercial & Cultural Advisor for the Middle East and a market entry strategist for the GCC. Based between Doha and Santo Domingo, she advises founders, family businesses, institutions and governments on how to enter, position and grow in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan.
Her advisory practice is grounded in real operating experience. She has guided more than 17 brands across the Caribbean and Latin America into the Gulf, building distribution, retail and institutional relationships from the ground up.
More recently, she has opened a curated pipeline of strategic investment opportunities in the Dominican Republic and the United States for principals and family offices based in the Middle East — architecting a true two-way commercial corridor between the Gulf, the Caribbean and the Americas.
She is also the owner of CASA DR, a separate hospitality and retail venture in Doha — a private operating laboratory that informs, but stays distinct from, her independent advisory work.
Her academic foundation spans a background in Dentistry and medical consulting, an MBA from Augment University and a Marketing degree from the University of Central Florida — an unusually multidisciplinary lens she brings to every engagement.
What sets the work apart.
Operator, not observer
Every recommendation has been pressure-tested through her own brands and retail spaces in the Gulf.
Cultural fluency
Trilingual advisory across Spanish, English and working Arabic — with deep cultural intelligence built in market.
Cross-cultural fluency in deal-making
What truly sets the practice apart is knowing how to do business across these cultures — the nuance that turns a single transaction into a lasting relationship and a successful, repeatable venture.
Trusted network
Established relationships across chambers of commerce, embassies, distributors and retail buyers in the GCC.
A member of chambers and councils on three continents.
- —Qatari Businesswomen Association
- —Miami Chamber of Commerce
- —Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce
- —Chamber of Commerce — Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- —Chamber of Commerce — Doha, Qatar
An international voice on Latin America–GCC trade.
Natalia speaks at trade missions, chambers of commerce, women-in-business forums and economic delegations on cross-cultural commerce, the rise of the GCC consumer and what Latin American brands need to know before they enter the region.
Speaking & Engagements