Wahaj SiddiquiPersonal record

Page 01 · Personal data page

Everywhere I've worked, I've left a system behind.

I'm Wahaj Siddiqui, a tax practitioner turned systems builder. I founded Oblique Consult, where I focus on tax, transfer pricing, and arbitration and disputes. I co-founded Simpla, and with the same people I'm building Hysaab and Ibtidah. Here I write about building, finance and the Gulf.

Work with ObliqueRead the journal
Personal data pageNo. 2018-OBQ
Passport-style portrait of Wahaj Siddiqui
Surname
Siddiqui
Given name
Wahaj
Place of birth
Abu Dhabi
Based in
Dubai
Occupation
Tax · Transfer pricing · Disputes
Experience
18+ years
Date of issue
2018 · Oblique
Expiry
Going concern
Penalties
None

Page 02 · Customs declaration

Anything to declare?

Just the figures. Reconciled, ticked, and free of contingent liabilities.

As featured in

  • Accounting and Business (ACCA)
  • Entrepreneur Middle East
  • Finance Middle East

Declaration formHolder: W. Siddiqui

  • 18+Years in corporate finance and tax
  • 100+Audits
  • 0Penalties
  • 5Countries
  • 20 → 9Days in a VAT reporting cycle, at Emirates
  • 0.00Simpla marketing spend, for ≈1,000 users

Declared under penalty of perjury. Or worse, a restatement.

Page 03 · Dispatches

From the journal.

All entries →

Notes on building, finance and the Gulf. Always filed before the deadline.

  1. JE-003
    Global tax and regulatory changes in the Middle EastPodcast · Cheque Point, Finance Middle East
    September 2025
  2. JE-002
    Synergistic shiftsInterview · Entrepreneur Middle East
    April 2025
  3. JE-001
    Avoiding pitfalls in AI adoptionArticle · Accounting and Business (ACCA), July 2024
    July 2024
Wahaj Siddiqui presenting at Oblique Consult

Page 04 · Work with Oblique

Guidance first. Commercials later.

Oblique Consult is the tax, accounting and advisory firm I founded in 2018. We serve global names across the UAE and KSA, and our accountants also run the managed service for Hysaab.

Practice focus

  • TaxCorporate tax and VAT across the UAE and KSA.
  • Transfer pricingRelated-party pricing, set and documented to hold up when the authority asks.
  • Arbitration & disputesTax disputes and arbitrations, with the numbers worked out before the argument starts.

Your first conversation with us is free. Bring us the problem and we'll work out what it needs with you, before anyone talks fees. Every engagement is priced at arm's length. The first call isn't priced at all.

Book a free callVisit obliqueconsult.com ↗

Page 05 · Professional entries

Four entries. One habit.

Every stop, the same move: find the grind, automate it, and leave the books balanced on the way out.

  1. KPMG Audit · Abu Dhabi

    Built tools that took the manual grind out of credit reviews.

  2. Etihad Airways Finance

    Automated entire inter-station processes and handed the finance team back thousands of hours.

  3. Al Hilal Bank Risk & audit

    Built an automated risk model on GARP principles, so judgement rested on more than opinion.

  4. Emirates Lead, indirect taxes

    Led tax through the UAE's first VAT and cut a reporting cycle from 20 days to 9.

Page 06 · Companies founded

Built once, so nobody has to do it twice.

  • VisaEntries: Multiple

    Oblique Consult

    Holder
    Founder · 2018
    Category
    Tax, accounting and advisory

    Built for the GCC, serving global names across the UAE and KSA.

    obliqueconsult.com ↗
  • VisaEntries: Multiple

    Simpla

    Holder
    Co-founder · 2023
    Category
    Tax and accounting AI

    The engineers behind Hysaab. A MENA first mover that reached about 1,000 users with no marketing spend.

    simpla.ai ↗
  • VisaEntries: Multiple

    Hysaab

    Holder
    Founder
    Category
    AI agents for finance

    AI agents do the finance work and your people approve it. Hysaab Finance for finance teams; Hysaab Practice and Hysaab Audit for firms.

    hysaab.ai ↗
  • VisaEntries: Multiple

    Ibtidah

    Holder
    Run by Oblique
    Category
    Executive finance recruitment

    Every candidate is tested on real work, and finance professionals decide the shortlist.

    ibtidah.ae ↗

Page 07 · Side projects

Side quests.

Built in the evenings, usually to avoid doing something by hand.

  • PassDrillFree exam practicePractice questions with real explanations, written and checked against official sources every day by AI agents.passdrill.org ↗
  • ArriveRelocationA calmer way to move to the UAE and KSA, from the first visa question to the day you land.arrivegulf.com ↗
  • PodiumPersonal brandingFor Gulf executives: the reputation that opens doors before you walk through them.podiumgulf.com ↗
  • Oblique OSFirm platformThe platform that runs Oblique end to end, so nothing slips through the cracks.Internal
  • Beyond DecimalsPodcastConversations on building, finance and the people behind the numbers.Coming soon

Page 08 · Travel history

The story, in eight chapters.

  1. The honest version starts with a screwdriver.A kid in Abu Dhabi taking PCs apart, and why I still build my way out of dull work.
  2. Built to be the first phone call.A firm started from a coffee shop in 2018, and what it taught me about people.
  3. Nobody builds anything alone.The mentors, brothers and friends behind every chapter.
  4. The people I come home to.My parents, Anam and Yousuf.
  5. I want to be remembered well.Family first, then my industry, then the places that get overlooked.
  6. Nowhere near finished.More to learn, more to build, more people to help.
  7. Five books, five builders.From Shoe Dog to Abdul Sattar Edhi.
  8. Off the clock.Aviation, markets, reading, and conversations that take their time.
Read the whole story →
Portrait of Wahaj Siddiqui

Page 09 · Character references

In clients' words.

He always has a solution. Under real pressure, on the work that actually matters, he is the calm and patient head in the room. He solves the problem first and talks commercials later, and in a world that keeps getting more commercial, that was deeply refreshing.
A long-standing client
Working with him showed us how far behind we had fallen. When nobody believed accounting and tax could be augmented with AI, he simply went and delivered it.
A client
When COVID hit and we had to pause, he told us the scope would not change, only the timelines, and that he would still deliver. He did. Every business of ours has been advised by him ever since, and only ever will be. Very few people prove, through what they do, that they stand with you shoulder to shoulder.
A client, through COVID and since

Page 10 · Conditions of entry

Six principles I don't trade.

  1. The best advisors are also builders.
  2. Technology is leverage for human judgement.
  3. Relationships are everything. Nothing lasting is built alone.
  4. Trust compounds. It's the only asset that always does.
  5. Knowledge should reach the people who were never given access to it.
  6. Precision is a form of respect.

Non-negotiable, and not subject to transfer pricing adjustments.