• I'm a chef who uses an air fryer for everything from breakfast to dinner.
• The compact countertop appliance offers an ideal way to make egg bites, potatoes, and cauliflower.
• I've also found simple recipes for air-fried cheesecake and French toast.

I trained as a chef and have worked in kitchens from Scotland to Sydney and Toronto to Martha's Vineyard.

With all that experience, I still think air fryers are one of the best kitchen hacks. I've tested a few varieties, but I usually find myself going back to my small, single-basket, 5-quart air fryer.

If you're looking for quick, easy snacks and meals, I keep coming back to these seven essential air-fryer recipes.

• Demand for consulting firms has been down in key markets like the US and UK.
• However, the advisory business is booming in Gulf states thanks to national development projects.
• Working on major national projects is giving consultants "unique" influence in the region, experts told BI.

Recent years have been tough for the consulting business. Growth has plummeted in some key markets, and the challenging economic climate has led to layoffs and restructuring at major firms. But one region is proving to be a consulting bright spot.

International consultancies are finding success in the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC — a political and economic bloc that includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman.

According to Source Global, a UK-based research firm that tracks the consulting industry, the GCC consulting market grew 13.2% in 2023.

Source Global's research found that in the more mature US and British markets, growth in 2023 slowed to 5.2% and 4.7%, respectively. In previous years, growth in both countries had been in double digits.

Dane Albertelli, a senior analyst at Source Global, told Business Insider that the scale of growth in the GCC advisory market is "unprecedented" and that it has become "the place for opportunity and the place where these companies can make a lot of money."

Albertelli said that data for 2024 has yet to be finalized but that the GCC market was expected to have accelerated by more than 15%.

A 'cascade' of opportunities

Opportunities for consultants in the GCC started with the UAE roughly 20 years ago, when its government poured resources into plans to diversify its economy away from oil.

Heavy investment in tourism, aviation, real estate, and financial services led to the need for planning and technical expertise. Consulting firms started to pour money and resources into meeting the needs of the Emirati government, and "it's just been a cascade from there," Albertelli said.

The scale of Western consulting firms' presence in Gulf nations is apparent in the volume of offices they have in the region. All of the Big Four — Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG — have 10 or more offices in GCC countries, while McKinsey has eight, BCG has six, and Accenture has four. The UAE is a particular hot spot, with Deloitte having nine offices in the country.

Saudi Arabia has been leading the drive in recent years with its Vision 2030 strategy, a $1 trillion project to reduce reliance on oil revenues and boost the country's standing on the global stage.

The centerpiece of Vision 2030 is Neom, an ambitious megacity and tourism hot spot being built in the country's northern deserts. But Saudi Arabia is also planning to construct a whole new district in Riyadh, preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games and the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and aiming to become a "national champion" in AI.

Dubai is now a tourism and expat hot spot, and the UAE's economy is booming. But the drive for growth and the need for consultants hasn't stopped — the current push is toward healthcare innovation with the aim of becoming a medical tourism hub.

Similar tourism, sport, technology, and infrastructure initiatives are underway in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.

"That naturally translates into an awful lot of advisory work," Albertelli said. International consultants are being called in to design and implement projects ranging from transportation networks and city construction to education reform and public sector tech systems.

Such projects have not been without controversy. Saudi Arabia has been accused of human rights abuses against local tribespeople living close to the site of Neom, while hundreds of migrant workers were acknowledged to have died in Qatar in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup.

Albertelli said that while they spend to diversify away from reliance on petrochemical dollars, the Gulf nations' backlog of oil funds has ensured that the advisory sector avoids the macroeconomic tension that has hit the European and US advisory markets.

Barring any massive geopolitical tension, opportunities aren't going anywhere, Albertelli said. He expects the rate of growth to continue for several years and says the main change to the market will be that, as infrastructure gets built, the work will shift from strategy to operations advice.

From the pull factor of little to no income tax to the recent opening up of society, the region has plenty to attract consultants besides a steady stream of projects.

"If you don't mind a bit of sun, it's probably the best place to go for your career," Albertelli said.

A unique market

The GCC consulting market is unique in that most firms' clients are national governments rather than private companies, giving international firms a significant role in shaping the public sector.

"The degree of access and influence that consultancies have over policymaking is far more extensive than what you see in most other regions," Dawud Ansari, President of the Majan Council, an Omani think tank focused on development in the Gulf region, told BI. "They don't just refine policies or draft reports — they design entire national visions and, in some cases, effectively take over the steering wheel of major policy initiatives."

"Most Gulf states have a limited number of national think tanks and independent expertise, meaning that when a decision needs to be made, the instinct is usually to bring in an external, mostly foreign, consultant," al-Ansari told BI.

"They come from a completely different cultural and institutional background, which inevitably affects how they operate and how aligned their recommendations are with local realities."

Al-Ansari said that the continued reliance on external expertise for policymaking could erode public trust and restrict nationals from developing career paths in public policy.

As the market continues to grow, a rising number of local boutique advisory firms are being created. The Saudi government's "Saudization" policy — which enforces a quota system on high-value industries — is also resulting in more nationals entering the offices of international consultancies.

Albertelli told BI that most Gulf states are focused on the outcomes and care about the brand rather than the nationality of consultants.

"All the big countries in the GCC want the best talent and they're willing to spend no matter where it's from. Obviously, these are all big Western companies, but I think they realize that, particularly with the Big Four, they're massive international firms," he said.

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• Ukraine's prime minister said Wednesday that Ukraine and the US had agreed on a mineral deal.
• Denys Shmyhal said they planned to set up an investment fund based on Ukraine's mineral wealth.
• Discussions about Ukraine's minerals have been a source of tension between the two countries' leadership.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Wednesday that his country and the US had agreed on a major deal for Ukraine's minerals.

While the full terms of the deal haven't been made public, Shmyhal told Ukrainian TV that the two countries plan to set up an investment fund based on much of Ukraine's mineral wealth, the BBC reported.

Kyiv and Washington will manage it on equal terms, he added.

Shmyhal also said Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from its mineral and metal extraction into the fund, which will go toward the country's reconstruction, according to Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump responded to reporter questions about the proposed agreement, details of which were first reported by the Financial Times,

He said he believed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was preparing to visit the US to formalize a deal on Friday. "I understand that's a big deal, a very big deal," he added.

Ukraine has significant deposits of valuable minerals, including uranium, titanium, and lithium — the last being a key component in batteries relied on by the EV industry. It also has considerable oil and gas fields.

The draft deal, seen by the FT, reportedly does not include mineral resources already being extracted by the likes of oil and gas producers Naftogaz and Ukrnafta.

The extent of the US' holding in the project remains undefined, the FT reported.

The Ukrainian government and various ministries did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

The Ukrainian minister who led the negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, told the FT on Tuesday that the agreement is "only part of the picture."

"We have heard multiple times from the US administration that it's part of a bigger picture," she added.

On Monday, Stefanishyna wrote on X that Ukrainian and US teams were "in the final stages of negotiations regarding the minerals agreement."

She added: "The negotiations have been very constructive, with nearly all key details finalized. We are committed to completing this swiftly to proceed with its signature. We hope both US and UA leaders might sign and endorse it in Washington the soonest to showcase our commitment for decades to come."

Trump said Tuesday that through the deal "the American taxpayer now is going to get their money back plus," without offering specifics.

"It could be a trillion-dollar deal," he said.

Asked what Ukraine gets, Trump said: "The right to fight on."

Both Ukraine and the US have dropped key demands that were earlier being discussed, the FT reported.

The US will no longer demand $500 billion in revenue from the resources extracted, while Ukraine will no longer demand security guarantees in return.

However, Shmyhal said Wednesday that the deal is "directly tied" to security guarantees, according to Euromaidan Press.

The reported deal would be a notable step in recent relations between Trump and Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy refused earlier proposed terms that would have seen Ukraine send the US up to $500 billion in proceeds from its minerals, while Trump has called the Ukrainian president a "dictator."