Feasibility Study Templates Saudi: 2026 Guide

By Ankita Jaiswal — Sr. Business Consultant, Noble Core · Updated June 2026

What a feasibility study is — and what feasibility study templates Saudi authorities expect

A feasibility study is a structured document that tests whether a business idea can actually work in a specific market, at a specific cost, under specific regulations. In Saudi Arabia it is not a formality. It is the document that a bank credit committee reads before opening a facility, that the Saudi Industrial Development Fund or Monsha’at-linked financiers read before lending, that a landlord reads before agreeing to a fit-out contribution, and that a foreign investor’s own board reads before funding a Saudi subsidiary.

The feasibility study templates Saudi entrepreneurs download from Monsha’at (the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority) are deliberately standardised so that reviewers can compare projects quickly. They are typically Word or Excel files in Arabic, sometimes bilingual, and they walk you through the same logical chain every time: is there demand, can you serve it technically, who will run it, what does it cost, and what does it return.

Understanding this structure matters even if you never download a template. When you apply for a Ministry of Investment (MISA) licence, negotiate with a Saudi bank, or bid on an Etimad tender, the questions you are asked map directly onto these sections. Learning the template is learning the language of Saudi business approval.

The five universal sections

1. Executive summary — the project in one to two pages: idea, location, capital required, expected revenue, payback period.
2. Market study — demand size, target customers, competitors, pricing, and market-share assumption.
3. Technical study — location, premises, equipment, suppliers, capacity, production or service process.
4. Organisational and administrative study — legal form, org chart, headcount, salaries, Saudisation plan, GOSI registration.
5. Financial study — capital expenditure, operating cost, revenue forecast, cash flow, break-even, IRR and payback.

Who actually needs a feasibility study in Saudi Arabia

Not every business is asked for one, but the list of situations where a study is effectively mandatory keeps growing. If any of the following apply to you, budget the time to produce a proper document rather than a slide deck.

• Bank financing or SME lending — almost every Saudi bank credit application for a new venture requires a feasibility study with at least three years of projections, and often five.
• Government-linked funding — Monsha’at-supported programmes, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and various sector funds all require a formal study with a financial model.
• Industrial licences — the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources expects a technical and financial justification for factory licences, including utilities and land requirements.
• Foreign investment applications — MISA does not demand a full study for every standard licence, but capital-intensive, regional-headquarters and strategic-investor applications benefit enormously from one.
• Franchise and agency approvals — the Ministry of Commerce franchise register and many brand owners want a market and financial study before granting territory rights.
• Etimad tenders and large contracts — bidders on Etimad are frequently asked for financial capacity evidence that mirrors a feasibility model.
• Internal board approval — foreign parent companies establishing a Saudi entity almost always require a study before releasing capital.

Where to find free feasibility study templates in Saudi Arabia

The most reliable starting point is Monsha’at. Its entrepreneurship and knowledge sections publish downloadable business-plan and feasibility templates, financial-model spreadsheets, sector guides and cost benchmarks. The material is primarily in Arabic; if you are working in English, translate the headings and keep the same order so a Saudi reviewer recognises the structure instantly.

Step-by-step: downloading a Monsha’at template

1. Open https://monshaat.gov.sa/ar in a browser that renders Arabic correctly.
2. From the top navigation, choose the knowledge, services or entrepreneurship centre section (labels are updated periodically — look for “المعرفة” or “الخدمات”).
3. Search within the portal for “دراسة جدوى” (feasibility study) or “نموذج خطة عمل” (business plan template).
4. Filter by sector where the option exists — retail, food and beverage, logistics, manufacturing, professional services — because sector templates carry pre-filled cost lines.
5. Download the Word template for narrative sections and the Excel model for the financial section. Save both before editing.
6. Cross-check any cost or fee figure inside the template against the issuing authority’s own portal, because templates are updated less often than fee schedules.

Beyond Monsha’at, the Saudi Business Center (linked to the Ministry of Commerce at mc.gov.sa) publishes activity guides and licensing requirement lists that tell you which permits a given activity needs — essential input for the technical and cost sections. Balady gives municipal licence requirements and premises conditions, and ZATCA confirms VAT and e-invoicing obligations that belong in your operating-cost line.

How to complete each section of the template properly

1. Executive summary

Write it last, place it first. In one to two pages state the activity, the legal form, the city, total investment required, the funding split between equity and debt, projected year-three revenue, break-even month, and payback period. Reviewers in Saudi banks often decide within this page whether to keep reading, so put your strongest number — usually payback period or gross margin — in the opening lines.

2. Market study

Saudi reviewers are sceptical of unsourced market claims. Use the General Authority for Statistics population and household-spending data, Monsha’at sector reports, and observable competitor counts in your target district. Then state a defensible market-share assumption. A new café claiming 2% of a district’s coffee spend is credible; a new café claiming 15% is not, and the whole model collapses with it.

• Define the catchment geographically — a district in Riyadh, not “Saudi Arabia”.
• Count real competitors by walking the area or using mapping data, and note their pricing.
• Segment customers by nationality mix, income band and age, because Saudi districts vary sharply.
• State your pricing and justify it against the competitor set you just counted.

3. Technical study

This section converts the idea into physical reality: premises size and rent, fit-out cost per square metre, equipment list with supplier quotes, utility connections, licences required, and capacity. If the activity needs a Balady municipal licence, a civil-defence approval or a sector permit, list each one with its expected timeline. Attach at least two supplier quotations for major equipment; financiers treat quoted numbers very differently from estimated ones.

4. Organisational study

Set out the legal form — most foreign investors use a limited liability company — the shareholding, the org chart, and headcount by role with monthly salary. Add employer social insurance: the combined GOSI contribution for a Saudi employee is approximately 21.5% of contributory wage split between employer and employee (indicative; confirm current rates on gosi.gov.sa). For non-Saudi staff include work-permit levies, visa costs and Iqama fees of roughly SAR 650 per year in government charges plus applicable levies. Your Saudisation target under the Nitaqat framework administered through Qiwa should be shown as a headcount plan, not a vague statement.

5. Financial study

The financial model is where most studies fail review. Build it monthly for year one and annually for years two to five. Include a capital expenditure schedule, a working-capital assumption, a full operating-cost list, VAT at 15% treated correctly as a pass-through rather than revenue, depreciation, and a financing schedule if you are borrowing. Produce a profit-and-loss statement, a cash-flow statement, a simple balance sheet, break-even analysis, and sensitivity cases at minus 20% revenue and plus 15% cost.

Documents and IDs you will need while preparing the study

A feasibility study is a planning document, but the moment it becomes a licence or financing application you need supporting identity and corporate paperwork. Gather these early — the delay in most Saudi setups is document collection, not government processing.

• Passport copies of all shareholders and the proposed general manager.
• National ID or Iqama number for Saudi or resident shareholders, verified through Absher where applicable.
• Parent-company commercial registration and articles of association, attested and legalised, for corporate shareholders.
• Audited financial statements of the parent company for the most recent financial year — MISA applications commonly request this.
• Board resolution approving the Saudi investment and appointing the general manager.
• Draft lease or letter of intent for the premises named in the technical section.
• Supplier quotations and equipment specifications supporting the capital-expenditure schedule.
• Resident staff records via Muqeem once employees are onboarded, and Qiwa contracts for the organisational plan.

Indicative costs and timelines to build into your model

Your financial section should carry real setup costs, not placeholders. The table below gives current indicative figures for a foreign-owned Saudi company in 2026. Every fee should be confirmed on the relevant official portal before you finalise the model, as schedules change.

Item	Indicative cost (SAR)	Indicative timeline	Authority / portal
MISA investment licence — issue	Fee suspended in 2026 (previously 12,000)	3–10 business days	Ministry of Investment (MISA)
MISA licence renewal	Fee suspended in 2026 (previously 62,000)	3–7 business days	MISA
Commercial Registration (unified national CR)	1,200 – 2,000	1–3 business days	Ministry of Commerce / business.sa
Chamber of Commerce membership	2,000 – 3,000 per year	1–2 business days	Chamber of Commerce
Articles of association notarisation	Variable, typically under 2,000	1–3 business days	Najiz (Ministry of Justice)
Municipal (Balady) licence	Activity and area dependent	5–20 business days	Balady
ZATCA VAT registration	No fee	1–5 business days	ZATCA
GOSI employer registration	No fee; contributions ≈21.5% total	1–3 business days	GOSI
Iqama issue / renewal — government charge	≈650 per year plus applicable levies	Processed via Absher / Muqeem	MHRSD / Jawazat
Feasibility study preparation (professional)	15,000 – 60,000 depending on depth	2–6 weeks	Private consultants
Noble Core setup package	From 36,999	Typically 3–6 weeks end to end	Noble Core Ventures

All figures above are indicative for planning purposes. Confirm current figures on the official portal for each authority before submitting any application or finalising a bank-facing model.

The 2026 regulatory changes your template must reflect

Two developments make older feasibility templates out of date, and reviewers notice.

First, the new Commercial Register Law took effect on 3 April 2026. Saudi Arabia moved to a unified national commercial register — one CR covering the whole Kingdom rather than separate registers per city. The new CR number begins with “7”, the register no longer carries an expiry date (an annual confirmation replaces renewal), a five-year grace period applies for transition, and English trade names are now permitted. If your template still budgets for multiple branch CRs and annual renewal fees per city, update it.

Second, foreign ownership is now permitted at 100% across most activities, which changes the organisational and financial sections materially: no local partner share, no profit-sharing arrangement, and full control of the board. Combined with the suspension of MISA licence issue and renewal fees in 2026, the first-year cost base for a foreign-owned Saudi company is significantly lighter than templates published two or three years ago assume. Details of the licence pathway are set out in our guide to the MISA licence for Saudi Arabia.

Also reflect ZATCA e-invoicing (Fatoora), which is being rolled out to taxpayers in waves. Budget for compliant invoicing software in your operating costs from day one rather than treating it as a later upgrade.

Adapting the template by sector

Retail and food and beverage

Weight the technical section heavily: footfall counts at specific hours, rent per square metre in the target district, fit-out cost, kitchen equipment quotes, Balady licence conditions and civil-defence requirements. Revenue is built bottom-up from covers or transactions per day multiplied by average ticket, not top-down from market size.

Professional services and consulting

Capital expenditure is small, so the model lives or dies on headcount economics: billable hours, utilisation rate, day rate, and staff cost including GOSI. Show a utilisation ramp over the first 12 months rather than assuming full utilisation from month one.

Manufacturing and industrial

Add utilities, land or industrial-city lease terms, machinery import duties, logistics, and a production-capacity curve. Industrial reviewers expect a capacity utilisation table by year and a raw-material sourcing plan with at least two suppliers per critical input.

E-commerce and technology

Model customer acquisition cost, repeat rate and gross margin per order explicitly. Include payment-gateway fees, fulfilment and returns. Saudi e-commerce activities carry specific registration requirements through the Ministry of Commerce, so list them in the technical section.

How reviewers actually assess a Saudi feasibility study

Having sat on the preparation side of many bank and licensing submissions, the pattern is consistent. Reviewers test three things: whether your revenue assumption is anchored to something observable, whether your cost base includes every regulatory item, and whether the cash-flow statement shows you surviving the months before break-even.

• Anchoring — every revenue driver should trace to a countable fact: competitor pricing, footfall, contract pipeline, or signed letters of intent.
• Completeness of cost — missing GOSI, VAT treatment, Chamber fees, Iqama costs or e-invoicing software is the fastest way to lose credibility.
• Liquidity — a profitable year-two model with a year-one cash gap you cannot fund will be rejected. Show the working-capital buffer explicitly.
• Sensitivity — show what happens at 20% lower revenue. A model that only works at the base case reads as untested.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using an outdated template that still assumes city-by-city commercial registers, CR expiry dates, or the pre-2026 MISA fee schedule.
• Treating VAT as revenue — the 15% VAT you collect is not yours; model it as a pass-through with a payable balance.
• Omitting GOSI and employment levies from the salary line, which understates payroll by roughly a fifth for Saudi staff.
• Top-down market share — “the Saudi market is worth billions, we need only 1%” is the single most common reason a study is dismissed.
• No working-capital line, so the model shows profit while the company runs out of cash in month seven.
• Estimated rather than quoted equipment costs, with no supplier quotations attached.
• Ignoring licence lead times — assuming revenue starts in month one when Balady and sector permits take weeks.
• Skipping the Saudisation headcount plan, which affects both cost and your ability to obtain work visas through Qiwa.
• Arabic-only or English-only when the reviewer needs the other — prepare a bilingual executive summary at minimum.
• Copying a template’s illustrative numbers instead of replacing every figure with your own researched inputs.
• No sensitivity or break-even analysis, leaving the reviewer to stress-test the model themselves — and they will assume the worst.

A practical 14-day plan to build your study

1. Days 1–2: Download the Monsha’at narrative and financial templates; confirm your activity code and licensing requirements on the Saudi Business Center portal.
2. Days 3–5: Field market research — competitor count, pricing survey, footfall or pipeline evidence, catchment definition.
3. Days 6–8: Technical work — shortlist premises, obtain two quotes per major equipment item, list every permit with its lead time.
4. Days 9–10: Organisational plan — org chart, salaries, GOSI calculation, Saudisation headcount plan, visa requirements.
5. Days 11–13: Build the financial model — capex, opex, revenue build, cash flow, break-even, sensitivity cases.
6. Day 14: Write the executive summary, proofread in both languages, and have a second reader stress-test the revenue assumption.

How Noble Core helps

Most investors do not need a 120-page academic study. They need a document that a Saudi bank, MISA reviewer or their own board will accept without a second round of questions — with the fee schedule current, the regulatory items complete, and the revenue logic anchored.

Noble Core Ventures builds feasibility studies and financial models alongside the licensing work itself, so the numbers in your study match the actual application. We map your activity to the correct Ministry of Commerce activity code, confirm which permits apply through Balady and the sector regulators, calculate the true first-year cost base including GOSI, Chamber and Iqama charges, and produce a five-year model with sensitivity cases. Our full company formation in Saudi Arabia pathway covers CR issuance, notarisation through Najiz, ZATCA and GOSI registration, and Qiwa onboarding. If your priority is the investment licence itself, Noble Core’s MISA licence service handles the application end to end, with packages starting from SAR 36,999.

Vision 2030 has made the Kingdom one of the most accessible major markets for foreign investors, with 100% ownership in most activities and a modernised commercial register. A well-built feasibility study is how you convert that access into funded, licensed operations — and it is far cheaper to build it correctly the first time than to rebuild it after a bank sends it back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I download free feasibility study templates in Saudi Arabia?

Monsha’at, the SME General Authority, publishes free feasibility study and business-plan templates on monshaat.gov.sa, mostly in Arabic. Search the portal for “دراسة جدوى” or “نموذج خطة عمل”, then filter by sector where available. Download both the Word narrative template and the Excel financial model, and verify any fee figures against the issuing authority’s own portal before use.

What sections do feasibility study templates Saudi banks accept contain?

Saudi banks and government reviewers expect five sections: executive summary, market study, technical study, organisational and administrative study, and financial study. The financial section must include capital expenditure, operating costs, a monthly year-one cash flow, annual years two to five, break-even analysis and sensitivity cases. Missing GOSI, VAT or licensing costs is the most common reason a study is returned.

How much does a professional feasibility study cost in Saudi Arabia?

Professionally prepared feasibility studies in Saudi Arabia typically range from around SAR 15,000 to SAR 60,000 depending on sector complexity, whether field market research is included, and how detailed the financial model needs to be. Industrial and manufacturing studies sit at the upper end. These are indicative market figures; request written scope and pricing before engaging any consultant.

Does MISA require a feasibility study for a foreign investment licence?

MISA does not require a full feasibility study for every standard investment licence, but capital-intensive, industrial, regional-headquarters and strategic-investor applications benefit strongly from one. MISA licence issue and renewal fees are suspended in 2026, and licensing typically takes three to ten business days. Confirm current document requirements on the Ministry of Investment portal before applying.

How do the 2026 Commercial Register changes affect my feasibility model?

The new Commercial Register Law took effect on 3 April 2026, creating a unified national CR with numbers starting “7”, no expiry date (an annual confirmation replaces renewal), a five-year grace period, and permitted English trade names. Older templates budgeting separate city registers and annual renewal fees per branch will overstate your cost base and should be updated.

What costs must a Saudi feasibility study include that founders forget?

The most commonly omitted items are GOSI contributions of roughly 21.5% total for Saudi employees, VAT at 15% treated as a pass-through rather than revenue, Chamber of Commerce membership of about SAR 2,000 to 3,000 yearly, Iqama government charges near SAR 650 per year plus levies, Balady licence costs, and ZATCA e-invoicing software. All figures indicative; confirm on official portals.

Can I submit a feasibility study in English in Saudi Arabia?

Many Saudi banks and MISA reviewers accept English documents, and English trade names are now permitted under the 2026 Commercial Register Law. However, an Arabic version or at minimum a bilingual executive summary is strongly recommended, since municipal, sector and some financing reviewers work in Arabic. Keep the section order identical in both languages so reviewers can navigate quickly.

How long does it take to prepare a feasibility study for a Saudi business?

A focused study takes about 14 days: two days on templates and activity codes, three days of field market research, three days on technical inputs and supplier quotes, two days on the organisational and Saudisation plan, three days building the financial model, and one day writing the executive summary. Professional consultants typically deliver in two to six weeks.