Dubai-based health coach Heidi Jones works with her clients for six months to help them achieve their goal – whether it's weight loss, to address a health issue or simply to become fitter. Courtesy Majid Al Futtaim
Dubai-based health coach Heidi Jones works with her clients for six months to help them achieve their goal – whether it's weight loss, to address a health issue or simply to become fitter. Courtesy MaShow more

Business

Day in the life: Dubai health coach full on in every sense

The Dubai-based health coach Heidi Jones works with her clients for six months to help them achieve their goal – whether it's weight loss, to address a health issue or simply to become fitter.

Rhian Lindley

21 January, 2017

Running a 51-kilometre ultra marathon up Mount Eiger in Switzerland may not be everyone’s idea of a holiday, but for Heidi Jones, health coach and brand ambassador for Lululemon Athletica, that was how she spent last summer. The British entrepreneur set up her eponymous health coaching practice in 2015 following a nine-year stint as a secondary school design technology teacher. The 34-year-old, who has lived in Dubai for seven years with her husband, spends her spare time training for ultra marathons and encouraging her fellow residents in Dubai to run at her weekly run club at Dubai Marina.

5am

I like to be up early to focus on the day ahead. I get into my training gear straight away, have a quick coffee and a home-made energy ball, (dates and nuts) jump in the car and head to Innerfight, a gym I go to, where I train for two hours. Or I might just hit the lakes in the Springs for a long run. After training I always have a green smoothie with activated nuts and seeds to set me up for the day ahead. I took up running five years ago to help me relax and went from 5 kilometre runs to mammoth 50km endurance races in the space of 12 months and set up my own running club. The drive, focus, determination and discipline involved in achieving this and my desire to help others reconnect with their mind, body and spirit sparked my interest in Health Coaching. So in 2015 I completed a Certificate in Integrative Health Coaching and the International Associating of Health Coaching with Integrative Nutrition, an American-based company.

8am

I start the working day by planning my schedule and the tasks I need to do in 90-minute slots. I spend my mornings writing at my desk and seeing clients. Some come to my office or sometimes I go and meet them at inspirational locations – like the beach. I love it down there and I sometimes have breakfast there to take stock. It inspires me to help my clients become the best that they can be; setting their goals for life, nutrition, activity and health goals in general. Clients usually see me for six months, every other week and we focus on their goals, whether it is weight loss, to address a health issue or to become more active. A former colleague lost a lot of weight and is now a dedicated runner. Some days I deliver courses or workshops so I am out and about. I like to keep things varied. Between clients I’ll drink some herbal tea, lots and lots of water and enjoy my home-made bliss balls to keep my energy levels up.

12pm

It’s lunchtime for me and I usually eat at home. I like sitting outside in my garden. It’s a real luxury to eat lunch in the garden after years of teaching and grabbing lunch on the go and during this time I take 10-15 minutes for myself. A typical lunch will be a home-made quinoa salad with cashews, arame and a home-made dressing.

12:30

My afternoons vary. I could be travelling to deliver a workshop, my most recent being at Greenheart Organic Farm shop, where I teach cooking methods and plant-based recipe ideas to spread the word that counting nutrients is far more beneficial than counting calories. Or I’m at my home office writing up client notes or seeing clients for coaching sessions.

5pm

When I’m getting ready for an event I train twice a day, so I usually do some CrossFit around this time three or four times a week. I’ll also increase my running to 50-60 km per week with two long runs, so sometimes my morning training will be CrossFit and my afternoon training would be a 30km run. I mix it up depending on how I’m feeling. My next challenge this summer is a 61km race in the French Alps, Trail Verbier and I will also be running the Wadi Bih 50k and the Big Stinker 45K in the UAE with my husband. We race together a lot, but we also have lots of independent events that we take part in.

7pm

I like to have dinner with my husband at least twice a week (we have very different schedules so it’s not always possible) – salmon and greens with sweet potato with lots and lots of water to drink.

8pm

Winding down for the evening involves reading. I love to read and always strive to learn new things. I am currently reading Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. I also do 20 to 30 minutes of yoga each night before bed.

9pm

I am in bed. I try to get as much sleep as possible to maintain my healthy lifestyle.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

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1921

1888