Day in the life: Robert Bosch senior solutions expert proves herself, every time

Suma Gururaj was passionate about technology from a young age, so when it came to choosing a career engineering seemed a natural fit. Having worked for Robert Bosch in her home city of Bangalore in India as a design and estimator engineer, Ms Gururaj, 37, transferred to the Middle East office in the Dubai Airport Freezone in 2011 and now lives in Al Nahda 2. She initially worked in product marketing before moving to application and design last year as a senior solutions expert in the security technology division.

5.30am

I get up early and go directly to the kitchen. I make breakfast and lunch fresh in the morning for my daughter and husband every day.

7.30am

I have a coffee with my husband; we read the papers and discuss current affairs.

8.15am

I arrive at work. We have internal software so I login to pick up from what I was doing the previous day. I check my mail and sometimes we also have telephone calls with our partners to better understand their project requirements and design-related inquiries; we need to give them a proper solution and help them understand it all from a technical perspective. In my role, I support partners, consultants and end users by providing suitable solutions for security systems such as CCTV and access control and intrusion alarms. This includes helping them select the right products and preparing a technical workable system.

12pm

Sometimes we get together as a team because we are work on multiple products. Whenever there is a requirement from the clients or partners, we have an internal discussion to see how to move forward, how to support them, for example choosing the right cameras in a CCTV system to capture images, along with software to view live and recorded video. I also prepare specific system architectures for each project; these give an overview of all the system components needed to execute a project for our customers. In the solutions design team I am the only woman. And in most of the meetings, I’m usually the only female technical person. Initially when I step into a meeting, there are lower expectations of me; they’ll talk to the others more but when I end up discussing most of the technical points they know I am the one driving it. I have got used to it and have proved myself every time, so it is not a challenge anymore.

2pm

Lunch. I keep it healthy and light with fruit, juices or sometimes oats, so I can keep my appetite for dinner.

3pm

I have coffee because that keeps me recharged. I like a special type of coffee from South India, a South India filter coffee – it’s a blend of coffee with chicory. After that, the application and design team has a knowledge-sharing session. We encourage individuals to talk about some of the latest technologies available in the market, or train ourselves in different products. Last week we had training on AutoCAD, a software tool used by most contractors and consultant to develop the layout of a building structure.

5.15pm

I leave the office. It takes me 20 minutes to get home. I go by bus. I don’t like driving. It reminds me of when of university when I had to travel two hours in the morning and three hours in the evening. I was studying for my engineering degree and it was five hours of travel a day for four years. In those days we didn’t have college buses so I used to travel by public transport, which took a long time. When I get home, my daughter, Priyanka, who is 14, greets me. I have a snack and we discuss her day at school. She is learning classical music and we have a small studio, a recording studio, so I record songs that my daughter sings and upload them to YouTube. She has some fans and followers. This is how we spend time together in the evenings.

8.30pm

For our evening meal, we eat chapattis and curry, sometimes with a combination of rice.

9.30pm

My daughter goes to bed and then I sit with my husband and we discuss our days. We talk about the news, hot topics in the country, across the region and the world.

10.30pm

I go to bed fairly early because I get up very early.

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Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal

Rating: 2/5

The Byblos iftar in numbers

29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month

50 staff members required to prepare an iftar

200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly

160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total

500 litres of soup is served during the holy month

200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes

350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes

5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.

8. Pillar 2 implementation

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

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Water waste

In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.

Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.

A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.

The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Saudi National Day

Meet the Saudi citizens for whom the UAE is a home from home

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.”

Fund-raising tips for start-ups

Develop an innovative business concept

Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors

Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19

Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.)

Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months

Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses

Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business

* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna