Ramadan in the past meant shorter work days and a chance to get together with friends and family over Iftar or Suhoor. But gone are those days with the coronavirus outbreak sweeping the globe. This may be the first time in our lives where not only the majority of us would be working from home, but we will not to be able to fully engage in the holy month’s rituals from praying at the mosques to breaking our fast communally.
While in some ways I feel sad about this year’s Ramadan, as I will not be able to visit all of my family and friends or meet up with my colleagues, it does provide a great opportunity for us to develop on both spiritual and professional levels.
In an article published last week, Saeed Saeed, a journalist at The National discussed how this year's Ramadan could present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to focus on the holy month's meditative essence.
Working shorter hours from home means that we get to be more focused at work minus the office distractions. As we will not be commuting or spending time on the road as much as we did in Ramadan of yesteryear, fasting this year would be somehow easier.
With more time on our hands, we could utilise the extra hours to work on the administrative tasks we have been delaying for the past few months; such as renewing or cancelling subscriptions, updating software, cleaning up the drives clogging with needless data and touch base with our clients.
Ramadan is about performing our best on a spiritual level, but we could also extend that to our professional life. With our schedules lighter during the day because of the shorter working hours, we could dedicate an hour or so to learning a new skill, attending an online webinar, or joining a workshop. We may never get a chance like this again where we are spoiled for choice when it comes to e-learning. Engaging in an activity, where you are learning, or reading, could also take your mind off the thirst or hunger and make the fasting hours pass quicker.
I also make it a point to learn something different every Ramadan by reading books that are different than those I would usually pick. If you are not a fan of printed books go for audio books. They allow you to multitask so that you could exercise for instance and still listen to the book being recited in the backdrop.
There’s also no time like the present to give back to our community and support the government’s efforts. Now is the time to volunteer, spend your company’s corporate social responsibility budget to donate to a cause, or contribute to providing meals to the needy. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has announced support to volunteer initiatives across the country. More than 1,500 employees have already signed up as part of the the UAE volunteers drive managed by Emirates Foundation to help the government combat the spread of the Covid-19.
Now is the time to volunteer, spend your company's corporate social responsibility budget to donate to a cause, or contribute to providing meals to the needy.
You do not even need to leave the house in order to make a difference. You could help feed low-income families impacted by the coronavirus crisis from the comfort of your home. Last week, Dubai authorities launched the UAE’s largest food distribution campaign “10 Million Meals”, being managed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives in collaboration with Social Solidarity Fund Against Covid-19. Businesses and individuals can donate via SMS message, bank transfer, directly through the programme's website, or they can donate packaged or canned food.
Finally, just because we cannot get together and hold our annual Ramadan Iftar or Suhoor gathering for friends and family or for our clients, does not mean we couldn’t move the celebration online. Arrange a call with your colleagues/clients over Zoom and use it as an opportunity to network and stay in touch with your contacts. From my personal experience, I find that when using an online conference tool, I am able to communicate with more people in a shorter span of time and able to move faster from one meeting to the next, hence saving me more time to focus on other tasks.
Ramadan Mubarak to you. I hope it’s your most productive one yet.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi
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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.”
