Rafic Fakih is the managing director and partner at McDonald’s UAE. The French-Lebanese, 72, has been working for the franchise, which has 106 outlets in the UAE and is operated by Emirates Fast Food, since 1994.
What are your favourite things to do on the weekend?
Having lived in the UAE since 1976, the country continues to surprise me with its beautiful nature and rich culture. I continue to learn about it, and discover it anew each day I spend on this land. And, I should admit, the more I learn about it, the more attached I become to it. Exploring new places here is definitely one of my favourite things to do on the weekends and in my downtime – alongside spending quality time with my beloved family.
What do you consider to be your favourite hobby?
My ongoing passion for the work I do makes my career my favourite hobby, one which I look forward to pursuing each day for the rest of my life. I look to learn something new every day. My love for reading teaches me a lot about life, and adds to my knowledge and experience just as much as my personal experiences do. I also have a great interest in contemporary world history. Some people think that history has little or no effect on our present and future. I personally believe that it is the very reason behind us being who we are today. If it is well evaluated and considered, it can be a great asset to achieve future victories.
What can’t you live without?
My work and my family are, most certainly, the two things I could not live without. They are my greatest motivations in dealing with the challenges and opportunities I face each day in life. Both of them are the driving forces in my life for every plan I had, every achievement I realised, and every goal I am looking to fulfil in the future.
What do you consider the secret to your success?
Work, work, and work – I cannot stress this enough. Then, comes education – and the little bit of luck that helped me along my way.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
The one and only mantra that I would suggest to anyone who has an intention to start a project, not only in our field but in any business sector is: work more and speak less. Many people have seen their great ideas getting lost along the years because the energy they should have spent on putting them into actions was unfortunately wasted in emotional passion for these ideas. Passion is necessary for any idea to grow. However, without hard work, one can go nowhere with their ambitions. Putting your words into actions rather than spending the time talking about them is what will make you achieve your goals.
How do you achieve a work-life balance?
As previously stated, I am very passionate when it comes to my career. For me, a life without work is a life without achievement, and therefore a life without satisfaction or balance. It is not easy to keep balance between one’s work and personal lives, especially when both of them mean the world to you. It comes with time and experience, but, my most important tip is always to remember what your priorities are in life. Once you learn how to manage your priorities, it becomes easier to manage the balance.
How do you relax after the working day?
One of my favourite activities after a long working day is swimming; it refreshes me and allows me to unwind. Another thing that helps me freshen up and to boost my energy for another challenging day is watching political shows. Politics shift our lives in different ways, so one should always be aware of what is going on around them.
If you weren’t managing director of McDonald’s UAE, what else would you be doing?
I graduated with a degree in engineering that I consider as a discipline that challenges its practitioner in different ways while giving her/him enough room for creativity and innovation. I suppose if I weren’t in my current role, I would be utilising my qualifications in civil engineering. I previously worked as a construction engineer in Lebanon and I was enjoying it – but the civil war led me to shift my career towards a totally different path, and I relocated to the UAE to become the person I am today.
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Dengue fever symptoms
- High fever
- Intense pain behind your eyes
- Severe headache
- Muscle and joint pains
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Swollen glands
- Rash
If symptoms occur, they usually last for two-seven days
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
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Dengue fever symptoms
High fever (40°C/104°F)
Severe headache
Pain behind the eyes
Muscle and joint pains
Nausea
Vomiting
Swollen glands
Rash
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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.”
