Bishoy Azmy, 34, is the chief executive of Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) – a group of building and construction companies cofounded by his father, Emad Azmy, in Dubai 25 years ago. The company’s projects have included the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Palm Jumeirah, City Walk in Jumeirah, Business Central Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Police’s general headquarters.
What are your favourite things to do at the weekend?
As a business, we have a permanent workforce of 10,000 employees with multiple construction projects running simultaneously across the UAE, so I am lucky to have a very talented team around me at every level, who play a key role in running our family business. This support network helps to free up as much time as possible on the weekends to spend with my family. I have young boys aged five and three, so I often take them swimming. This quality time with my children is so important and I really enjoy getting involved in all of the different types of adventurous activities they are interested in, as well as helping them with their homework when possible.
What do you consider to be your favourite hobby?
My main hobby is reading on a wide variety of topics, but I do read a lot about developments in the Middle East’s construction industry to keep up to speed with what is happening across the region and in other parts of the world, in terms of industry trends.
What can’t you live without?
Having a sense of humour and the ability to laugh is something I could definitely not live without. Laughter provides a release and is truly food for the soul. My kids make me a laugh a lot, especially when I watch them try to master a new game.
What do you consider the secret to your success?
For me, as part of a family business it has, and will always be, about team work. We have great management, at all levels, who have been with us for many years as well as a companywide group of dedicated employees. It is this team effort and shared knowledge base across our organisation that has underpinned ASGC’s growth over the last 25 years.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
In my experience, to be successful you must be focused, persevere and truly believe in yourself and what you are doing. I think that here in the UAE, we benefit from a ‘can do’ culture, and this is supported by the government and its support for entrepreneurialism. We can see the fruits of this support with so many successful self-made family businesses and entrepreneurs. These are great role models for our young and up-and-coming people and shows that if you have the will, anything is possible.
How do you achieve a work-life balance?
This is only really possible with the support of the entire ASGC team. I try to spend whatever free time I have at the weekends with my wife and children. Often when I return home during the week I try to minimise my time on the phone, but will often wake early to deal with work issues. This helps a lot to ensure work flows are managed so that when I am at home I can relax with my family.
How do you relax after the working day?
After work, I like to catch up with my wife and kids on what they did during the day, after which I usually review my personal emails and catch up on news online. I also have a group of close friends here in Dubai so during the week, when it is possible, we like to meet up for a coffee to discuss work, family, news, and generally unwind.
If you weren’t running your business, what else would you be doing?
This is a good question. I think that I would run another business within the real estate development and asset management space, which I have a strong interest in. I believe this industry has significant commercial potential both here in the UAE but also across the wider region and internationally with skills more easily transferable between markets as compared to construction, which requires a company to be fully embedded in each market to be both successful and fully aware of local intricacies.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Confirmed bouts (more to be added)
Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
Nick Diaz v Vicente Luque
Michael Chiesa v Tony Ferguson
Deiveson Figueiredo v Marlon Vera
Mackenzie Dern v Loopy Godinez
Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
SPECS: Polestar 3
Engine: Long-range dual motor with 400V battery
Power: 360kW / 483bhp
Torque: 840Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 628km
0-100km/h: 4.7sec
Top speed: 210kph
Price: From Dh360,000
On sale: September
Scoreline
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Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
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.”
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Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
