Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 signs agreement with Khalifa University to boost entrepreneurship

Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 is partnering with Khalifa University of Science and Technology to help students and alumni of the university become entrepreneurs.

The partners will focus on developing entrepreneurial talent among students through mentorship and other programmes and promoting new technologies, a Hub71 statement said on Saturday.

“Talent is the bedrock of a thriving tech hub, which is why we are committed to ensuring students have the ability to prosper as entrepreneurs and take their solutions to market,” Badr Al Olama, acting chief executive of Hub71, said.

Hub71, the emirate's global technology ecosystem, is a flagship initiative of the Dh50 billion ($13.61bn) Ghadan 21 economic stimulus programme.

It was set up in 2019 by the Abu Dhabi government, Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, Microsoft and SoftBank and has positioned the emirate as an innovation centre and attracted start-ups in sectors that are crucial to the country’s growth.

The agreement “will facilitate tapping the synergy of the partners that will benefit both researchers and entrepreneurs, especially students who are keen to explore the commercial world for their new laboratory-bred technologies,” Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, executive vice president of Khalifa University, said.

Khalifa University’s 20 research centres drive innovation in areas including clean energy and sustainability, oil and gas, robotics, healthcare, data science, supply chain logistics and aerospace technologies.

Last year, the university was awarded 36 patents and filed for almost 100.

Hub71 has signed a number of agreements this year, including one with New York venture capital company Modus Capital to invest in early-stage start-ups and support their development of products and services.

The new Ventures Lab programme will help founders of early-stage start-ups from across the world to develop successful and scalable solutions in Abu Dhabi, Hub71 said in June.

Hub71 is also collaborating with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi to boost the tourism sector in the emirate and enhance the visitor experience.

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What is the FNC?

The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.

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.”