Nada Salem Al Qassimi was working as the head of media and marketing at the Dubai Health Authority when she came up with an idea to start her own company. Ms Al Qassimi, a 29-year-old Emirati, decided to launch the advertising and marketing firm two12 Communications in 2008 with the help of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development. Based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, her company now has nine major clients, including the Khalifa Fund. Here, Ms Al Qassimi talks about her plans for the future.
q With so many public relations and communications agencies in town, what is different about your company?
a I understand my community, which none of the international companies can do. It's my culture. The UAE has an international population but even expats need to see the difference and get a flavour of the Emirates. In my ad campaigns or work, this flavour is present either in the logo or the name or any other element in my work. The name of our company is two12, which is after our National Day, December 2. When we started, we defined some clients with whom we wanted to work, such as Etisalat. I studied gaps in their marketing and approached them with that. The first contract I signed was with Etisalat. I go and communicate with the clients personally. When I do a proposal, I follow up with them. We always deliver on time. If I cross the deadline, I [don't] charge them. It has happened once at the beginning [with a client] and until now they are our strongest.
As any young company, what are the challenges associated with two12 Communications?
The challenge is clients say you do not have that much experience. And they think as a young company we will close soon, which is not the case.
How has your company grown since 2008, when you launched?
I now have nine clients, including Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development. I have 40 employees, with management, accountants and art directors in Abu Dhabi, and the production team such as carpenters and painters in Dubai. I started with two people - myself and an account manager.
What type of clients do you have?
I would love to work with clients [in the] private sector. All my clients are public [companies]. I go to the Government to get a job, for private clients they have to come to me if they need the right channel to reach out to my community. There are many companies, who if they can tweak the tones [of the ads], their sales can go up.
How did Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development help you?
I got a loan of Dh1.5 million (US$408,391) from Khalifa Fund. They also helped me with communications with other government agencies.
* Sananda Sahoo
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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.”
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Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
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FFP EXPLAINED
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What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
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“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
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