As a fresh modern face of the Saudi royal family, Prince Salman bin Mansour Al Saud is following two of the paths that best define his country’s progress – sport and entrepreneurship.
The prince, 18, a rising polo star, is also in the process of completing a Bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and digital innovation.
"For me, the most important things to achieve my goals are continuing my education and pursuing my polo career. Most of the year I am in London where I attend Brunel University full-time," Prince Salman tells The National.
Prince Salman returned to Saudi Arabia last month to train and prepare for the recent Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo tournament. He has been attending classes online every morning and catching up on university work before going to polo practice.
“In the afternoon after practice, I go to the gym for strength, stamina and flexibility training," he says. "It’s a new era for the kingdom and my dream is to be a part of the progression and the country’s future."
The second Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo event took place last month at Saudi Arabia’s first Unesco World Heritage Site.
The Saudi Polo Federation was formed in July 2018 to develop the sport across the kingdom and the federation's first major event was in AlUla with the young prince among the participants.
"It was an absolute honour to be invited to participate in the tournament, especially to be able to represent my country on home soil," Prince Salman tells The National. "I played on the same team as one of my idols, Juan Martin Nero of La Dolfina, the best team in the world. Watching and playing alongside him so closely was an unforgettable experience and I have learnt so much."
Prince Salman started playing polo as a 10-year-old schoolboy.
Aside from the physical aspect of the game, polo is also "mentally stimulating as it combines strategy and tactics with physical activity", he says.
"I love the fact that I am constantly challenged, the intensity and the action is what drives my passion for the game."
The 18 year old was part of the team that won the Saudi Polo Federation Silver Cup in April 2021.
He hopes his experience will inspire young Saudis to pursue sport and perhaps even represent their country someday.
Polo is relatively new to the kingdom but the country is already hosting prestigious international sporting events, such as Formula One, boxing and top-level football.
The AlUla event, the world's only modern polo tournament to be staged in the desert, is an essential part of the Royal Commission for AlUla’s equestrian commitment to reinforce Saudi Arabia’s cultural relationship with the art and heritage of horsemanship.
The prince says there is mine of talent because the kingdom is investing in modern facilities and new teams, which is "incredible".
"It’s a historic moment for the sports industry in Saudi Arabia in general," he says.
Part of the kingdom's progress
The 'Polo Prince' spoke about the kingdom’s progress and changes he hopes to see.
"I’m really happy to see all of the new opportunities being created for the Saudi youth, which is driven by Saudi Vision 2030 led by Prince Mohammed bin Salman and implemented by the ministries and governmental organisations," he says.
He reserved special praise for the work of HH Prince Badr bin Abdullah, who as governor of the Royal Commission for AlUla has created opportunities in sport, culture and tourism, and HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki as Minister of Sport, whose "great support for new sport and Saudi athletes has been excellent".
"This is the legacy I see from my family and to continue this will become my mission in life," says Prince Salman. "I hope to be able to do my part to help fellow young people across the country."
Prince Salman would "love" to excel as a sportsman and represent Saudi Arabia internationally in polo.
To achieve this goal, he is aware that he has to "keep improving if I am to become a professional athlete and be the best player in the country".
"That is my goal," he says.
In tandem with his polo career, the royal wants to continue his education in digital entrepreneurship and innovation "to further HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Vision 2030 and implement the plans through disruptive innovations that create opportunities for Saudi youth, create a sense of purpose and be part of this era of great change within the country".
Looking back at his proudest moment, he says it was the "first time I was invited to compete in a tournament with far more experienced players".
"It was really special to be chosen and showed that the hard work I had put in during practice sessions had been seen and that I considered good enough by the other players to be part of their team," he says.
That was in April 2021 at his first tournament in Riyadh, "and the team I was part of won the Saudi Polo Federation Silver Cup".
"Most recently, at the Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo tournament, I was invited to be part of the Saudia team, alongside two very accomplished players," he says proudly.
Prince Salman won the most promising talent award at the desert event.
"To be recognised by the tournament committee was a really proud moment and shows I am on the right track to become successful in the sport," he says. "Both of these moments have shown me that hard work does get noticed and rewarded, and this has been huge motivation to continue to improve in all areas of my life and career."
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
