The motor-racing community in the UAE - and this includes competitors who invest in cars and equipment, the officials whose job it is to organise and run the events and the race teams that provide the expertise - have seen their sport grow organically here for seven years. Equally, we would not have a sport without the huge investment that was made in racing infrastructure underpinning that growth.
But something has been missing: single-seater racing. This became apparent when the UAE witnessed some of the world's highest-paid sportsmen driving Formula One cars around the fantastic Yas Marina Circuit. The cry went out - "where's our driver?"
Well, there's some good news. After years of local development, we finally have the seeds of a motor-racing revolution in our midst with the announcement this week that pre-season testing for the forthcoming Formula Gulf 1000 single-seater championship will take place at Yas Marina Circuit next month.
This heralds the start of a new wave of talented drivers getting themselves on the path to international stardom. With no restriction on age or nationality, we will probably see FIA race license holders from the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, South Africa and Russia coming to Abu Dhabi to be mentored by some of the best people in the business. These drivers will gain valuable insights into fitness and nutrition, discipline, media training, race engineering - and, of course, driving.
Richard Cregan, CEO of Yas Marina Circuit, made the point this week. "This is a perfect opportunity for aspiring young drivers to enter single-seat racing. We are happy to support Formula Gulf 1000 with test days, since we feel the series provides all the elements that a young driver needs to develop and progress at this level of motorsport."
For me, their path to the top is realistic. I have seen many young drivers who had a good work ethic, commitment and support make great progress during the past 20 years. The most recent example is a young lad, Paul Di Resta, whom I remember racing a 60cc Cadet kart at the age of eight. You, too, will be able to see Paul, who is only 24, racing for the Force India F1 Team in Bahrain on March 13.
Di Resta, along with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, are perhaps the exceptions, as they all made it to the very top of this particularly greasy pole.
However, I know plenty of other young drivers who earn good money as professionals even though they don't have quite the same high profile as the F1 lads. My point is that it is quite realistic to aim for a racing career if you have the commitment and support network that I referred to earlier. There are many single-seater drivers enjoying successful careers in GT cars, Le Mans prototypes and Touring cars.
GulfSport is behind this venture, and I believe it will attract drivers in the European off-season and may eventually produce the UAE's first F1 racer. More details can be found at at www.FG1000.net.
Barry Hope is a director of GulfSport Racing, which is hoping to produce the first Arab F1 driver through the FG1000 race series. Join the UAE racing community online at www.singleseaterblog.com
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Publisher: Namco Bandai
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Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
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.”
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
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