When Anthony Mmesoma Madu, 11, was videoed practicing ballet barefoot in the drizzling rain in Nigeria earlier this year, he thought the footage would be used for a common film study session.
Instead, the cellphone video of him performing the pirouette without shoes on the unevenly wet concrete was seen by a much bigger audience. The video has garnered more than 20 million views on social media including by Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis and Cynthia Erivo, who has won Grammy and Tony awards.
Madu's practice dance session was so impressive that it earned him a ballet scholarship with the American Ballet Theatre in the US. It also showed his community that anything is possible.
“I feel very, very surprised, very, very happy,” Madu said after his fellow students at Leap of Dance Academy staged a performance on a dirt street in Lagos, Nigeria, while tossing dust into the air in celebration.
“I thank God that he made the video to go viral,” he said.
Davis shared Madu’s video with her 1.4 million followers on Twitter. She wrote in the caption “Reminds me of the beauty of my people. We create, soar, can imagine, have unleashed passion, and love.... despite the brutal obstacles that have been put in front of us! Our people can fly!!!”
Erivo decided to sponsor Madu's training and helped bring the video to the attention of the American Ballet Theatre, said Laura Miller, a spokeswoman for the dance company.
“When I got that call that I won a scholarship to the US in the year 2021, I was very, very happy, I was like, ‘What? Is this what God can do?’” Madu recalled. Ballet, he added, "is hard to learn but if you put your effort, you can learn it.”
I wanted to be able to give an opportunity to every child by making my programme free so that they would be no excuse that any child could give that it was the reason they couldn't pursue their love for dance
Madu is too young to physically travel and study in New York. The minimum age to be a student in the city and live in a dorm is 15, but he’s been offered a summer scholarship, with the possibility of him continuing this fall under discussion, Miller said.
Miller said the American Ballet Theatre is currently working on a schedule for Madu that works with the six-hour time difference. The company is also talking to him about taking part in weekend programmes.
The video was the idea of Madu’s trainer, Daniel Ajala, a self-trained ballet dancer. He’s also the founder of Leap of Dance Academy, which he started in 2017.
Ajala suggested the idea as a way for Madu to review his technique. He’s been a strong advocate in supporting his students to follow their dreams, despite their circumstances.
“I wanted to be able to give an opportunity to every child by making my programme free so that they would be no excuse that any child could give that it was the reason they couldn’t pursue their love for dance,” he said.
Ajala said his dance school has received donations, which will be used to create a standard dance academy with housing.
“Some of our students have to walk one hour or there about to the academy so we wanted to have like a comfortable space for them to be able stay while they can’t go home.”
Sweet%20Tooth
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Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
MATCH STATS
Wolves 0
Aston Villa 1 (El Ghazi 90 4' pen)
Red cards: Joao Moutinho (Wolves); Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa)
Man of the match: Emi Martinez (Aston Villa)
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
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For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
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beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
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Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
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Why are you, you?
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with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
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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.”
HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
