In May, the Ubuntu Love Challenge set out to spark a global movement towards collaboration on projects for social good. Now, the same initiative has created a new online campaign – #StillSheRises – this time designed to amplify the voices of women.
#StillSheRises is part-video series and part-online challenge aimed at giving women around the world a platform to share their stories of success, as well as overcoming adversity and, in turn, empower others to take action in their respective fields and industries.
The Ubuntu Love Challenge, started by Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, president-elect of the International Publishers Association and founder of the #UbuntuLoveChallenge, and philanthropist Mamadou Toure, began sharing videos on its YouTube platform last month, and has been continuously adding to its list.
So far, the online video series includes 15 interviews with women of renown, from Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of social enterprise Acumen, to Iraqi activist and writer Zainab Salbi, UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology, Sarah Al Amiri, and Anita Bhatia, UN Women’s executive director.
In her interview, Al Amiri, who is also chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, spoke about her experience with the country’s recent mission to Mars, including the challenge of putting together the endeavour within six years.
“The timeline, in comparison to the rest of the world, was four years less than everyone else,” she recalls. “The question I have in the back of my mind is how do we take all this experience and these challenges that we surpassed … and translate it into impact for the UAE and create new opportunities for other people?"
Salbi, founder of humanitarian organisation Women for Women International, shared her story of growing up in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war. Though her father served as Saddam Hussein’s personal pilot, Salbi and her family lived in fear of the Hussein family.
Her mother eventually sent her to the US at 19 years old, and to an arranged marriage. When the relationship turned abusive, Salbi ran away, but was unable to return to Iraq as the First Gulf War had broken out.
“As a result of all these trials, I decided I will stand up on my feet and build my live from zero; I will help all women, now that I live in America and I have a chance to speak freely without fear,” she says. At 23, she established her organisation to provide female survivors of war with business and vocational skills to rebuild their lives.
Other contributors to #StillSheRises include philanthropist Sheikha Intisar Ali Al Sabah, founder of Kuwait’s Intisar Foundation; Najla Al Midfa, chief executive of Sheraa - Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre; and Queen Diambi Kabatusuila Tshiyoyo Muata, Queen of the Order of the Leopard of the Bakwa Luntu of Kasai, and founder of Elikia Hope Foundation.
To take part, women can share their own stories using the #StillSheRises hashtag on social media. It mirrors the same process of the Ubuntu Love Challenge, where individuals can motivate others through video messages in the spirit of the African philosophy of interdependence or Ubuntu (“I am because we are”).
“In the spirit of Ubuntu, they are calling on women around the globe to make an impact on their sisters and be inspired by the experiences of their peers in other nations and communities,” the organisers wrote in a statement.
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Read more:
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi becomes first Arab woman appointed president of the International Publishers Association
What is the Ubuntu Love Challenge? New online campaign hopes to become a global movement
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Jawan
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
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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