Umm Al Emarat Park has partnered with numerous fitness centres to launch free health and wellness sessions from October to April 2022. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park
Umm Al Emarat Park has partnered with numerous fitness centres to launch free health and wellness sessions from October to April 2022. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park
Umm Al Emarat Park has partnered with numerous fitness centres to launch free health and wellness sessions from October to April 2022. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park
Umm Al Emarat Park has partnered with numerous fitness centres to launch free health and wellness sessions from October to April 2022. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park

Lifestyle

Wellbeing

Abu Dhabi's Umm Al Emarat Park launches free weekly meditation and yoga sessions

The classes will take place every Wednesday evening until April 2022

Janice Rodrigues
Janice Rodrigues

October 11, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

If you’re on the lookout for a calming green space to unwind and reconnect with your inner self, Umm Al Emarat Park has just the solution.

In honour of World Mental Health Day that was on Sunday, the popular Abu Dhabi space has launched a new programme to raise awareness on the importance of health and wellness, while encouraging people to reconnect with nature.

The park has partnered with three fitness centres – Inner Space Centre, Seven Wellness and Flo Studio – to host free meditation or yoga sessions within the venue. The classes will take place every week from 6.30pm onwards from this Wednesday, and go on until April 2022, with a focus on helping the attendees find inner resilience and self-awareness.

Flo Studio's sessions will teach participants the importance of harmony between mind and body through breathing techniques and movement, while helping develop awareness and mindfulness. Those interested in booking a session can WhatsApp 0506635498.

Umm Al Emarat Park also has a jogging track with distance markets to help joggers track their progress. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park
Umm Al Emarat Park also has a jogging track with distance markets to help joggers track their progress. Photo: Umm Al Emarat Park

With Inner Space Centre, participants can expect a series of enlightening and interactive talks that help achieve a state of relaxation in addition to practices to improve clarity of mind, decision-making and inner resilience. These sessions are on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Finally, Seven Wellness's sessions will be designed to help participants release tightness, gain strength, balance the body and focus the mind through breathing and movement. To book a slot, email info@sevenwellness.ae or register through the Seven Wellness Studio app or on www.sevenwellness.ae.

Rasha Kablawi, head of Umm Al Emarat Park’s corporate affairs and communication department, believes that such an initiative is important to “to shed light on the stress, anxiety and mental unrest that could be common amongst many of us, especially given the unprecedented times we’ve had to face.

“We know how connected our guests and communities are to nature and the outdoors. We have always promoted the importance of nature and its intrinsic value on mental health and physical well-being. We are very happy to launch this programme in collaboration with our partners who are all specialists in their respective fields. We encourage community members to participate in this programme for its importance on mental health and wellbeing,” she says.

Although the classes are free, you still have to pay the Dh10 for an entry ticket to Umm Al Emarat Park. For information, visit www.ummalemaratpark.ae

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile

Company: Eighty6 

Date started: October 2021 

Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh 

Based: Dubai, UAE 

Sector: Hospitality 

Size: 25 employees 

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investment: $1 million 

Investors: Seed funding, angel investors  

About Housecall

Date started: July 2020

Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: HealthTech

# of staff: 10

Funding to date: Self-funded

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Lamsa

Founder: Badr Ward

Launched: 2014

Employees: 60

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: EdTech

Funding to date: $15 million

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Who are the Sacklers?

The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.

Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. 

It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.

Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".

The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.

Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.

The bio

Favourite vegetable: Broccoli

Favourite food: Seafood

Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange

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Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include: 

  • Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
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If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

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3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks. 

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes. 

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion. 

8. Pillar 2 implementation 

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

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10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity. 

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

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.”

Updated: October 11, 2021, 10:13 AM
Mental healthAbu Dhabi