ABU DHABI // After a memorable one-two finish in Sunday's inaugural Ironman Regensberg, Faris al Sultan and Andi Bocherer have turned their thoughts to planning the Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team's end-of-season assault on the Hawaii world championships.
Al Sultan, whose 2005 world title earned him a lifetime invite to the Kona showpiece, crossed the finish line first in Germany in a relatively quick time of 8hrs 13mins 37secs. Bocherer, the leader for most of the race, followed five minutes later.
"Mentally it's always good to get positive results, especially after my poor season last year," al Sultan said. "It was important that I proved to myself that everything still works and I can still win races. It wasn't my greatest performance, but it was strong enough. It was a great result for Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team because we were out of the water first, had the fastest bike split and got the overall win."
Having passed Bocherer, the then-leader, with just 5km left in the race-ending 40km run, al Sultan, the team's captain, confessed to an overwhelming sense of relief that high finishes have started to come for the team backed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.
"I'm relieved because we're finally getting results," he said. "You can't win all the time, but as professionals it is vital that we're competitive. Things are going well following all the injuries we had earlier this season and we will have a strong team for Hawaii.
"We have individual training regimes for Kona, but about a month before the race we'll all get together in Los Angeles and start our final preparations as a team."
Bocherer, whose sole previous world championships appearance came in 2008, becomes the outfit's third professional qualifier in the men's event, joining al Faris and Sven Sundberg.
"It's a wonderful result and I'm really excited," said Bocherer, who was disqualified two years ago for an illegal drafting manoeuvre on the 120km bike section. "My swim went OK, but not fantastic. I was a minute behind Faris when I left the water, but I took the lead on the bike quite early in and then I pulled away. I had a four-minute lead after the bike, but I started suffering badly about 20km in the run. Faris caught me after about 35km, but I still finished a comfortable second."
With memories from Bocherer's last Hawaii experience still fresh in his mind, the German is confident he can lay the ghosts of disqualification to rest.
"I'm really keen to have a good race this time around and I'm aiming for a top-20 finish," Bocherer said. "If everything goes right I think it is achievable and I'll be tailoring my preparations to ensure I'm as fit as possible. Qualifying so early is good for my training; now I can plan my Kona regime to ensure I'm at my peak."
Al Faris and Bocherer agreed that careful planning is required to ensure the team's championship qualifiers are in top condition when they line up for the Hawaii event on October 9.
"It can take a lot of you, having an Ironman so late in the season, so next week I'll sit down and think about my training for Kona," al Sultan said.
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Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
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.”
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
SHAITTAN
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