From making German-language videos about Dubai, to entertaining Diego Maradona, Michelle Rodriguez and Lionel Richie in the shadow of its most famous landmarks, Sam Katiela has become a fixture on the UAE business scene since moving to the emirate 14 years ago.
But it is his involvement in polo, the “sport of kings”, for which he is best known.
“In 2004 we were sitting in a friend’s majlis and we thought we need to do something fun, something different,” said Katiela, who is originally from Palestine but was raised in Germany. “My wife is Swiss and they play polo on snow in St Moritz, so we came up with an idea: ‘Why don’t we play polo on the beach’?”
He could not have foreseen just how quickly beach polo would spread.
“A new sport was born here in the UAE, which was exported in 2004 to the rest of the world,” he said. “We started in 2004, in 2005 Miami followed and now over 33 cities take part.”
The start of the two-day 2015 Beach Polo Cup Dubai, now in its sixth year, kicks off on Friday with four teams taking part. Katiela, 43, has witnessed his idea grow over the past decade and says it can open doors as well as entertain, and is a natural fit in the country.
“The UAE is known for horses: endurance racing, Dubai World Cup, showjumping in Abu Dhabi, horse beauty competition in Ajman. This country is fanatical about horses, which is beautiful, it reflects the culture,” he said.
“Polo gives you access to the world. Polo gives you a door to people you can rarely access at a certain level. The polo family around the world is very close. Polo people have cool, interesting character; they are self-made people and high-network individuals. Polo is excellent for business.”
This is the second year that Beach Polo Cup Dubai is being held at Skydive Dubai. Its popularity continues to grow, as much for the sport as the social setting. Last year saw Maradona as the guest of honour.
“This year, we have almost 300 people flying in from Europe,” Katiela said. “They pay their own tickets, they pay their hotels. The polo crowd are big spenders and enjoy the good life, and this country offers everything for a great lifestyle. We like mixing them with people who live here. We want to make a cultural bridge, make the people communicate, create ideas and business but also friendships.”
Katiela says sponsors increasingly are getting on board.
“Sponsors will discover that this country is a platform to activate their brands for the whole region. Whatever is hip in the UAE is hip in the Middle East.”
Katiela has received acknowledgement from the Dubai Government. He said he is “honoured” his sporting brainchild is the only polo event to be taken under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Katiela received the Mohammed bin Rashid Creative Sport Award in January. With such backing, bigger plans are on the horizon for the organisers of Beach Polo Cup Dubai.
“We want to host in 2016, or latest 2017, the first Beach Polo World Cup in Dubai,” Katiela said.
“We’d love to do it now, but we don’t have enough horses. Nobody wants to fly their horses and have them three weeks in quarantine.”
It is an issue he predicts will resolve itself as polo spreads.
“More people are playing polo here, so we will have more horses,” he said. “More clubs will be established; the Habtoor family are creating a huge polo club with four fields and investing a lot of money. There’s Desert Palm, Equestrian Polo Club and the Ghantoot Club in Abu Dhabi is state of the art.
“It’s a way to tell the world, ‘Look how this country is. We are open-minded, we are safe, business-orientated, peaceful and it’s an open gate for everybody who is serious about the quality of life’.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
Follow our sports coverage on Twitter @NatSportUAE
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
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.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
