DUBAI // Kenya and Uganda are the latest countries to benefit from Dubai Cares' What If? Ramadan campaign.
The charity announced two new programmes Sunday intended to improve education in the African countries through investment in information communication technology (ICT).
“The role of the teacher has evolved with the focus on education shifting from education for all to learning for all,” said Dubai Cares chief executive Tariq Al Gurg.
“In this climate, our two new programmes prepare and qualify teachers and students in Kenya and Uganda to meet the educational demands of the modern era by using information communication technology in education,” he said.
“ICTs such as mobile phones, desktops and tablets present important tools to strengthen teaching and learning outcomes because they offer opportunities for teacher development and a wider scale with regards to the number of beneficiaries.
“ICT is transforming the learning experience in classrooms around the globe, and by using the technology to promote the standards of education in our beneficiary countries we are swiftly closing the skill and knowledge gap between established and emerging markets.”
The two new programmes, to be implemented over three years, were expected to benefit 500 teachers, 100 teacher trainers and education administrators and more than 150,000 students, said Dubai Cares.
The agency will work with the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) to start the teacher training and school-improvement programmes that would demonstrate the use of mobile-phone technology, desktop computers and tablets in the classroom.
The charity said the projects would focus on training teachers to use ICT in the classroom, improve teachers’ and pupils’ access to hardware and software and deliver a strategy that would provide mentoring to teachers and show them how to use ICT to monitor school progress.
Mr Al Gurg said: “In countries where educational resource constraints and scarcity of opportunities limit the professional development of teachers, ICT offers an alternative platform for training and mentoring so that children are taught with age-appropriate and contextually-relevant instructional approaches and materials.”
The two new programmes support the Global Education First Initiative launched by United Nations’ secretary general Ban Ki-moon in 2012. The initiative was aimed at reinvigorating global commitments to education. Dubai Cares attended its launch during the week of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Mr Ban chose Dubai Cares as a partner in the project.
Through the Kenyan government’s Laptop Project and the Curriculum Net Project of the National Curriculum Development Centre in Uganda, the governments in the two countries were already reaping the benefits of ICT, said Dubai Cares.
The new programmes were also expected to shape policy and programming around ICT initiatives. They would be expanded to more than 1,200 AKF-supported primary schools across the two countries.
“His Highness Sheikh Zayed believed that investing in people was the best possible way to invest in the future and this is what we are trying to accomplish at Dubai Cares,” said Mr Al Gurg.
Dubai Cares announced the new programmes as part of the successful conclusion of its What if? Ramadan campaign.
What If? urged the UAE community to take a step back and imagine the lives of children in developing countries, especially those who had forgone school to help their families to earn a living.
“The UAE community rallied around the campaign, making generous donations and spreading the word far and wide,” said Mr Al Gurg.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Alnamara%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMicrofinance%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFamily%20offices%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
