Education

The three-day workshops, which start at Szabist University in Ras Al Khaimah in August, will be offered to high school pupils aged 16 to 18.

Melanie Swan

July 15, 2014

DUBAI // A Pakistani university campus is running a series of free community education initiatives to inspire youngsters to keep learning through the hot summer.

From next month, the Dubai branch of Szabist University is hosting three-day workshops for pupils aged 16 to 18.

The workshops involve communication skills, photography and animation and are related to bachelor courses at the university.

“These projects are part of our ‘partners in education’ work,” said Nobia Saleem, the university’s admissions manager.

“We weren’t just targeting Pakistani schools, but had different curriculums represented, including Indian and Filipino, from schools such as Apple International, The New Philippines School, Pakistan Islamia School and Sheikh Khalifa Arab Pakistan School in Abu Dhabi.

“These courses are usually expensive and we know the holidays can be challenging for pupils and parents, so we wanted to give something back. The pupils will be able to go away with new skills.”

About 35 teenagers have already signed up to the summer courses.

“The awards are really a platform to motivate and encourage pupils,” Ms Saleem said.

“These kinds of initiatives don’t exist for the Pakistani community, and it’s an important way to encourage them to stay in education.

“The low-income groups are very talented and want to study, so something has to keep motivating them.”

Dr Mohammed Nawaz Brohi, the campus head, said the free courses were a way of giving something back to society.

“We are targeting the Pakistani schools. It’s not really to encourage the students to come to Szabist, but in the summer they often have nothing to do, so we are just providing this chance to the community,” he said.

“About 50 students will be able to participate on each course, but not all of those would qualify to enter university.”

Awards for gifted students and teachers will also be run by the university in August.

“It is really for the community, to motivate people,” he said. Prizes will be awarded, which he says is the university’s “small investment in the community”.

The university has been organising similar community events since January.

mswan@thenational.ae

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On Women's Day

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.”