DUBAI // The end of an era is approaching for one of the most popular breakfast radio duos in the country.
Brandy Scott, a long-serving presenter on the 103.8 Dubai Eye Business Breakfast, co-hosted with Malcolm Taylor, is packing her bags and heading home to New Zealand.
After moving to the UAE in 1999, at the age of 22, Scott started her career in Dubai as an IT reporter and moved between business magazines and newspapers.
She joined the talk-radio station in September 2006 with her first trial show at Dubai Eye and shortly after was placed on the breakfast show with Taylor, covering developments in the business world in the UAE and abroad.
The pair did not get off to the best of starts, despite their now cosy friendship.
"We clashed like nobody's business. The first year was particularly bad and the second year was pretty bad," recalled Taylor. "It was frosty, the relationship on and off air wasn't good.
"I warmed in the end though - we developed a respect and a certain trust."
Despite interviewing many influential figures in the business community including Sir Richard Branson and Donald Trump, it was not always the high-flyers that piqued Scott's interest.
"My favourite interviews aren't necessarily the big ones, but involve new businesses," she said.
"It's watching those guys from go - from coming in and telling us how they're trying to get their first bank finance to actually becoming ocean-going companies."
Scott's new life will involve helping to produce Radio New Zealand's morning show and studying for a Master's degree.
Her final broadcast on the Business Breakfast will be on July 4.
"It's been fun, and that's what radio should be," concluded Taylor, sorry to see his colleague go. "We've had a lot of laughs."
ksinclair@thenational.ae
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
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