UAE

Fundraising campaign launched for Reem Island mall murder victim’s family

The company that recruited the 47-year-old American nursery teacher has launched a campaign to set up an education fund for the two boys she leaves behind.

The National staff

December 05, 2014

ABU DHABI // The company that recruited the American nursery teacher who was stabbed to death at a mall in the capital has launched a fundraising campaign for the woman’s twin 11-year-old boys and older daughter.

Footprints Recruiting, which is based in Vancouver, Canada, has set up a gofundme.com page that aims to raise money to support the education of the boys, who have been taken care of since the shocking incident at Boutik Mall, on Reem Island, on Monday by community police. They have been awaiting the arrival of their father and the victim's ex-husband from overseas.

An Emirati woman in her thirties has been arrested in connection with the death of 47-year-old I B R, who was fatally stabbed in the ladies toilets close to Waitrose supermarket at the mall.

The Emirati woman, who was wearing an abaya, black gloves and a niqab in CCTV footage released from the mall, was detained after planting a home-made nail bomb outside the home of Egyptian-American doctor M H, 46, on the Corniche an hour after the American teacher had been attacked.

Ben Glickman, the chief executive of Footprints Recruiting, said: “The reason we set the campaign up was because we have been in touch with the family and her sister-in-law [the sister of the children’s father].

“We asked if there was anything we could do to help and she suggested that we help raise money for the children’s education and travel. Given the scope of this senseless tragedy, we felt it was the least we could do.

“If the people of the UAE, both Emirati and expat alike, wish to do something, contributing to this campaign is a great start. We greatly appreciate your help.”

The Footprints Recruiting fundraising page says the family is in need of financial assistance to bring the victim’s body back to the US, for funeral expenses and to establish an educational trust for the three children. It also states that “100 per cent of the money raised is going to the family”, though this is minus minimal charges from gofundme.com.

By late Friday night, the gofundme page had raised US$12,695 (Dh46,630) of the $100,000 it aims to achieve by donations from 190 people in just 24 hours.

For more information and to donate, click here.

newsdesk@thenational.ae

Three ways to limit your social media use

Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.

1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.

2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information. 

3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.

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La Mer lowdown

La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
 

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.”

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