Princess Haya initiative helps adventurer Ben Fogle scale Everest

British adventurer Ben Fogle has successfully scaled Mount Everest – with a little help from an initiative founded by Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, the wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

Fogle, 44, reached the summit on Wednesday, dedicating the journey to his third child Willem, who was delivered stillborn eight months into his wife’s pregnancy in 2014.

“His loss changed our lives and I think about him daily. Losing my little boy made me reevaluate life. Not only do we hold our two beautiful children closer to us but it was a reminder to live life for the now. Don’t waste it,” wrote the broadcaster on Instagram.

“Cradling little Willem to say goodbye, I made a promise to him to live my life brightly. To embrace everyday. To always smile. To be positive and to inspire.”

Double Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton CBE was supposed to accompany Fogle on the ascent, but she was forced to drop out earlier this month after suffering from the effects of oxygen deprivation.

The pair, who made the climb to support the work of the Red Crescent Movement, among other charities, were sponsored by Anything is Possible, a global initiative founded by Princess Haya.

"Anything is Possible has an innate desire to discover extraordinary people and unique projects around the world that break boundaries, showing unrivalled determination and inspire future generations,” said Princess Haya in a statement released on Wam, the UAE’s state news agency.

“By realising a life-long dream, one which many would consider to be beyond their reach or potentially impossible, Ben has lived the values of our initiative and shown that anything really is possible."

Fogle said achieving his childhood dream of scaling the world’s highest peak safely successfully had been extraordinary.

“I am eternally grateful to Princess Haya and her global initiative, Anything Is Possible, for making this entire adventure possible and providing the opportunity for us to help promote the work of the British Red Cross and my work as a UN environment patron of the wilderness,” he said.

“I could not have done it without the support of my family, my training partner and guide Kenton Cool and Victoria Pendleton."

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.”

Princess Haya initiative helps adventurer Ben Fogle scale Everest

Global Anything is Possible initiative set up by Dubai Ruler's wife sponsored Fogle to reach the summit