Supporters get on their bikes in support of gender equality



Marikina City, Philippines // Filipino cyclists took part in a two-kilometre bike ride to raise awareness for gender equality as part of the third annual UN International Day of the Girl Child.

The Bike Ride for Girls’ Rights was organised by Plan Philippines and Dubai Cares as part of their joint effort to improve education opportunities for marginalised girls living in two of the country’s poorest provinces.

“It’s very important in the Philippines because we are faced with several issues regarding the girl child, apart from age and gender, there’s so much discrimination going on and I think Plan would like to put a stop to that,” said Virgil Peduca, 29, one of the organisers of the event.

“Usually there are double standards, the skills of a girl are being undermined. Although those are little things, it adds up and impacts the overall personality of the girl. What we really want to happen is to promote awareness for the protection of the right for the girl child.”

Patrizha Martinez, a 28-year-old social media manager from nearby Quezon City, said more needed to be done to protect the rights of young girls and women.

“We just want to tell the world that whatever guys can do, girls can do too,” Ms Martinez said. “To really raise awareness, we have to do more, and change starts from small steps and I think this is a very good way to start.”

Although the Philippines is on on track to meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals – eight targets set by the United Nations that include achieving universal primary education and promoting gender equality and empowering women – the country continues to struggle with high rates of teenage pregnancies and crushing poverty that forces girls to drop out of school.

Dubai Cares, together with Plan Philippines, is helping to address the education needs of underprivileged girls through its Real Assets through Improved Skills and Education for Adolescent Girls (Raise) project, which was officially launched on Friday.

The philanthropic UAE agency and international non-government organisation also held a concert at a mall in Muntinlupa City. Dubai Cares chief executive, Tariq Al Gurg, who took part in both events, said these advocacy campaigns were important for “building a hype towards giving rights for girls”.

“As you know there’s a huge population of women in the Philippines who are forced to start working at a much younger age than they’re supposed to and then you get problems like early marriages and early pregnancies [when] the main aim is for them to finish school, get a higher education,” said Mr Al Gurg, adding that the Philippines was “an important country to Dubai Cares.

“We have a large Filipino community and we always look to the largest communities that we have in the UAE and we try to cater to their needs when it comes to education.”

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Name: HyperSpace
 
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Based: Dubai, UAE
 
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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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Rating:3/5