From left, MindTalk's Satheesh Kumar, Christiane Schloderer, Azza AlNuaimi, Meerah Ketait and Sarah Al Qassimi during a meeting at their office in Deira last week.
From left, MindTalk's Satheesh Kumar, Christiane Schloderer, Azza AlNuaimi, Meerah Ketait and Sarah Al Qassimi during a meeting at their office in Deira last week.

Website brings events to women



DUBAI // Meerah Ketait missed out on a chance to represent Zayed University at a conference honouring college students in the US because she had other obligations.

She was so disappointed that she and two other Emirati women decided to create a web portal allowing for the live streaming of conferences - including the ability to make presentations online.

"We wanted to not only see the conference, but also be able to participate, ask questions and be present. That's how the idea of live-streaming conferences came to life," said Ms Ketait, 22.

Their web-based platform, MindTalk, provides an interactive experience at conferences in the UAE as they are happening. The website offers networking options for online users to discuss the events, connecting directly to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn applications.

"This idea was inspired when we missed a lot of events and conferences in the UAE and abroad," said Ms Ketait. "[We were] not able to attend [due to] different responsibilities and restrictions such as time, place and work. Our target audience is mainly women. The idea of MindTalk is to make attending and participating in events more convenient for women and people with obligations that cannot physically be at the event."

The concept was thought up by Ms Ketait, Azza Al Nuaimi and Sarah Al Qassimi, all UAE nationals.

It was co-founded with the expatriates Christiane Schloderer and Satheesh Kumar last October during StartUp Weekend, a 54-hour event where developers, designers and entrepreneurs shared their ideas to find out whether projects were sustainable.

The web portal has won praise from the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, which last year named it "Most Innovative Idea".

The group has since registered with the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

"MindTalk is a newly introduced idea to the UAE and GCC by locals," said Ms Al Nuaimi, 22. "We are looking to stream events that are interesting and grab people's attention that are not well advertised."

Last weekend, the website streamed the second edition of StartUp Weekend in Al Meydan, Dubai. The portal captured the pitches, interviews and working environment among the participants from a booth that the women had set up.

"We started streaming pitches when they started. We interviewed some of the participants on the spot and showed who were the winners until the programme ended. We were also able to stream when Sheikh Mansoor [bin Mohammed bin Rashid] attended the conference," Ms Ketait said.

A member of the group monitored the website and responded to questions from the viewers. She acted as a mediator between the viewers and the events. "For example, when people asked us about who is pitching, we would answer them," Ms Ketait said. "Others pointed out we had a technical issue with the sound, so we immediately fixed that."

Sarah Falaknaz, a partner at Innovative Machine, the company that organised Start Up weekend, praised the web portal.

"They are involving a big demographic in the region with their initiative," she said. "The idea is new to the region, and I haven't heard of such an initiative anywhere else. The idea can not only encourage, but also support and raise awareness, especially among females, to interact and be part of conferences."

Ms Schloderer, who has 10 years' experience as an executive and a mentor to entrepreneurs, said: "I am very much looking forward to developing MindTalk into the regional live broadcasting company.

"The initial responses from potential customers were very encouraging. Compared to many other regional ideas, MindTalk is working on a unique portfolio that we are striving to extend."

The next events MindTalk plans to stream live are StartUp Weekend Abu Dhabi this Thursday and Startup Weekend Qatar on June 16.

To watch, visit www.mindtalk.ae.

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When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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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.”

THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

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Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

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