DUBAI // Aida Al Busaidy has always been good at communicating and multi-tasking.
The 32-year-old is a co-founder of the E7 Daughters of the Emirates project, an initiative launched by the Promise of a Generation community network that works to develop the potential of young Emirati women to make a positive impact on the community.
She also heads Dubai Tourism’s stakeholder communications and campaigns, all the while raising two sons.
But the Dubai-born journalism graduate still finds time to pursue her love of writing.
“I chose this major because I was always interested in the English language, writing and journalism in the bigger sense,” said the Arkansas State University graduate.
“It’s more of a form of expression. Every girl kept a diary once upon a time, or a blog, and I always found that I am just a natural communicator in general.”
Her career path has followed the communications industry, from co-hosting the TV show Her Say on Dubai One to writing a weekly women's column with Emirates24/7.
She is also in charge of Dubai Tourism’s advocacy programme and contributes to an online magazine.
“I love reading and writing. It’s my passion and I always pursue it. My role has evolved in every communications team and today you’ll find everybody needs to have a core of being a writer because it helps develop everything else.”
It was passion that flourished at young age.
“I have been an avid writer since I was a kid. For as long as I can remember I have always been that person who loved reading and writing.”
Ms Al Busaidy says it was an interest that ran in her family.
“My brother wrote a self-help motivational book and him and I have always been in tune with reading and writing because we come from a generation where we didn’t have much.
“There wasn’t a lot that was happening and we were exposed to a lot of outdoor activities so our imagination was bigger.”
As children, the pair would visit libraries and the British Council to dive into different books.
“We would borrow their books, that’s how we got interested in it.”
In her current position working in a Government job she said attitudes towards such employment were changing. “I have seen a huge transformation from how people used to be. There isn’t that perception of people wanting to work in Government jobs because Government entities have changed their mentalities.
“They’re going into smart government and people are looking at wanting a really good career to learn and enhance their skills.”
She tries to apply that mentality to her professional life.
“The first question I ask when I interview people for a job is ‘how do you feel about working 9-to-5 hours?’ and they don’t expect to work until 2pm,” she said.
“So it’s a positive and I don’t think that mentality [of working short hours] exists anymore.”
Ms Al Busaidy credited her success to her family’s support.
“Because everybody else in our family went for generic types of jobs, the fact that I went into journalism was very different so I got a lot of support from family members, especially my parents.
“They look back and think it is really good that they let us choose what we wanted because that’s what makes us happy.”
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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.”
