UAE

Work is all I have left, says man who lost it all

A Dubai man who lost his family in the Air India Express crash says the only way he can cope is by taking it one day at a time.

Ramola Talwar Badam
Ramola Talwar Badam
Dubai

May 23, 2011

  • English
  • Arabic

DUBAI // Unlike several other bereaved families affected by the Mangalore Air India Express crash, Shafqat Mahamood did not travel to India this week for the memorial ceremony.

Instead, Mr Mahamood stayed in Dubai and mourned the loss of his wife, infant son and two aunts, who were among the 158 fatalities in last year's accident. He said that keeping busy at work is the only way for him to cope with his grief.

"Working keeps me busy, helps me forget things. Otherwise it's difficult to live," said Mr Mahamood, 31, a UAE-born information technology manager with a Jebel Ali company.

"I took very long to settle back down into a routine, and I just need to keep myself very busy. I don't want my family to worry about me anymore. That's why it was best to stay here."

Still, memories of his eight-month-old son and 24-year-old wife haunt him. They were travelling to India along with his aunts for a family wedding. "We got married in 2008, we couldn't even make it to our second anniversary in June," he said. "I have suffered depression. It's not a good thing. It disturbs everyone around you."

The family spent quiet time praying yesterday morning in their Dubai home and according to Islamic norms, they also held a prayer service ahead of the anniversary of the tragedy. However, the airline's delay in processing compensation payments hurts him.

"First we lose our families, and then [Air India] makes us feel we must negotiate," he said. "They should have made it easier for us so we are saved from all this additional trouble. Just give us whatever is legal and finish it off."

"To lose your family is the worst kind of pain," he said. "My family, friends feel sorry seeing me in pain. I was born and brought up here, I just need to go to work every day and stay busy."

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5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

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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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