Day in the life: Wolves & Lion sales director is real undercover agent

Canadian Michel Brouillet, 36, grew up in Dubai and returned there 11 years ago. A former estate agent, he joined the new, Emirati-founded, men’s underwear business Wolves & Lions as the sales director in January.

6am

My day starts bright and early when I get woken by our two Yorkipoo dogs, Pepper and Truffles. After walking and feeding the dogs, I go to the gym. Since starting at Wolves & Lions, I have focused on getting more active.

7.30am

I wash up, get dressed and eat a good breakfast with my wife Kerry. We recently got married, in Marmaris in Turkey, and are trying to be as healthy as possible now, so we can pass on our habits to our kids when we have them.

8.30am

I arrive at our office in Deira to review the previous day’s sales and check stock status and customer inquiries. I also pop my head in the warehouse to make sure deliveries are ready to go out.

10am

I meet the sales team for one-on-ones. It’s important to speak to everyone in the team each week to get client feedback. As we have so many different T-shirt cuts and boxer short styles, I want to know what items are in highest demand and whether there are any special requests. The sales team take a bag full of products to do home visits on request. Sometimes we’ll get a group buying to get a family discount, and women are also a big part of our market. They’ll often buy for their sons and husbands – delivery is free and it saves them fighting for a parking spot at the mall.

11am

I dedicate an hour every day to finding ways to reach new customers, particularly the Middle East market. A key product we sell is a longer-length undershirt: one reason Mohamed Al Ali founded the business is that, as an Emirati wearing national dress, he struggled to find comfortable underwear to wear with a kandura. After he came up with Wolves & Lions, he brought me in to have a look around – I ended up buying half a dozen pieces. I got on board shortly afterwards.

Noon

I like to meet our CEO, Mohamed, for lunch at least three times a week. We go through orders, sales and what’s going on in the market but we’re also big foodies. Mohamed and I have been friends for years – 10 years ago, we went backpacking around Europe for three months after a photo shoot in Slovakia for his family’s fashion business, Prestige Trading, which is the parent company of Wolves & Lions.

2pm

I head over to our Business Bay office for the afternoon. I’m still learning about the business, so I spend time doing research to understand the different cuts and fabrics. I talk to a lot of men – for instance, a helicopter pilot was telling me about the special underwear they have, as they spend eight hours sweating in the cockpit. We introduce new ranges every six months and it takes up to a year to bring in a new product because of the size, colour and fabric testing we do.

3pm

I meet one of our corporate clients or partners, perhaps a fitness club or a company that will give us a space to display our underwear range. For instance we’ve had a booth in the lobby of the Roads and Transport Authority, with special rates for staff.

6.30pm

Being newly married, I try to get home at a decent hour, although I could easily stay until 10pm. My commute is just 20 minutes from Business Bay back to Tecom. I check in with my family on the way home. My parents, sister and my twin brother live in Dubai too. I’ve got both my dad and brother into Wolves & Lions – my dad rides motorbikes all day, and our undershirts are good at absorbing sweat.

7pm

When I get home I take a walk with Kerry and the pups around the lakes in the Greens.

8pm

After our family walk, I get a bit more work done (at the moment I'm going through CVs as we're hiring more sales staff) while Kerry prepares dinner. She works in the hospitality industry and is an amazing chef. We normally watch a bit of TV: we're really hooked on Suits and Game of Thrones right now.

10.30pm

I fit in one final walk for the dogs. Yes, they are spoiled. When we get home, we tend to read and chat in bed for a while before sleeping. My wife loves to do that – and a happy wife makes for a happy life.

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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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The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.