Fine balance in this tale of two cities

Cass Business School Dubai is rolling out a new consulting service in the Middle East and Africa aimed at companies that want to spot growth opportunities and solve various corporate problems.

Here, Ehsan Razavizadeh, the school's regional director, discusses the balance of bringing in foreign faculty from its home partner, City University London, while providing localised advice.

How has Cass tried to generate revenues in the past?

We started our operation in the UAE in 2007, offering an executive MBA. Basically, this core source of revenue, if you will, is our executive MBA at the moment. In May 2011, we started offering post-graduate degrees in aviation ... under our sister engineer school. That was the second source or revenue.

And the third source of revenue?

The third one is we offer tailor-made programmes for big institutions in the region.

Why do business schools such as yours need to create different revenue sources?

We are non-profit. As long as we manage to pay our bills and have the space, we are here to stay.

What was the impetus for recently launching a consulting arm for this region?

We fly faculty members from London to Dubai - we don't have any based in the UAE. Since the faculty are flying to Dubai and spend at least four days to go through one subject with our current students, we thought we could utilise this opportunity and take advantage of making them available for companies and public sector to do some consulting work. Back in London, there's a very strong link for us between consultancy, research and teaching.

But companies here would be relying on faculty from afar. Would it not be better to find local experts familiar with how business is done in this region?

Of course, you're absolutely right in that regard, but there are two elements in this service: one is there are many companies in the region that are multinational like Microsoft, Google, Ernst & Young, Deloitte. They have offices in London, New York - all over. We've already done some work for Microsoft in London, and there are natural synergies between the office in the UAE and what they want to achieve here.

What is the second element?

The other thing we're looking to do is we have very good experts … within local industries here. We engage with lots of practitioners and guest speakers. If [we] start any consulting project we'll get advice and engage the local practitioner. But the areas [we'll be looking at including are] leadership, private equity, actuarial science, insurance. I don't see that much difference from Dubai to London and New York. Of course, there are some elements that may be different, like how to conduct a business here, but the principles are the same.

nparmar@thenational.ae

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million

Specs

Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)

Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)

Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)

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

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

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

RESULT

Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')

Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)

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The team

Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory
Videographer: Jear Valasquez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi