Monica Gallant is the president and chief executive of the College of Fashion Design (CFD), a college based in Dubai’s Business Bay where students learn practical business skills as well as fashion expertise. Ms Gallant, 55, from Canada, began her career as a chartered accountant, and moved to Dubai over 20 years ago to teach management and accountancy at the Higher Colleges of Technology. In 2015, Ms Gallant moved over to the fashion side of Dubai’s higher education sector, becoming dean of the French Fashion Institute Esmod Fashion before joining CFD in December. She lives in Dubai with her husband, who also works in education. The couple have a son, 30 and daughter, 28, who both study overseas.
How did your upbringing shape your attitude towards money?
I’m the daughter of Dutch immigrants who moved to Canada when they first got married. They lived through the Second World War and because of their experiences, they were very thrifty. It was ingrained in me from an early age that you should work hard and only spend very wisely. I had two loves as a child – one was reading, so I was always happy to spend money on books, and the other was stuffed toys, so I’d save my money for that too. When I was 13, I started babysitting for Canadian $1 (Dh3) an hour.
What sparked your passion for fashion?
My interest in fashion started at 17 when I was a school student. I got a job as a part-time sales assistant in a jeans store where I learned about the differences in styles, the importance of getting the right fit and customer service skills, all of which has carried me forwards in my current job. The pay was the minimum wage, but I didn’t spend much in those days. I was required to buy clothes from the store itself to show off what we were selling. Luckily, we received a discount.
How much did you earn in your first full time job?
After I finished my business degree, my first job was as an accounting and audit junior at Deloitte, for which I was paid C$15,000 a year. It didn’t seem like a lot at the time; students graduating from other business majors got a much higher initial salary, but all of us from the accounting courses accepted we were paid less because we were still also studying to do the accountancy exams. There was the expectation that once we’d done our exams, we could move up the salary scale, with the hope we would surpass our colleagues at some stage.
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Why did you then move into education?
After four years in accounting, I gave birth to my son. Having him showed me the importance of balancing work and home life, so although I still wanted to work full time, I decided to move into a job that offered more flexibility and allowed me to spend more time with my son. I started teaching accounting and management in 1988 at a nearby college, and quickly realised I loved teaching. More than anything, I loved being able to balance work and family. My daughter came along two years later, and I’ve stayed in higher education ever since.
Did working with numbers make you more mindful about money?
It definitely made me more knowledgeable about how to save and invest money, and to appreciate the value of it. Also as a wife and mother, I wanted to make sure that I was always on top of our family’s financial matters. I sometimes worry when I see women who don’t know much about their family finances, because they leave it all up to their husband. It’s important to me not to do that.
How do you and your husband share the financial responsibility?
We work together on it. Definitely, all our major decisions are joint decisions, but when it comes to keeping track of our biggest investments, which are in property, I’m more involved with the details of that.
What made you decide to invest in property?
When my husband and I realised we were staying in Dubai for some time, we decided to purchase some real estate in our hometown of Hamilton in Canada, to create some retirement income. In 2006 we bought a Victorian family home that had been segregated into six separate units. They are now rented out and managed for us. We decided to purchase in Hamilton because we realised it was a city with good potential for growth, and we understood the market there. As our hometown, it’s also where we go back to visit in the summer, so can keep checking on our investments when we’re there. Because that investment was going so well, in 2010, we bought another apartment block of eight units in Hamilton to rent out.
What has been your best investment?
Education is the best investment for everyone. As someone who has gone on to do a masters and PhD in the education sector, and we’ve funded our children’s studies, I know that no matter what happens in life, I will always have education. The next best investment is real estate, because it has that enduring factor to it and substantial capital gain and return.
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What are you happiest spending money on?
Family holidays. Because my husband and I are both teachers, we’ve always had time to spend together in the summer. When the children were young, we used to go on six-week family holidays, travelling around the world. I’d say the experiences we gained and the time spent with the kids, opening their minds to the world, was a tremendously good way for us to spend our money.
What has been your biggest financial milestone?
Once my kids had finished their first university degrees, I felt I’d provided a good start to their lives because we’d funded their studies, and now we could start working on making sure we had enough to retire. Then about three years ago, my husband and I both reached a point where we thought we could retire; we have enough money to be able to do so, but we both really like working. We are no longer working for the money. Sometimes I feel like I have to apologise for that - that actually, I like to work and I enjoy living in Dubai, and that’s why I continue working.
What prompted you to move from the educational fields of business and accounting to fashion?
Although my career was focused on business subjects, in my hobbies, I was always doing creative things such as sewing, and making handicrafts and pottery. Moving into fashion has allowed me to combine those two elements, so my creative side is actually happening in my work. I love that, it’s a beautiful blend of business with creativity.
Should aspiring fashion designers also have an understanding of finance?
Fashion designers often lack that finance and business knowledge in the UAE, and being a creative person myself, I know first hand that fashion is not a cheap activity to get involved in. It’s quite a cash heavy business. You can’t start a fashion brand if you haven’t thought through how to find investors or fund your collections. Typically, you have to make the collections before you sell them, so there’s a lot of upfront cost in purchasing fabric, paying people to make it, marketing, film shooting and fashion shows, before you’ve even sold anything. If you don’t have a handle on where to find that money, it’s a very difficult business to break into.
What is your most cherished purchase?
I love ethnic jewelry. I have a collection of over 100 jewellery pieces that I’ve picked up, mostly on my travels. Whenever I travel to a new country, I try to find a jewellery piece that’s unique to that culture, handmade there, or expresses the motifs of that culture. Whenever I wear those pieces, they recall the memories of that country and sometimes even of the shopkeeper who sold it to me. The pieces are not necessarily expensive, maybe in the Dh300 range, but they have a tremendous amount of meaning, so its not so much the price tag but the handiwork that’s gone into making it that’s valuable to me.
If you won Dh1 million, what would you do with it?
I have everything I want right now, so there’s nothing I’d really like to purchase. I’d probably buy another investment property to use the money over the years, because I’d enjoy seeing the return on that.
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
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
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FIGHT%20CARD
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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.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4-litre%20flat-six%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E525hp%20(GT3)%2C%20500hp%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E465Nm%20(GT3)%2C%20450Nm%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20automatic%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh944%2C000%20(GT3)%2C%20Dh581%2C700%20(GT4)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
French Touch
Carla Bruni
(Verve)
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
