A business built on customised furniture and interior design
In my line of work, you meet a lot of people with money. But I think that it's only really important when you have it. It's good to have a reasonable life, but that's it. I don't think money is important for other things.
I moved my business from Spain to Dubai four years ago. When I first arrived here, we started with just furniture and accessories for home furnishings, but the business has moved and expanded into much bigger projects. I have my own line of furniture that I produce and the other line is a bit more standard. I import many of the pieces from Europe and then customise the colours and furnishings.
I have one employee who helps me do all the special finishings at my workshop in Dubai, and another who does paperwork and other matters.
The client can choose whatever style or colour he or she wishes. Some clients prefer silver leaf or gold leaf, for example. We can customise the furniture to the customer's needs. So if you like a chair but it doesn't fit with your house, we can change that. Not very many places do this in Dubai.
Right now, for example, I am working to finish a holiday home for a family from Saudi Arabia. We do the complete house - all furnishings, wallpaper, lights, everything. He gave me the place empty, and we do the whole house. We try to work with the people and create an interior that fits best with them.
This house we are finishing now is a five-bedroom villa and they have spent about Dh600,000 on furniture alone, plus all the upholstery and fabric and accessories, which would be another Dh150,000 at least.
We've also done work for large and well-known families in Dubai. Sometimes we do the houses or palaces room by room, so it's hard to estimate costs. But I can tell you, in furniture, it can cost between Dh100,000 and Dh150,000 for a single room in a palace. People are willing to spend this money.
It was relatively easy to set up a business compared with other places. If you wanted to set up a business from zero in Europe, it's not easy. Here, the main challenge is you really don't know the laws. But once you figure these out and do your research, it's not too bad. When I first launched the business, I invested about Dh2.5 million. All of this money went into the warehouse in Al Quoz and in furniture.
You need to have stock here because people don't want to wait. You don't want to wait five months for a bed or chair. You want to have these things now. Otherwise, transportation from Europe can take 20 to 30 days, so it's a much longer and less desirable process.
We're going to open a new showroom in the first week of January on Umm Sequim Road, near Mall of the Emirates (MoE). We're working on all the permits now. Right now, we have the warehouse in Al Quoz and we have small shop in MoE called Home Design.
I believe the market is promising here in Dubai. You have many nationalities with many different tastes. We have clients from all around the world - Arabs, Europeans, Russians and Americans.
I rent an apartment in Dubai. I really like to spend money on travel and food. I go to Amsterdam quite often, maybe three times a year. I also love Singapore, China and Indonesia.
I was born in Argentina and left for Spain in 2001. I come from a middle-class family and had everything we needed.
When I went to university, I did just two years of marketing and then dropped out. Then I started my own business, which was also my first job. It was a company specialising in stone-washed jeans. At this time they were all in fashion, so I found a couple of machines and did this at the age of 17. I decided to pursue this job rather than go to university. It was very successful because the business did something nobody did at this time.
I'm 46 now and stone-washed jeans are done through chemicals and are quite common. But we used real volcanic stones and hot water. We did it more naturally.
My father had his own business for many years back in Argentina. He owned a laundry business servicing hotels and restaurants, and my mother stayed at home to look after me and my two sisters. We went to good schools and went on nice holidays. In terms of money, it wasn't a very difficult upbringing at all.
I love Dubai and I think it's a good place to live. In South America, it's not safe at all, so you appreciate how there isn't very much crime here. This is really important. You never know when you'll have a problem with this where I'm from.
I'm involved a bit in the stock market, but I bought in at the wrong moment during the financial crisis. For now, I need to recover because it's been difficult. I own a house in Spain, but there the market has also crashed. In a couple of more years, I hope it will be OK. I think now is a good time to buy real estate with prices so low, if you have money.
* As told to Jeffrey Todd
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
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.”
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
Maestro
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