DUBAI // Thousands of iftar meals will be served to fasting labourers each night throughout Ramadan thanks to a charity initiative that has taken social media by storm.
Tahir Shah, who owns Moti Roti, an Indian restaurant, has been feeding hungry workers during the holy month since 2007, and this year encouraged others to join in using the Twitter hashtag #fillingtheblues.
Dozens of individuals and companies, including Taqado Mexican Kitchen, Biryani Pot, BookMunch Cafe and Camelicious, responded by stepping up to sponsor an evening’s meal service. The result means hot, freshly cooked biryanis will be paid for and dished out to about 100 workers every night until the end of Ramadan.
“We have a chance to give back to the workers who have built our restaurants, offices, apartments. There is no illusion that we can fix everything for these guys, but all we can show is a gesture saying: ‘Hey, we know you’re there and we appreciate it’,” Mr Tahir said.
“I’m surprised how much this resonated with the local community and local businesses. To think within just a few days, how many people came out to promise so many meals for the entire month.
“This is such a great demonstration of social collaboration and I’m really enjoying teaming up with my peers.”
The idea first came about when Mr Shah and a friend helped to feed men working on a building site in The Greens neighbourhood, where they both lived.
“They were working without the afternoon break that is now compulsory and the idea came to provide them with an iftar meal when they finished their shift,” he said. He approached a local restaurant to prepare the food, with the costs covered by donations from friends.
After launching his own business two years ago, Mr Shah decided to expand the idea by spreading the word through social media.
Debbie Rogers volunteered to help at the first event after reading a tweet.
“I decided I would like to give something back to the local community and was impressed at how generous individuals and businesses were in supporting us,” said the freelance human resources and social media consultant.
“It was interesting to see how we were able to leverage the power of social media and our personal networks to make the project happen, both in terms of sponsorship and also in terms of bringing together different people in the community to help distribute the meals to the guys. In a short period of time, we had set up a virtual community with many of us still remaining friends long after the event itself.”
Ms Rogers, who has lived in the UAE for six years, said the initiative had attracted criticism from some people. “There are people asking why aren’t their employers doing something or criticising the salary the guys are paid, but I choose to ignore all of that.
“This initiative isn’t about any of that, we are not trying to solve problems or issues or rectify something that isn’t happening, we are just trying to seize the moment, to make a little difference for the guys for a short period of time.
“If it means we make them smile and they have something different for dinner than they would normally have and they get to be greeted by a lot of happy smiling faces before they jump on their bus back to camp, then that’s enough for me.”
Iftars held on July 14 and 21 will be sponsored by Sarah Abdel Gawad, from Synquatics, a synchronised swimming school in Dubai, and her husband Khaled Elsayed, the founder of Timepiece 360, a small startup selling second-hand designer watches online.
“Ramadan is a blessed month and an opportunity for us to give back to society. We are always looking for projects and charities through which we can either get involved or donate to. When Tahir approached us with this we were very keen to get involved and thought it would be a great way to share what is special about this month,” Ms Gawad said.
“It’s a great way of bringing people together and an even bigger reminder that we are lucky and blessed with what we have. Being given the chance to give back is rewarding and fulfilling. Since we work with children and teenagers, we wanted to set an example and increase awareness about the difficulties the labour workers face every day.”
For more information, visit www.motiroti.me/fillingtheblues
mswan@thenational.ae
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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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A foster couple or family must:
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