Mohammed Betawi is not your typical Palestinian businessman.
While most West Bank exporters are forced each day to navigate the maze of restrictions imposed by Israel's occupation, Mr Betawi's software development company, based in Ramallah, can avoid obstacles because of the medium in which it operates.
His company, Al Andalus Software Development (ASD), is just one of several ambitious Palestinian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the knowledge-based industry that are penetrating regional markets.
Mr Betawi's efforts are made easier because internet and communications technology is a sector that Israel's blockade struggles to affect.
"Palestinian SMEs can do business over the internet cloud," says Laith Kassis, the chief executive of the Palestine Information and Communications Technology Incubator.
"It doesn't require the shipping of goods back to back, from one truck to the other, across the checkpoints of the West Bank and Gaza."
ASD has set up an office in Dubai to cater for clients using its software products and solutions. Mr Betawi says the firm's Palestinian origins are not a problem - quite the reverse.
"There's no limitations on where you are from. It's all about what kind of services you deliver," he says.
ASD now has 10 clients in the UAE, including the Grand Store retail chain, which uses its point-of-sales system, while its enterprise resource planning solution, SoftMix, is used by a number of ready-mix cement companies in Dubai.
Other technology companies are servicing the Gulf market from the Palestinian Territories. The Gaza-based Tatweer Business Services is selling ringtones, recorded in a Gaza studio, to the Dubai telecoms group du, while Altariq Systems, also in Gaza, is providing software to the Saudi market.
Altariq started business in 2003, and since 2006 has sold a variety of business software and mobile phone applications to Gulf markets, including Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE.
"We've built up trust through our quality and commitment," says Tareq Eslim, the chief executive of Altariq. "Now we're selling cartoons to TV companies in Saudi Arabia."
Outsourcing is another key growth area. Mr Eslim has been exploring the US market in a bid to outsource services to Gaza where, he points out, labour costs are low but skills and commitment are high.
The untapped potential of Palestinian technology SMEs has sparked the interest of global financial institutions, which are looking for significant growth potential amid robust regional demand for content.
In December, the European Investment Bank announced a ?5 million (Dh25.05m) anchor investment in the new Middle East Venture Capital Fund, which will focus on early-stage, export-orientated technology enterprises with an emphasis on software development and web-based companies.
A fully capitalised fund could create about 12 investment opportunities for existing businesses seeking to expand, and additional opportunities for the establishment of new enterprises.
Mr Kassis estimates the current contribution of the internet technology sector in the Palestinian Territories at 5 per cent of GDP, but expects this to expand rapidly.
"We have a local market size of US$300m (Dh1.1 billion) but we expect it to grow this year by 25 per cent," he says.
This growth will gain traction through a new private equity fund focused on Palestinian SMEs. It was launched on January 28 by the Palestine Investment Fund, a publicly owned fund, and the private equity group Abraaj Capital, which is based in the UAE.
The fund was initially seeded with $15m and will invest in SMEs in Palestine across a range of sectors.
There is likely to be a focus on sectors such as information and communications technology, says Dr Mohammed Mustafa, the chairman and chief executive of the Palestine Investment Fund.
"This is partly because there's a lot of potential in this sector, because of our highly educated workforce and strong labour skills set," Dr Mustafa says.
"And a key advantage is that you don't face physical boundaries. You have the internet, so you are easily able to communicate."
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Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
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.”
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
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
