No wife wants to be able to say that she literally knows what her husband is like in the event of a fire breaking out in their home. Mine, incidentally, happened to be calm, cool and collected, but no wife needs to have that so brutally confirmed.
OK, so it wasn't exactly a raging flames and blazing inferno-type fire, a detail for which I shall forever be grateful. Still, it was definitely the choking from smoke, panic and rush out in your nightgown type fire, so in my book, it counts up there with Life Altering Episodes Defined By Intense Fear.
Arts&life Married life
Arts&life deputy editor Hala Khalaf's humourous and sometimes poignant weekly column on the blessings and pitfalls of married life.
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Our building's fire alarm first startled us at around 11pm as we lay comatose in front of our television. We looked at one another and contemplated acknowledging it. We briefly investigated, but the alarm clearly said: "A fire has been reported in the building. Please standby for further instructions."
So we stood by, alert but not worried. At midnight, we got ready for bed to the shrill soundtrack of the persistent alarm. At 12:30, just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard Mr T sniffing. "Do you smell something?" he asked.
"I smell electricity burning," I said to him, my voice loud and unnatural. I reached for the light switch, and as light bathed our room, we both became momentarily paralysed at the sight of smoke heavy in the air, circulating near the ceiling.
"We have to go, now," he said to me, and I reached for my robe on our bed's bench and slipped it on over my flimsy nightgown. I am so thankful that I at least thought to do that, even if it wasn't out of modesty. I was thinking of the deep pockets in my nightgown, pockets that would hold my wallet and phone.
Mr T grabbed his backpack and started filling it with a few essentials, methodical but fast. I'd found our passports and valuables and within seconds we were at our front door.
The air in the hallway was heavy with smoke, but not so much that we couldn't see. The lifts, understandably, were out. The stairwell closest to our apartment was impossible to use: the smoke was blinding, a wall of toxic white. We rushed to the other stairwell, holding hands, stopping to bang on our neighbours' doors. And then we began the descent.
Had it not been for Mr T - calm, solid, supporting -I would never have managed to make it down from the 43rd floor. I would have given up by the 20th, which is where my legs turned into complete jelly.
Both of us were surprised by the other's reactions. If I had panicked, cried, implored him to do something and save us, his job - to get us out of the building in one piece - would have been doubly hard, he says. And if he hadn't been there, a partner carrying that backpack with what might turn out to be all our earthly belongings, I'm not sure that I wouldn't have allowed the panic to set in.
My only regret, after emerging from our building into a surreal scene of fire engines, ambulances, police cars and hundreds of neighbours in their night clothes, is not having had the foresight at least to slip on a pair of pants.
Still, I was out there in the middle of the night with a guy who made me feel better about even that. It had shaped up to be one of the worst nights of both our lives, and yet there was no one in the world I'd rather have experienced it with.
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
Founder: Ayman Badawi
Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software
Size: Seven employees
Funding: $170,000 in angel investment
Funders: friends
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Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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.”