Dear Ali: What does the tourism industry need to do to encourage young Arabs (particularly Emiratis) to enter careers in travel and tourism? FK, Dubai
Dear FK: The industry needs to realise the problems that challenge the growth of Emiratis in this sector. The industry is unfortunately stereotyped as a sector that deals with alcohol - in addition to challenging work hours and low income level - so it is not always in line with our religious values and is not encouraged by families.
Knowledge of tourism and language skills are crucial. Fluency in English is a must and in the private sector, an additional two languages are usually a prerequsite to being hired. And nowhere in the world are tourism and hospitality careers 9-to-5 jobs. Whoever is not ready to work in the evenings and during holidays and festive seasons should look for a different career.
It is vital to get the message across that nobody can host and welcome our guests better than skilled Emiratis. If we want our country to be portrayed the way we see it, we have to do it ourselves. The starting point is to develop a career path for each position in the hospitality industry where Emiratis can understand and believe they can succeed.
These difficulties can be overcome by offering young Emiratis internships, so they can see the realities and the career opportunities. It is a waste of resources to train tourism professionals who come with misconceptions to the job market.
Using role models - perhaps, ahem, like yours truly - is another strategy. Youth need a representative figure they can rely on and look up to. A tourist guide should be knowledgeable in geography, history and culture; must be an enthusiastic public speaker; be able to manage groups of people; have great customer service skills; and must be flexible and able to deal with different clients and cultures. Mostly, he must be able to recreate his service again and againfor a lasting impression. Smiling is not enough.
Dear Ali: I am intrigued by the subject of marriage in the Middle East and how it comes about. Is a woman to this day obliged to marry whoever her parents accept? PL, London
Dear PL: You must understand that "forcing" marriage on anyone is not what we do as a society. Many people call it arranged marriage but if you want to be politically correct, it is "recommended" marriage.
In our culture, parents are usually major participants in our decision making, and we highly respect and appreciate their opinion.
When it comes to marriage, what would normally happen is that a potential groom would decide to look for a wife, so he'd tell the female members in his family and they would suggest some women (if they had any in mind).
Of course, people don't blindly ask for anyone's hand in marriage without finding out more about them; therefore, we ask about them from friends and families, kind of like a background check. If the man is satisfied with what he learns about the woman and her family, then he proposes. The same background check process repeats itself with the woman's family, and so all that would be left is for her to accept the man's hand in marriage. Most times, if the parents are satisfied, they would advise their daughter to accept - but they don't force.
While marriage is important for every Muslim, it does not call upon forcing two people to get married against their will.
Language lesson
Arabic: Safar
English: Travel
If you want to suggest travelling with your friends or family, you would say "Yalla nsafer fel ijaza", which means "Come on, let's travel during the holidays".
Napoleon
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
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 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