Khamis Al Mazrouei was watching a film with his children when he saw his dream car. "I wanted to own that car one way or another," he said. Today, he can't even remember the film, but he never forgot the car so, two years ago, the 33-year-old decided he needed to do something about it.
Al Mazrouei hunted down a 1994 Mini Cooper, which he believes is eye-catching and different. "You don't find this kind of car in the UAE," he said.
The Emirati ordered the car online and it was delivered to him from the United Kingdom. The only problem was that Britain drives on the left, so finding a Mini there with the steering wheel on the left was a tough job. "It is rare to find," he said. "And that is what made me work hard to get it."
Outside, it's distinctive by its diminutive size; inside, it's not exactly what you'd call luxurious. Originally, the car had no radio or air conditioning, but as A/C is a necessity if you're going to drive a car all year here, Al Mazrouei had it added afterwards. He also added accessories such as flashy Xenon lights and alloy wheels.
"Its frame attracts people quickly," he said. "Every time you ride in the car you attract attention."
Al Mazrouei, a mechanical technician at Takreer Refinery, surprised his family with the car, and they were all excited when they saw it for the first time. Now, his children always want to ride in it.
Daughters Maryam, 6, and five-year-old Mahrah get excited every time they ride in it, and they especially like riding it to school.
"They feel like big shots," Al Mazrouei said. His son Abdulla, 8, wants to learn how to drive the car so he can one day drive his father around. "The car is small and my son is young - their sizes fit," Al Mazrouei said.
At work, the little car was a hit with his colleagues, too. Many wanted to own one and asked him for his retailer; others made jokes about it, but almost everyone wanted to take a ride in it.
"It is artistic, classic and tiny," he said. "Everyone wants one of these."
Al Mazrouei said anywhere he goes, people stop and stare, and many strangers even ask him for a ride.
But he loves that the car attracts such attention and, to him, it's all about fun, a trait that reflects his own attitude to life. "In this car you will laugh to the extreme," he said.
Al Mazrouei thought it would be funny to have a sticker that read "Beware: truck ahead" on the car but the joke soon went wrong.
He was pulled over by two policemen who told him he was in trouble for having the sticker as he did not have a permit.
"I told them it was a joke and they started laughing," Al Mazrouei said. "They said they were joking around as well."
"They even told me to make [the sticker] a bit bigger," Al Mazrouei said, laughing.
The only problem with this car, according to Al Mazrouei, is that the spare parts are extremely hard to find, and very expensive.
Al Mazrouei recalled once when he was driving back from Dubai late at night the car gave up on him. He ended up having to wait nearly four months to find the parts required. He found many retailers in the UAE but the parts were almost double the price from outside the country, so he ordered online from retailers around the world, mostly from the UK.
"I was, and still am, looking for authentic pieces for the car," Al Mazrouei said.
He mentioned that Dh30 is enough to fill the tank with petrol, and the car would take you around Abu Dhabi for an entire week. "That's a lot, isn't it?" he said jokingly.
Al Mazrouei drives the car to Dubai regularly, but he says it's a bit too slow. "If you have an appointment at 7am, make sure you are on the road by 3am," he said.
Al Mazrouei loves this car but he still dreams of another car - an extreme opposite to the Mini. "The car is an indivisible part of me," he said. "But I wish to own a Mercedes G55." This would add to his existing E-Class Merc and Infinity FX.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE BIO:
Sabri Razouk, 74
Athlete and fitness trainer
Married, father of six
Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
Role model: Any good man
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More coverage from the Future Forum
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, John Oliver
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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.”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Pathaan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Siddharth%20Anand%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Deepika%20Padukone%2C%20John%20Abraham%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
