As a nutritionist, Yara Radwan was naturally keen for her children to embrace a healthy diet. But Mark, 7, and Lyra, 5, had other ideas. “They’ve always been picky eaters from when they were babies,” says Radwan, 37, who is from Syria. “Lyra wouldn’t eat any cooked vegetables and Mark refused to eat any rice, pasta and bread that wasn’t white.”
Radwan was also disturbed to see so many advertisements for unhealthy food using colourful, superhero characters to target children. “I wanted to show my kids how healthy foods can be cool, too,” she says.
So rather than give in to Lyra and Mark’s requests for unhealthy foods, Radwan decided to get creative. She made up a story for them, about three children – Sami, Rasha and Kareem – who get superhero qualities from the healthy foods they eat.
Their powers come into play when the trio gets lost in a forest. “Sami has strong muscles and is able to climb up a tree and rescue their kite, because of the protein in the chicken he eats,” says Radwan. “Rasha eats carrots and broccoli, and when it gets dark, she can still see everything because of the vitamin A. Kareem eats brown pasta, which is full of fibre, and discovers that his energy is super long-lasting – he still feels energetic when the others get tired.”
As well as telling the story, which she dubbed The Magic Meal, to her own children, Radwan’s goal was to publish her tale as a book. But when she moved with her family from the United Kingdom to Abu Dhabi three years ago and pitched the concept to Abu Dhabi’s media company twofour54, they had another suggestion.
“They said: ‘How about we create an app?’ This generation has access to iPhones and iPads everywhere, and they thought we could make the story more interactive and accessible than a book.”
The concept of ordinary people gaining superhuman powers by eating healthy food has been tackled before – Popeye’s muscles would bulge after gobbling up a can of spinach, and Bananaman could save the world after refuelling on a banana. In the children’s book Avocado Baby, by John Burningham, the baby manages to fight off burglars with his avocado-induced strength. But Radwan doesn’t think such a concept has been tackled in app form.
For her, there was just one small snag – she didn’t know anything about app-making. “I just knew that my kids loved playing with different apps. But I didn’t feel daunted, as twofour54 said they’d provide all the support I’d need.” Radwan was helped by a team from the company’s Creative Lab on the initial planning and designing side, and the app was produced in Abu Dhabi by Alpha Apps. “I wanted it to be very colourful, because I know how much children love bright colours,” she says. “It was wonderful watching the idea come to life.”
The resulting interactive story enables children to press on the characters to hear sounds, and they can either read the story as a book or listen to it being narrated.
Emirati children’s author Noura Al Khoori, who is a mother of four kids, ages 11, 9, 7 and 1, came on board to help translate Radwan’s story into Arabic, and to help design the app’s accompanying games.
Each app character stars in a different game that highlights their superpower. “Sami ate the chicken in the story, but now the children have to help him in the supermarket to collect other protein foods – fish, beans, eggs and other meats – and they lose points if they pick up unhealthy foods, like fizzy drinks,” explains Radwan. “When they’ve completed the three stages of the game, Sami gets his superpowers.”
Al Khoori appreciates the fact that the game educates kids as well as entertains. “It’s great that the game teaches food groups – it’s not just a game, it has a purpose,” she says.
The free iOS app The Magic Meal was launched in January and is now a big hit in Radwan’s household. “Mark and Lyra love to play it, and they feel very proud because they know their mum helped to create it,” says Radwan. And it may have had some impact on their eating habits, too. “Mark now tolerates brown pasta when mixed with sauce, and brown bread in his lunchbox. I still can’t persuade Lyra to eat broccoli and carrots, but she is now more accepting of other vegetables.”
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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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Australia squads
ODI: Tim Paine (capt), Aaron Finch (vice-capt), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
T20: Aaron Finch (capt), Alex Carey (vice-capt), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth.
Brief scoreline:
Tottenham 1
Son 78'
Manchester City 0
