The desert stormer

I have been teaching my teenage daughter to drive recently - although teaching may be slightly overstating what I have been doing, which is sitting in the front passenger seat, gritting my teeth, and trying to make my voice sound authoritative rather than panic-stricken, as I scream at her, "Start braking now, start braking." That is the problem when you are a driver yourself, and are suddenly stripped of the controls. You need absolute confidence in your driver's reactions, and though I am the first to laud my pupil's many fine qualities, I find it difficult to maintain a cool head when I see the rear end of another vehicle looming up ahead of us.

Occasionally, she will take a bend at the kind of speed that seems destined to culminate in our clambering from a roadside ditch, abandoning the heap of mangled wreckage that used to be the family vehicle, or at the very least in a long wait at the side of the road for a recovery vehicle. This, of course, is the kind of concern navigators of rally cars have to live with every day of their competing lives, and is why, alongside boxers and jump jockeys, they are among the most courageous sports people around. When the souped up vehicle is buzzing around hairpin bends at frightening speeds, the driver knows he is in control; the navigator in the seat next to him is never quite sure.

Nowhere is this job more hazardous than in the gruelling Pharaohs Rally, a race of 2,800 very tough km starting next month under the gaze of the Sphinx in Giza, and ending a week later in Cairo. The rally takes on added significance in the motorsport world now that the Paris-Dakar event, known simply as the Dakar Rally these days, has moved to South America because of the political instability in Africa.

It means the Pharaohs Rally is now the biggest event of its kind in Africa, and has attracted an impressive line-up of top rallying talent. Herculean efforts on the part of the organisers have ensured that the course will be particularly testing. Drivers will be negotiating tracks never used before, making navigation a minefield demanding instant and accurate judgements. The cars must negotiate mile after mile of undulating sand, taking in dunes, some of which are 180 metres high. Most vehicles have spent the past three or four months being modified to cope with these gruelling conditions, and given the obvious dangers of traversing the world's largest and most unforgiving desert, all cars have been fitted with additional safety features.

Preparation will be key. I often set out on a long car journey with nothing more than a sandwich, a bottle of water, and a Steely Dan CD. I trust drivers in the Pharaohs will have put a little more thought into their supplies. One driver at least who should be well prepared is Cairo's own Mohammed Gabr, a businessman and photographer more used to snapping the sights than driving around them. Until 2007 no Egyptian driver had ever finished in the top 10 in the Pharaohs, but the sport has made great strides recently and Gabr is confident of a top 10 finish. He has been driving since 1982, financing his career largely out of his own pocket, but he says there is no thrill "like speeding through the desert." To him, I would give the same advice I gave my daughter: "Whoah, go steady. Take it easy," but what a marvellous fillip it would be for the sport in Egypt if he could win the thing.

Tennis fans in the UK areentitled to ask what on earth has happened to all the money stuffed into the coffers of Britain's Lawn Tennis Association. In case you had not noticed, Britain has slipped into the third tier of the Davis Cup, after defeat by Poland last weekend. It means they will now be pitched against the likes of such hotbeds of tennis as Lithuania and Ireland. Next stop, Vatican City. The last time they were at such a low ebb was in 1995, since when there has been significant investment in tennis. And what has 14 years of cash meant for the development of the game? Beyond Andy Murray, nothing. Maybe Britain should withdraw from the Davis Cup altogether, until they have at least one other player who can support Murray. The constant humiliation must do more harm than good when you are trying to recruit new talent.

The play-off system in rugby league in the UK and Australia has its critics, with some sports fans feeling the team that finishes top of the league should pick up the title. I disagree. I love the play-offs. The top-eight knock-outs, as in the UK's Super League, keep interest going for most clubs right till the end of the season, with the added bonus of sudden-death drama at a time when in the past you might have had a series of dead rubbers. The play-offs are heavily weighted in favour of the top two, and my view is that if they are unable to negotiate two relatively easy fixtures to get to the final, they do not deserve to be at the top of the league anyway. Of course, in the final there will be one disappointed loser. But hey, that's sport.

mkelner@thenational.ae

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

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language

2018: Formal work begins
November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
November 2024: All 127 volumes completed

MATCH INFO

Real Madrid 2

Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')

Barcelona 0

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

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.”

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