ABU DHABI // If you have not placed an order already, getting a tailor to make you clothes for Eid Al Fitr is going to be almost impossible.
Tailors in the capital say they are at full tilt trying to fulfil orders for what is their busiest time of the year.
“We stopped taking orders a few days after Ramadan started,” said Reda Khunji, 26, a manager at Abdullah Hussein Khunji store in Khalidiya.
The company has 20 branches across the country and two factories in Abu Dhabi, where staff are working flat out to meet the Eid orders.
Each tailor can make about three to six kanduras a day depending on the work or embroidery required.
“We’ve got tailors that are preparing thousands of kanduras to be delivered all of this week leading up to Eid,” said Mr Khunji.
He said many of the Eid orders had been completed but there was still a lot of work to do before the holidays – as they await with great eagerness the announcement of what the official start date of Eid will be.
“We’re in anticipation of the announcement because it might give us one less day to finish orders,” he said.
“Usually if someone would like to make a big order we’d deliver three kanduras for each of the three nights of Eid and they can pick up the rest a few days after. We’d like to give everyone a chance but we do our best to have all of the orders ready,” said Mr Khunji.
He said the rush during Eid Al Fitr was partly because people were also ordering clothes for the next Eid festival – Eid Al Adha, which this year will start about September 22.
“Eid Al Adha comes only two months after so that’s a short period to go to the tailor twice,” said Mr Khunji. “I think that’s why people opt for getting their clothes done all at once.
“There are exceptions, obviously. Some people’s weight fluctuates significantly and they like their clothes fitted perfectly so they would visit the tailor on more than one occasion a year – but for the majority of our customers, Eid is the time to go,” he said.
Many tailors in the capital have closed shop to focus on just delivering Eid orders on the last night of Ramadan.
Some stores rely on the influx of orders during the festive time to help get them through quieter times of year when business is not thriving.
Shawkat Ali, of Dubai-based Al Najm Al Markazi tailors shop, employs five tailors, each of whom is producing five kanduras per day.
“That’s 25 kanduras a day,” he said. While at slower times of the year “I call it a good day if I have 10 orders. Usually orders are limited during non-Eid periods”.
Mohamed Ahmed, 33, an Emirati, missed out on placing an order on time for Eid.
“This happens every year,” he said. “You know that if you’re late to order you won’t be able to get your clothes on time.
“My tailor was kind enough to remind me to place an order but I got busy and didn’t place one until the third week of Ramadan.”
Luckily, Mr Ahmed’s tailor has said that he might be able to sew him one, possibly two kanduras, if he finds time.
“Everyone knows, you have to plan ahead,” said Mr Ahmed.
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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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