DUBAI // Kismat Mamdani is nine years old but she is not interested in the latest toys or boy bands.
The grade-four student at the Gems Winchester School in Dubai spends her days thinking instead of ways to help poor children in Africa.
Kismat saw how children her age lacked even the most basic of necessities during a visit to Kenya with her family.
“Children kept looking at us and asking if we have food,” said Kismat, who was born in Canada but whose family has Kenyan roots.
“We couldn’t give food to just one child as there were so many children standing in a line and they all needed food, clean clothes and a home. I was so upset seeing this.”
Determined to help, Kismat decided to use her talent for arts and crafts and baking to raise money.
“I usually make random stuff with paper. I thought ‘why don’t I make some interesting things?’”
She makes bookmarks, greeting cards and envelopes, cakes and biscuits in her free time and then sells the items door-to-door to her neighbours in The Lakes and The Greens.
“When I come back from school and I’m lazing around and have nothing to do, I make these,” she said.
Kismat sends the money she raises to a rescue centre for abandoned babies in Nairobi.
She recently sent about 2,000 Kenyan shillings (Dh85). The sum might seem modest but it can make a big difference to the lives of youngsters.
“It can buy a lot of food and groceries for the children,” said the youngster.
Her fundraising efforts are ongoing, and she recently organised a face-painting contest for children.
With Easter approaching, Kismat is also selling envelopes to hold Easter eggs and has made seasonal greetings cards she hopes will be a hit with the neighbours.
“When I go to people’s houses to sell them, they are usually friendly. One person paid Dh40 for a bookmark, which was Dh5, when he knew what I was making them for,” she said.
Kismat family was surprised that she had been so moved by what she saw in Kenya.
“She has grown up most of her life in Canada,” said Alia Sheikh, her mother, who is a teacher.
“We had seen poverty in Kenya while growing up but trying to instil that in a child is abstract.”
Kismat was so affected by the plight of abandoned babies that she wanted her mother to adopt one.
“She came back and started researching online how to adopt children from Kenya,” said Ms Sheikh, a mother of three. “She started leaving little notes around the house on how we could bring a baby home.
“I had to sit down and tell her that we couldn’t adopt but we could help children in many other ways.”
Kismat said: “I love babies and I want to look after them, feed them and bring them up.
“I am saving some of the money I make because I want to build a school in Kenya in 12 or 13 years.”
pkannan@thenational.ae
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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.”
