ABU DHABI // Leaders, religious officials, poets and the public gathered at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque on Thursday night to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of the Founding Father of the UAE.
The 19th day of Ramadan has been designated Zayed Humanitarian Day, in which the people of the UAE are called on for humanitarian initiatives.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, were among the dignitaries who sat listening to the Quran recitation that started the event.
“Yes, Zayed might have died but his good work is still in us,” said the preacher Waseem Youssef in his speech, in which he noted Sheikh Zayed’s charity, developments and religious accomplishments.
“We have gathered today to commemorate the death of Sheikh Zayed but he only died in body, and he is still alive between us through his work and accomplishments.”
Mr Youssef said that when he was at haj, people from various countries would call themselves by their nationalities, but Emiratis would say: “We are the sons of Zayed.”
“An entire people link themselves to a man, acknowledge that he has educated, raised and transferred them to the highest of communities,” he said.
Women of all ages and nationalities were at the event. Umm Mohammed, 43, a housewife from Yemen, was there with her daughter Yusra Saleh, 21, a dentistry graduate.
“I’ve been watching documentaries about Sheikh Zayed all day on TV,” the mother said.
Umm Mohammed said she had been most impressed by the quote from Sheikh Zayed to the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, where he said that, “the human is more valuable than oil”.
She said his keenness on promoting the well-being of all human life was very special.
“No one would say such a thing,” she said of his comment about the value of people and oil.
Yusra said she was eager to hear about Sheikh Zayed’s accomplishments especially since the whole world had been influenced by him as a leader.
“Today we celebrate the accomplishments of a rare leader,” said Dr Hamdan Al Mazrouei, chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf).
“It is our duty – us, the sons of Zayed – to follow his footsteps and preserve the union of our home and integration of our society, by doing what we can to protect this land and its resources and capabilities.”
Abdulrahman Al Shamsi, a preacher at Awqaf, said Sheikh Zayed built the UAE for his people. “We often heard him say: ‘I ask Allah to enable us to move forward towards what we started, to accomplish all the needs of the homeland and to provide the needs of nationals.”
Not only did he focus on building the land, but he also aimed for improving the human life. “He used to sit on the sand and line with his cane the map of leadership for generations. So he would say: ‘Here a school will be built ... and here a university ... and there a hospital’.”
Hasna Sheesheya, 25, a housewife from Morocco, held her two-year-old daughter Rahaf on her lap while watching the event.
“I read in the newspaper that today is Sheikh Zayed’s humanitarian day, so I decided to pray taraweeh here and listen to what they will say.”
She said this was the first time this Ramadan that she had prayed outside the house, but she was excited about the event. “My husband dropped me from our house in Shahama.”
Speeches by preachers, Dr Al Mazrouei and poetry recitations followed.
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
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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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Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
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