DUBAI // When Huda Ismail came to Dubai from Port Said a little over a year ago, she had few remaining options.
Her husband had undergone an operation to remove his left eye and a portion of his vertebra. He could barely see through his right eye, which had a detached retina.
He held a nominal job work set aside for people with disabilities as a technician at Nasser Hospital that paid 250 Egyptian pounds (Dh167) a month.
Her eldest son, Waseem, who is eight years old, was born with two holes in his heart.
Ms Ismail not only had to come up with money for her children's education, but also her ailing spouse's mounting medical bills and costly surgeries for her son.
"I came here because my situation there was difficult," she said.
Ms Ismail is staying with her children and a sister-in-law in Hor al Anz, mere walking distance from the private clinic where she works as a nurse for Dh3,600 (US$980) a month.
Her husband remained in Egypt because it would cost too much to pay for his hospital visits and an airline ticket for him to visit his family.
The sister-in-law had been working in Dubai and sending back money sporadically before Ms Ismail decided to take matters into her own hands.
"I told her if you can take me with you then you've helped me, so I can work and spend on my children."
That is just what she did. Shortly after arriving, Ms Ismail enrolled her children, Waseem and Fahd, at the Grammar School in Dubai because she worried that Waseem might get roughed up if he went somewhere with lax discipline.
"I worried that he might get hit in the chest or in his back," she said. "If something happened to him I would suffer for it all my life. It's a private school but it's the cheapest one I could find in Dubai."
Though she pays a little over Dh6,000 for her children's school fees every term, including bus fees, she sends home about Dh500 a month in remittances for her husband's doctor visits. She has also sent back 5,000 Egyptian pounds in July for an operation to replace her husband's right eye with a glass one.
"I can't send more than that. I have my own fees to pay," she said.
Sending money back home has left her strapped. "In the morning I have breakfast at work, and I'll get [the children] lunch, but in the evening it depends. If I get supper I get it, if not, that's the way it is."
But her biggest challenge came when Waseem became increasingly ill from one of the holes in his heart. A cardiologist in Egypt told her the operation would cost 22,000 pounds.
Ms Ismail scraped together some cash from her meagre salary. Her co-workers at the clinic pitched in. She also had to borrow some money.
"I borrowed the school fees for this term. My salary for this month and the next will go to repaying that debt."
She took the money back to Egypt and witnessed the successful operation last month.
Greater difficulties lie ahead. She has to fund a second, more invasive surgery to close the second hole; a much costlier intervention that Waseem's doctor estimates will cost 50,000 pounds. And it needs to be done within a year.
"The doctor told me: 'If your situation improves it would be better for him if you do it early, but if not you can wait for a year'," she said.
But for now, she is simply happy to have got by so far, despite having to borrow so much money. "Thank God I was able to do the operation for him. God stood by me."
Despite her troubles, Ms Ismail values the independence and opportunities that life in the UAE has brought her.
"I thought I'd come here so I can save up some money and get a house for me [in Port Said]. But even if I do ... I wouldn't be able to live there," she said.
"What can 250 pounds do with two children, food and drink, school fees? At least here I have an income. I borrow, and I pay back, but I can live more than I can in Egypt."
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-of-age
- 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/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
The biog
Favourite film: The Notebook
Favourite book: What I know for sure by Oprah Winfrey
Favourite quote: “Social equality is the only basis of human happiness” Nelson Madela. Hometown: Emmen, The Netherlands
Favourite activities: Walking on the beach, eating at restaurants and spending time with friends
Job: Founder and Managing Director of Mawaheb from Beautiful Peopl
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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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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