Dorra Bouzid
Mrs Bouzid is a living embodiment of the Tunisian struggle for women's rights.
She began her work as an activist and journalist while a student in 1950s Paris, before her country gained independence from French colonial rule.
Writing under the pseudonym "Leila" for L'Action, a French-language Tunisian newspaper, she called for an end to what she described as a medieval attitude towards women.
Now, speaking in her flat in La Marsa, a wealthy suburb of Tunis that is home to its most liberal elite, she glows as she remembers the days when Habib Bourguiba's movement pushed the French out of power.
One of Bourguiba's first acts was to pass the Code of Personal Status, enshrining women's rights, with the blessing of imams in Tunis, which was a centre of Islamic thought on feminism before feminism existed.
"I showed that religion is not incompatible with equality," she declared, showing the double-page spread she wrote on that historic day in 1956, with a picture of the imams prominently displayed and the headline "The Tunisian women are adults".
Resplendent with red henna in her hair, fat flicks of black eyeliner and scarlet lips, Mrs Bouzid recalled the 1960s and 70s, when she trained women to be independent journalists.
"The women were more and more powerful and strong," she said. When the uprising against Zine El Abidine Ben Ali began in December 2010, she wrote articles, spoke to the international media and encouraged a downfall she hoped would lead to greater freedom of speech.
But she shakes her head when contemplating what came after.
"The government and the minister of women want to return to Sharia," she said. "And every minute, every hour, every day, the women's associations are in opposition."
Under Sharia, she said, the woman's body is not her own, she is the property of her husband or father.
However, like several other secular activists, she thought protesting by posting nude photographs on the internet was a bad idea.
"It is stupid," she said firmly. "When they do this, they don't help women's cases." Religious groups, she said, could use the image to denounce secularists as wanton, and un-Tunisian.
"There are other methods to help the situation," she added. "It's not good politics."
Samira Othmani
Mrs Othmani is in her early 50s and in the second year of her studies for a master's degree in Sharia at the Zeitouna university in the Tunisian capital.
An earnest, forthright woman, who wears a long headscarf and loose clothing, she has devoted much of her life to Islamic teachings but said that under the rule of Habib Bourguiba and, after he was removed from office in 1989, Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, her calling was a constant struggle.
"We spent 20 years pushing people away from Islam," she said regretfully.
Participating enthusiastically in last week's World Social Forum, at which there were many workshops and political discussions advocating a strong role for Islam in politics and the lives of women, she said that now she was finally free to pursue her studies as she wished.
In 1994, she had been working as a teacher of Islamic scripture, when she was abruptly fired. She believed that it was because she wore a headscarf, in an atmosphere of deep mistrust of Islamist movements, which presented the greatest threat to the government, such religiosity was not welcome.
"I was called to police stations many times to sign an affidavit that I would never wear the scarf again," she said.
Now, she is pushing actively for the implementation of Sharia in Tunisia. Although she acknowledges that this could mean the reintroduction of some of the harsher punishments associated with some interpretations Islamic law, such as the stoning of adulterers, she chooses to focus more on the laws that "organise the relationship between the human and God, and with husband, sister and children".
On the subject of Amina Tyler's topless protest, she called for mercy, rather than arrest or punishment.
"I don't believe in punishing people," she said. "It's the fault of the previous government, because they had the western woman as the perfect model."
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
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The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
Price, as tested: Dh84,000
Engine: 1.4L, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: Six-speed auto
Power: 142hp at 4,900rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 1,850rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L / 100km
Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
Company%20profile
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
