My job is to teach grade four students at Al Jood School in Al Ain, and as a teacher, I have to be creative every day to try to inspire my students in their learning. But the story of how I came to be accepted into the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and British Council's joint Cultural Excellence Fellowship programme begins before that, when I was a secretary in the mass-media department at UAE University.
Representatives from Admaf were giving workshops for students on a young media-leaders programme, and I became a friend for this programme. After that, I attended Abu Dhabi Festival, and wrote articles which were published by Admaf. So when I heard about this programme, I applied in December.
The programme, which began in January, takes place on the second Saturday of every month, which means I can combine it with my teaching.
We started the programme with an introduction to culture and art, why they are important and how we can reinforce them in our society. The aim is for us to build a business project that integrates arts and culture. We have different guest speakers, each of whom aims to enrich our knowledge about art and business, how we can add creativity and innovation to business and how to add a human touch. We think about how business people look at art and how artists view businesspeople.
Before the fellowship began, I didn’t ever think about business and art together, but now I can see how we can integrate the two, and if we can do this, then we get art, creativity and innovation in our businesses strategies.
Now, I see myself as being both an artist and a businesswoman. I’m doing my master’s in business administration, and at the same time, I’m a teacher. I also like to write stories, and this is what makes me more of an artist.
As a teacher, my focus is children's literature, so when I'm teaching a new concept – especially if it's science-themed – I try my best to explain it by writing a story. Just something simple for the students to understand. I have done this recently with electricity and the environment. One of the books I wrote is called A Very Green Eid, which is about how we can celebrate Eid and have fun, but at the same time we can keep the environment clean and pristine. The book will be available in the students' library.
I love the idea of opening up opportunities for young writers in the UAE to create literature for children to read at school, so they understand science better and can be inspired by it.
At Abu Dhabi Education Council, we have teachers from around the world who are teaching English, maths and science in English. We need to use stories in the lessons to make these concepts easier for the learners to understand. When it comes to publishing, we don’t need to use expensive paper or ink. For my own books, I just write the story then add my own sketches.
At the end of the fellowship, we have to draw up a business plan, which will be judged by a jury of experts. I recently joined a programme at Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University about nurturing talented students. My business plan will be about opening a school for gifted students – Emiratis and expats – because learning is for everyone. I see talented students at the school where I work, but they need the tools to enrich their knowledge.
* As told to Jessica Hill
Fawzeya Nasser Al Blooshi is one of 17 Emiratis on the Cultural Excellence Fellowship programme. The first of its kind in the UAE, the fellowship is an 18-month skills-development and mentorship programme that aims to equip creative entrepreneurs and cultural leaders to make a significant contribution to the shaping of the UAE’s cultural and creative industries towards 2030.
If you have a good story to tell or an interesting issue to debate, contact Amanda Tomlinson on atomlinson@thenational.ae.
Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke
Two stars
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses
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The specs: 2018 Audi Q5/SQ5
Price, base: Dh183,900 / Dh249,000
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder / 3.0L, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic / Eight-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,000rpm / 354hp @ 5,400rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,600rpm / 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy: combined 7.2L / 100km / 8.3L / 100km
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh132,000 (Countryman)
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.”
Federer's 11 Wimbledon finals
2003 Beat Mark Philippoussis
2004 Beat Andy Roddick
2005 Beat Andy Roddick
2006 Beat Rafael Nadal
2007 Beat Rafael Nadal
2008 Lost to Rafael Nadal
2009 Beat Andy Roddick
2012 Beat Andy Murray
2014 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2015 Lost to Novak Djokovic
2017 Beat Marin Cilic
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.