Hussein's exciting job in fraud detection with a major bank in Dubai was a source of awe and envy among his peers, as he teamed with the police and immersed himself in detective work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But Hussein was deeply dissatisfied with his bachelor lifestyle, having little time for family and friends and being unable to make plans because of the unpredictable nature of his work.
His is one of the case studies that Dr Katty Marmenout, a research fellow at the INSEAD school in Abu Dhabi, discusses in a paper on achieving the much desired balance between work and personal life.
Dr Marmenout initially started holding coaching sessions for Middle-Eastern women as part of the INSEAD Women Leadership Initiative in Abu Dhabi. Although women in Arab societies are increasingly encouraged to join the workforce, a woman's role is still very much considered to be in the family realm, she says.
At the same time she found that men, forced to conform to the stereotype of being breadwinners, also struggle to balance their careers and personal lives.
"As my female audience voiced the need for their husbands to find a balance too, I subsequently coached men as well," Dr Marmenout says.
Hussein was one of the people she encountered in these sessions.
Dr Marmenout says work-life balance is not simply about equally dividing the time spent on one's work and personal life, but establishing a harmony that reflects an individual's priorities.
So, this allows for acceptance of the happy workaholic or the satisfied stay-at-home mum or dad.
"How can we measure or evaluate work-life balance? The best indicator would be that it should feel right," she says.
Dr Marmenout advised Hussein to make the most of his free time and try to connect with family and friends during those times, as well as giving priorities to aspects of his work and delegating issues to team members.
Through these workshops, she realised that women and men generally have a different perception of what the "life" part of the balance involves. For women it tends to be devoting more time to family, while for men it is spending more time pursuing personal interests. Thus, she suggests it is useful to conduct separate sessions for men and women.
Dr Marmenout says she found herself dealing with these issues when she recently had a baby and moved to the Middle East.
She says a much-neglected area for people is self-leadership, which includes effective time management and awareness of situations that cause emotional distress.
"Complaining of a lack of time to fulfil all one's obligations is often a prominent sign of self-leadership," she says. "However, the sense of drowning and lack of time cannot be merely mended by tackling the symptoms through time-management tactics."
Among the Middle-Eastern women she came across who were struggling to juggle their multiple roles was Aisha, a mother of a six-month-old with a husband in the military who was away most of the time.
Aisha was living with her husband's family, and her mother-in-law would take care of her son, Ali, while she was at work.
The mother-in-law would often phone her at the office and tell her that the baby was missing his mother and refused to eat. These calls fuelled Aisha's feelings of guilt to such an extent that she considered quitting her job.
But one day, during one of these calls from her mother-in-law she said: "I don't want to hear you complain any longer. If you don't want to take care of Ali, that's fine. I can find a nanny but I need to continue my work. Please only call me if it's an emergency." Then she hung up.
The group was full of admiration for Aisha, Dr Marmenout says, as she had solved an important emotionally stressful issue.
"She had made one important step forward towards increased satisfaction and effectiveness in her worklife," she says. "Other steps would be needed on the family side."
rbundhun@thenational.ae
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(All games 4-3pm kick UAE time) Bayern Munich v Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg v Mainz , Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg, Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Cologne v Schalke , Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach, Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld
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: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
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Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
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Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
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On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5