Frances Moffett-Kouadio is the director of trade and investment at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. She talks about trying to make trade between the UK and the UAE a busy two-way street.
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What's your mandate?
The primary purpose is to help UK companies trade and invest overseas, but we also look for companies here that would be good inward investors back into the UK. We have a joint economic committee and through that committee we have a target that we have to raise our bilateral trade in goods and services from £7.5 billion (Dh44.12bn) in 2009 to £12bn by 2015 - and that's two-way. And, actually, things are looking pretty good. In the first four months of this year trade in goods alone is up 26.5 per cent.
What kind of services do you provide to UK companies interested in opening here?
It can be anything from your basic market research to identifying a potential agent, to a programme of calls that we accompany them to a massive launch event in the ambassador's garden. It can be anything. Last year we probably helped more than 2,500 companies. Sometimes the best thing you can say is actually this is not the market for you.
And how do you help UAE businesses that operate in the UK?
When Etihad [Airways] were looking to set up their call centre in Europe, we were able to get them lots of data that compared the various locations they were looking at around Europe and the advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Obviously we were very keen for them to opt for Manchester. We knew it wouldn't be their cheapest option but we knew it would be a really strong choice in terms of the languages it could provide and the workforce.
Is that where they chose?
Yes, they did. We were very, very pleased.
Are you back and forth a lot then?
Our busiest period is normally between September and Easter. I went back to the UK in January for an education event. I went back in March for a police and security event … and then I went back in May. We took a business delegation from the UAE back to a fire and security show in Birmingham. I also went back last month, again with a UAE delegation, for an undersea defence technology show and I'm going back next week.
So that's a yes. Was it difficult for you to get familiar with local customs?
I have worked in UK trade and investment since 2004 and I had worked on Iraq as my first job. It was immediately after the second conflict, so I had visited the Levant, because we couldn't go to Iraq, but we went to Jordan. I had also taught in a London secondary comprehensive and one of my jobs was in Tower Hamlets and 95 per cent of the students were Muslims. The ambassador at the time was an Arabist. He had been here about two years so anything I didn't know he was able to advise.
business@thenational.ae
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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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Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Breast cancer in men: the facts
1) Breast cancer is men is rare but can develop rapidly. It usually occurs in those over the ages of 60, but can occasionally affect younger men.
2) Symptoms can include a lump, discharge, swollen glands or a rash.
3) People with a history of cancer in the family can be more susceptible.
4) Treatments include surgery and chemotherapy but early diagnosis is the key.
5) Anyone concerned is urged to contact their doctor
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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