Julia Boullemier is the managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the data science consultancy Profusion, based in Dubai Media City. The Briton, 33, has 13 years’ experience in digital marketing and consultancy, joining Profusion in 2010 as an account director. She was promoted to group account director in 2013 and then to her current role last year. Before Profusion, Ms Boullemier worked as senior consultant at the geographic information systems marketing company CACI and as a sales consultant at the data marketer Datamonitor. She began her career as a marketer at IBM in 2002 and has a degree in information management and business studies from the University of Loughborough. Ms Boullemier lives in Dubai Marina with her husband.
How do you spend your weekend?
I like to relax and socialise and, although I’ve been in Dubai for more than a year, I still make a point of visiting a new place every weekend. I also like to get some time in the sun, as it can be difficult during the week if you’re rushing from one meeting to another. Dubai has some amazing venues and you’re never short of a new restaurant to try.
How did you become a managing director?
I’ve been with Profusion for more than five years and I worked with some of our most important clients in London. This gave me a lot of great experience and also the opportunity to prove myself. Thanks to some hard work and the support of my colleagues and clients I was able to take on more responsibility and rise up the ranks. When we made plans to expand to Dubai I jumped at the opportunity to head up the office, as I’ve always wanted to work in the region and fancied an amazing new challenge.
What is your go-to gadget?
This is going to sound like a cliché, but it would have to be my iPhone 6. I use it for everything – it’s the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I look at night. The nature of Profusion’s business means that we always have to be available for our clients, but I don’t find it restrictive because I can do pretty much everything on my phone, which means I don’t have to be tied to my desk in the office. For me, my smartphone helps me stay in touch with friends and family back in the UK, while also giving me the freedom to keep on top of work while I’m out of the office.
What was the lowest point of your career?
When I worked as an industrial pots and pans cleaner at university. It was the work equivalent of pushing a boulder up a hill. No matter how many pans I cleaned, I still had a pile that was taller than me by the end of the day.
What advice would you offer others starting out in your business?
Stay focused on your goals, never give up and work with the right people. The most successful businesses aren’t driven by one person; they have a strong team throughout. Finding the right people can take a lot of time, but it’s worth the effort. Ideally, hire people whom you can learn from. The best teams share knowledge and succeed together. That’s what I have focused on with building our team in Dubai.
What is your most indulgent habit?
Massages. It’s great way to de-stress. Other than that, I probably get takeaways more often than I should.
What do you have on your desk at work?
We’ve just moved into a new office in Media City, so there’s not much on it at the moment. However, it doesn’t feel like the day has fully begun until I have a cup of tea sitting on my desk.
What can’t you live without?
At the risk of sounding sentimental, socialising with my friends, family and colleagues. I could never work alone or from home because I love working with my team and our clients. Although, I think caffeine and chocolate would be a close second and third on the list.
How do you achieve a work-life balance?
I love my work, so for me it’s not a challenge to fit it around my life. Having said that, I think it’s crucial to switch off as much as you can when you get home. Not only does this make you appreciate your friends and family more, it also means that you stay fresh and can do the best work for your clients.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be and why?
I would love to be an inventor. I admire someone such as Elon Musk, one of the founders of PayPal. Not only did he help to create a company that revolutionised payment and online retail, he is now spending a lot of his time and effort on amazing projects such as clean energy and space travel.
ascott@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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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If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')
Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
