Dinner for a cause, mobile kitchens and profit sharing: several chefs and restaurants in the UAE are pledging support for victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Here are some of the projects to know about.
Celebrity chefs in action
Turkish chefs Nusret “Salt Bae” Gokce and Burak “Czn Burak” Ozdemir, both of whom have restaurants in the UAE, have been vocal about their support for their country.
Gokce has deployed mobile kitchens in various parts of Turkey to provide people with hot food.
“It will be the most important and meaningful service in the world for us,” he said on Instagram on Sunday, showing a video of the mobile kitchen departing from a warehouse.
The chef said the aim is to serve 5,000 people daily through the mobile kitchen.
Meanwhile, Ozdemir said his team have transported supplies to various regions in Turkey, including Hatay, one of the most severely hit areas of the earthquake.
“We are doing our best in a co-ordinated manner with my friends. Thanks to everyone who contributed according to the need,” the chef said on Instagram on Sunday.
Ozdemir also took to social media to express his grief over the tragedy on the day the earthquake hit. “I can't describe my sadness. I can't explain how sad I am for this disaster. May God have mercy on those who lost their lives,” he said. “We will try to do whatever we can.”
Stronger Together for Syria & Turkey
Dubai diners can also sign up for a meal on February 19 with all proceeds being donated to the Emirates Red Crescent.
Led by the Rikas Hospitality Group, the Stronger Together for Syria & Turkey initiative will take the form of three meals being served by 10 chefs. The dinners will take place at French restaurant and bar La Cantine du Faubourg, Japanese restaurant Gohan, and Ninive, a rooftop venue that serves Middle Eastern cuisine.
The participating chefs are: Gilles Bosquet of Rikas, Yunus Emre Aydin of Marea, Sara Aqel of Dara by Sara Aqel and Gregoire Berger of Ossiano, who will all come together for the meal being served at La Cantine.
Over at Gohan, Reif Othman of Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Hadrien Villedieu of Rikas and Soleman Haddad of Moonrise will create an Asian-inspired menu. Salam Dakkak of Bait Maryam and Mohamed Orfali of Orfali Bros Bistro will be at Ninive, together with the restaurant's in-house chef Ahmad Ali.
All three venues are at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, and each dinner costs Dh750 per person, and starts at 8pm.
Food delivery platforms Deliveroo and Talabat are also taking part in Emirates Red Crescent's efforts to raise funds. Customers ordering through the platforms will have an easy option to donate money to ERC.
Elsewhere, Turkish restaurant ZouZou has said it is donating 10 per cent of its February profits to affected communities. “We express our deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this earthquake. We wish for the full recovery of all injured citizens,” the restaurant posted on Instagram.
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.”
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
