Abu Dhabi has always been rich in natural resources. Until the 1930s it was pearls that brought wealth, an industry that declined with the introduction of cheaper Japanese cultured pearls.
From the 1960s, oil and gas transformed the economy of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, creating the prosperous modern country of today,
What, though, of the intervening period, when work was scarce, and many in the seven emirates were among the poorest people in the world? The answer, some thought, might be guano, the polite way of describing seabird excrement.
Thanks to the birds' fishy diet, guano is rich in phosphate, nitrogen and potassium, and makes a superb fertiliser. On the islands on which the birds nest it can accumulate over centuries until it is many metres deep.
Growing demand
From the middle of the 19th century, guano fertiliser was in great demand among farmers in Europe and the United States, as economies grew and a hungry population demanded ever more intensive agriculture and larger crop yields.
So precious was guano that the US passed a law in 1858 allowing it to take possession of guano-rich islands anywhere in the world if they were uninhabited. The UK obtained copious supplies from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. In 1949, the UK imported nearly 88,000 tonnes of guano from the Seychelles, worth nearly £5 million (Dh25m) in today’s money.
That year is important because it was when an enterprising London export-import company, JC Gilbert Ltd, believed it had discovered a new, potentially valuable source of guano to spread on the fields of Britain’s farms: the offshore islands of Abu Dhabi.
Many of the islands in the Arabian Gulf were already a local source of seabird fertiliser. A survey of the seabed in 1954 reported that prisoners from Bahrain’s jails were employed to dig guano from the Baina Islands to use on government gardens.
Reaching out
An advert placed in the UK journal Farming in 1949 by JC Gilbert offered “screened genuine bird guano” with “guaranteed 8-10 per cent ammonia, 20-30 per cent phosphates”.
There was “no government restriction on the amount that can be applied per acre or the crop for which it can be used”. Another advert from the same year in the Gardeners’ Chronicle promises “Bird Guano – quick-acting fertiliser. Ready for use." The price for a 50kg bag was 40 old shillings, or £2, the equivalent of £90 (Dh436) in today's money. “Share it with your neighbours,” the company urged.
JC Gilbert’s plan, however, had one formidable obstacle to overcome. British civil service bureaucracy.
There was no sign of problems at first. A headed letter on Crown notepaper from the British political agency in Bahrain noted a request from August 1949 “on the subject of the import of guano in the United Kingdom from Abu Dhabi”, and the response that “as far as we can see the procedure proposed is unobjectionable”.
Not so fast, came the response from London. How could it be certain that this was 100 per cent genuine Abu Dhabi guano? Could the necessary paperwork confirm it? This was important because some islands in the Arabian Gulf were subject to differing territorial claims. If some of the Abu Dhabi guano turned out to come from an island another Gulf country had its eye on, the British Foreign Office feared a diplomatic incident could occur.
London proposed a special import form. “This guano is declared by (insert name) to have been collected on (name) island. (Name) Island is regarded by His Majesty’s Government as belonging to (name of emirate), a territory under the protection of His Majesty.”
Here was a difficulty though. How could London be sure the guano really had been collected from an island that really belonged to Abu Dhabi. After all, there were a lot of islands and a lot of competing claims. “I assume the British importer will eventually appoint a responsible agent in Abu Dhabi to handle the consignment and who will keep me informed as to the shipments they are making,” an official in Bahrain replied.
Exporting guano
A list of guano exporters from the Gulf was also supplied, including 7,350 bags to the UK, 840 bags to Italy, nearly 10,000 bags to India and 2,800 bags to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
This didn’t really address the central question of what was authentic Abu Dhabi guano. The correspondence dragged on for months, into the spring of 1950. Eventually a compromise was reached. London was satisfied the unnamed island was not the subject of territorial claims from either Qatar or Saudi Arabia.
In addition to the proposed form, the certificate of origin would be signed both by the supplier and the British local agent as being a genuine product of Abu Dhabi. Finally exports could begin. Unfortunately the records do not show how much Abu Dhabi guano was sent to green England’s fields and gardens, nor for how long.
Today, artificial fertilisers have replaced guano, the collection of which is regarded as damaging to the environment and a risk to seabird colonies are risk.
Abu Dhabi, though, is a significant global player in fertilisers, with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) holding a majority stake in Fertglobe, the region’s largest producer of nitrogen fertilisers.
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
