Ali Khalifa, a Grade 5 student of the Australian International School in Sharjah, will represent his school and the country as an ambassador at the 2012 Unicef Education Games. Duncan Chard for The National
Ali Khalifa, a Grade 5 student of the Australian International School in Sharjah, will represent his school and the country as an ambassador at the 2012 Unicef Education Games. Duncan Chard for The NaShow more

Education

Love of maths adds up to Unicef role

Emirati boy is named ambassador of World Education Games.

Afshan Ahmed

December 18, 2011

SHARJAH // Ali Khalifa has been rewarded for his love of an online mathematics game by being named an ambassador of the Unicef World Education Games.

Ali, a 12-year-old Emirati, says his first job will be to design posters to drum up support for the 2012 games, in March.

The aim of the World Education Games is to engage young people in core academic subjects in an entertaining way.

"I play mathletics [an online game] all the time," said Ali, who is in Grade 5 at the Australian International School in Sharjah.

"The games are all about learning in a fun way and nobody should have an excuse for not liking maths."

Pupils aged between four and 18 can play games related to mathematics, science and spelling from home or school, and compete online against others.

Blair Ramsay, Ali's teacher and games coordinator at the school, said his pupil was selected by the Middle East mathletics team after writing an essay on why he would be best suited to promote the games.

"He said he wanted to help the other children and try to be a role model for them," Mr Ramsay said. "He will now be responsible for making children aware of the games that take place and get as many pupils as possible excited to sign up for them."

Ali said he became hooked on mathletics four years ago.

"I was introduced to them at school and since then I have not been able to stop playing. I am always trying to beat my own score and have being eyeing the ambassador title for a long time," he said.

Mr Ramsay said Ali would also be expected to give presentations about the games at other schools to increase participation.

His profile will be on the World Education Games' website and he will also contribute news and stories on the ambassador blog.

Another part of the ambassador job will be to help other children practise for the final event next year.

"I think as an ambassador I need to remove the fear of mathematics from their minds and encourage them to take part in the games," Ali said.

Europe’s rearming plan
  • Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
  • Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
  • Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
  • Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
  • Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Other pavilions revealed
Recent winners

2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)

2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)

2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)

2007 Grace Bijjani  (Mexico)

2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)

2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)

2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)

2011 Maria Farah (Canada)

2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)

2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)              

2014 Lia Saad  (UAE)

2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)

2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)

2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)

2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)

While you're here

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.”