DUBAI // Two months ago, Dilip Aidasani's exercise regime was nonexistent.
Yesterday, the 34-year-old Indian financier celebrated running his 259th kilometre at a local gym, and he has pledged to keep on running.
Mr Aidasani found the motivation to get moving through a running campaign that aims to raise funds for the Manzil Centre for Challenged Individuals in Sharjah.
"I have to tell you, I was not into this kind of fitness programme before," said Mr Aidasani, who is participating in "Run The World in 80 Days", a campaign set up by his employers at Zurich Financial Services. The company is encouraging individuals to run or walk a minimum of 10km within three days at branches of Fitness First.
Everyone who takes part should be sponsored at least Dh10 per kilometre, and all money raised is to be donated to the Manzil centre.
Participants can run their 10km in three slots if they can't face doing it all at once. Everyone who registers receives three free passes to any Dubai branch of Fitness First. The gym's staff monitor the distance covered and add it to the total.
Having run every other day for two months, Mr Aidasani not only has raised Dh2,650 for the five-year-old charity, but also has lost 9kg and gained a hobby.
"It just clicked," he said. "I had joined Fitness First three weeks earlier with a mind to start a fitness regime. This was the only chance I had to do something for charity that involved fitness."
During his first treadmill session, Mr Aidasani notched up 4.5km. The process was slow and painful but 50 sessions later, he said, his time and stamina have improved dramatically and he now runs 10km every other day.
"With the sponsorship I had from people, I felt I had a purpose and found the commitment I needed to change my lifestyle," he said.
"I actually started to enjoy it when I found I was doing well with it. I knew I had to run 250km to fulfil my pledge to those who had sponsored me, but I didn't know how to approach it, so I asked the trainers for advice and they suggested I run on an alternate [day] basis."
The "Run The World in 80 Days" campaign was launched on June 1 and aims to notch up 50,000km in 80 days. With only seven days to go until the campaign ends, more than 4,000km have been logged and Dh50,000 has been raised.
Now organiser Harry Hanscomb is urging all Dubai residents to get up and get active before it's too late.
"At this point, if people want to come and run and give a donation, that's fine," said Mr Hanscomb. "Anyone can take part - individuals or companies. We have a long way to go but we will certainly try to get there in the next few days. It's the final push and we want people to join us."
Every fil raised goes towards the day-to-day running costs of the centre, which provides heavily subsidised educational support and vocational training to children and adults who live with a range of conditions, including autism and Down's syndrome.
"At the moment, we need [the money raised] to breathe, to survive," said Ayesha Saeed, the director of Manzil. "Usually, when money is raised we have a project to fund with it, but at the moment we don't have that luxury."
The global economic downturn, Ms Saeed said, had affected donations to the organisation.
"When people have to cut costs, the first thing they cut down on are the frills, and corporate social responsibility went out of the window for most companies as a first step," she said.
"We call people like Harry our lifeline here because they are helping us survive. We are in survival mode, which is true for most charities, I'm sure."
loatway@thenational.ae
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.”
Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
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
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Essentials
The flights
Return flights from Dubai to Windhoek, with a combination of Emirates and Air Namibia, cost from US$790 (Dh2,902) via Johannesburg.
The trip
A 10-day self-drive in Namibia staying at a combination of the safari camps mentioned – Okonjima AfriCat, Little Kulala, Desert Rhino/Damaraland, Ongava – costs from $7,000 (Dh25,711) per person, including car hire (Toyota 4x4 or similar), but excluding international flights, with The Luxury Safari Company.
When to go
The cooler winter months, from June to September, are best, especially for game viewing.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
