Children in schools and nurseries in Dubai and Abu Dhabi can eat healthy, local food thanks to a project launched by an organic market.
Fresh food supplier Ripe developed the initiative Raising with Ripe to promote healthier food consumption among children.
Every week, the market will provide schools and nurseries with bags of organic, nutritious produce. All the produce is hand-picked from five farms in Liwa, Ras Al Khaimah, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah 48 hours before.
Food collected includes courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, basil, parsley, potatoes and peppers.
Schools and nurseries sign up to the scheme and parents pay to provide the fresh food to their children.
The bags start at Dh60 and the school will receive 10 per cent of each bag sold. "Each school can choose how to use their money," said Becky Balderstone, Ripe's founder. "We encourage them to build a green initiative and to involve kids so this could be a small veggie garden, a green wastage system or a chicken coop."
Two nurseries are already taking part in the scheme and a number of schools have expressed interest.
The first batch should start next week. "It's important to educate kids from a young age on how to grow vegetables," said Ms Balderstone. "If they know more about it then they'll be more interested and it makes it more fun for them."
Nutritionists said the move would help children develop a stronger immune system and keep their energy levels high throughout the day.
Stephanie Karl, a nutritionist at the Dubai London Clinic, said unhealthy food reduces children's immunity, which could lead to disorders such as autism. "Children's brains do not grow as well after 10 years old," Ms Karl said.
"When you're constantly giving kids processed, salty and fake coloured types of food with lots of sugar, it overburdens their body and the body can't deal with it. A really good start to a child's life is important, particularly for immunity, which can cause autism [if low]."
To apply, email info@ripeme.com or call 04 380 7602. For more information, visit www.ripeme.com and click on Raising with Ripe.
cmalek@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.”
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