ABU DHABI // More than 80 per cent of residents surveyed for a poll worry that relying on maids or nannies to raise children will have a detrimental effect on future generations.
Most of those questioned said they were concerned domestic workers did not understand their culture, and 67 per cent said they believed children raised by maids or nannies would not be as close to their mothers.
The survey was conducted for Al Aan TV's Nabd Al Arab (Arabs' Pulse) programmeby YouGov Siraj in May. The findings will be discussed on the show tonight (Sat).
Overall, 44 per cent of the 764 survey respondents said they were "very concerned" about nannies or maids raising future generations, while 39 per cent said they were "quite concerned".
Nearly 60 per cent said they believed if a child could not be looked after by their mother, another family member should step in. Only 16 per cent suggested a maid or nanny.
"My husband doesn't want somebody else to look after my children," said Debie Ramos, 38, an Abu Dhabi resident from the Philippines who has two young daughters.
"Actually, I have been a nanny before, when I was not married," said Ms Ramos, who worked with a family in Singapore. "The children were closer to me than the mother."
It is not clear how many children in the UAE are cared for by domestic workers.
In the Gulf region, 58 per cent of children under the age of three are cared for by maids for 30 to 70 hours a week, a Knowledge and Human Development Authority report shows.
Dana Shadid, the project manager at Al Aan TV, said nannies were essential for many families in the UAE.
"Nowadays, in order to maintain a household you need to have two working parents," Ms Shadid said. "Therefore it is logical to have a nanny."
But 56 per cent of the survey's respondents said they were concerned domestic workers did not understand their culture, so they would not be able to impart it to children.
Tatiana Stratila, 36, an Abu Dhabi resident from Russia, said cultural compatibility could play a big role in a nanny's ability to fit in with a family.
Ms Stratila hired three nannies in three years for her son, who is now five. Two were from the Philippines and the third was from Ethiopia.
"We are from different cultures, different countries," she said. "It's very important, believe me."
Watching her son dash around a play area in Madinat Zayed Shopping & Gold Center on Monday, Ms Stratila said she no longer employed a nanny.
"It is very difficult," she said. "So finally I resigned, and I stay at home."
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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● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
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1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
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The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner after the US and China
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Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.