WASHINGTON // Ronald Florez opened his bleary eyes amid a jostling gaggle of professional lobbyists waiting to enter a Congressional hearing on education. He had just managed to get a few hours' sleep in a plastic chair while waiting outside the House of Representatives' hearing room all Monday night.
Mr Florez is a paid "linestander", holding a place in the queue on behalf of lobbyists who need to grab one of the scarce seats at hearings but do not want to stay up all night for it.
The linestanding market has grown in recent years and critics believe it illustrates an unhealthy, even corrupt, relationship between commerce and politics in the US capital. Others say the business is an entrepreneurial response to a genuine need for access.
"The lobbyists are trying to make change and whether it's for good or bad is not for me to say, but they are also just trying to make a living," said Mr Florez, 28. "What's really frustrating for them is not getting into these hearings and I don't know why they're not held in bigger rooms."
Mr Florez works for a company called linestanding.com, which arose out of a bicycle courier service that hit slowing demand and needed work for its employees, said John Winslow, its director.
E-mail and the ability to send large documents as attachments had hit the courier services hard. Then messengers were banned from many government buildings after the anthrax attacks of 2001, when a former government scientist sent letters containing the spores to two senators and several media offices.
"Around this time the Washington lobbyists came into the ascent," Mr Winslow said. "We always did provide a linestanding service, but then you had these big hearings following the collapse of Enron and MCI and also after asbestos litigation in which billions of dollars were at stake.
"Things have not slowed down since then and we now get half our profits from linestanding and the other half from our courier service."
Financial turmoil and the push towards greater regulation by the Obama administration have again put the spotlight on Washington, where legislators and lobbyists are jostling on a host of issues, from healthcare reform to consumer protection in finance.
Government bailouts following the collapse of the US auto industry also provided more work for Mr Winslow's company, which was hired by one of the "big three" carmakers - Chrysler, Ford and General Motors.
"One of the big three came to me and said we need 40 people in line tonight for one of the big hearings," he said. "That's when I went to Oliver, who works for me and used to be homeless, and asked him to go out and find me extra people. He found them in the homeless shelter he used to go to and it's great being able to help them get work."
Mr Winslow's linestanders are paid between US$15 and $18 an hour, which compares favourably with the federal minimum wage of $6.55. Most of his employees are bicycle couriers, students or retired people.
To critics who say there should be restrictions to prevent lobbyists with big chequebooks from gaining the advantage at hearings, Mr Winslow pointed out that non-profit organisations have also used his service.
"The fact is that many of these hearing rooms are just too small to accommodate everyone who wants to attend and my service is predicated on the limited number of seats.
"We don't do anything that excludes anyone else," he said. "We've had many not-for-profit clients involved with the environment, for example, who also need to get into these hearings."
One non-profit client was the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), which used his service to get a seat at a hearing on a student aid act, part of President Barack Obama's plan to make college affordable to a greater number of students.
Just before the hearing started on Tuesday morning there was a queue of at least 70 people snaking around the corridor of the Rayburn Congressional office building. At least 25 of them were professional linestanders working for Mr Winslow or one of his competitors and were easily recognised by their casual clothing. They were replaced by formally dressed lobbyists and advocates when the line started to file into the hearing room.
Hans Scheltema waited 12 hours alongside Mr Florez before giving his place in line to a COE director. He defended his job as a vital service that helped to keep the wheels of democracy greased.
"In a way, it shows that the system is working," he said. "In the past, many political deals were cut in the evening over happy hour."
sdevi@thenational.ae
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdited%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Idries%20Trevathan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20240%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hirmer%20Publishers%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5