Global Citizen 32

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WALK WITH TIME He was a traveler, experiencing all hours of the earth.

Planning trips with such great care, he and Time had merged.

Grateful to the man for walking with him, not around, Time reassured he’d arrive anywhere he was bound.

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CONTENTS BUSINESS

18 INVESTMENT DESTINATION

36 BUSINESS

20 ENTREPENEUR

38 SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR Sahar Hashemi

50 Helping acid attack victims in Pakistan

22 SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

40 FAMILY BUSINESS

52 Activist Sara Khan on extremism

24 COVER

42 FAMILY BUSINESS

30 SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

44 ENTREPRENEUR

56 UEFA EURO 2016

34 BUSINESS

46 ENTREPRENEUR

58 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Miami is a hotbed for investment Fadi Ghandour on open markets Gumball 3000 founder Barack Obama Mark Weingard

Tecom’s evolution

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The new Pearl Road

The Abdulrazak sisters

PHILANTHROPY 48 Gates Foundation crisis response

54 Malaika foundation

Sir Rocco Forte

Nuaman Soufraki

Deliveroo founder Will Shu

Portugal’s golden visa

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LIFESTYLE 70

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62 GADGETS

72 DINING

84 ART

64 YACHTS

76 HOTELS

88 LITTLE BLACK BOOK

58 AUTO

80 GROOMING

90 TRAVEL

62 HANDMADE

81 GROOMING

94 FASHION

70 DESIGN

82 DESIGN ENTREPRENEURS

Summer essentials Ferretti 850

Vintage Porsche 911 Maison Corthay

Salone del Mobile

After-work hangouts Cliffside coastal retreats Summer scent-sations Hip shaves

El Seed in Cairo Tokyo

Alentejo, Portugal Go Green

Dario Spallone

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EDITOR’S LETTER GLOBAL CITIZEN PUBLISHER Armand Peponnet EDITOR IN CHIEF Natasha Tourish - nt@global-citizen.com SUB EDITOR Tahira Yaqoob - ty@global-citizen.com LIFESTYLE EDITOR Nausheen Noor - nn@global-citizen.com ART DIRECTOR Omid Khadem - ok@global-citizen.com FINANCE MANAGER finance@reachmedia.ae

hile all the talk recently has been of Trump versus Clinton, let’s not forget Potus is still hard at work behind the battle scenes carving his legacy. The incumbent US president Barack Obama caused a stir during his recent trip to London, his last official visit to the UK before he leaves the Oval Office in January next year. While the photo opportunities abounded, from meeting Prince George in his pyjamas, dining with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, meeting Prince Harry and being chauffeured by the Duke of Edinburgh for lunch at Windsor Castle to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations, it was the potent message he delivered to the Brexit campaign that ruffled feathers on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK referendum will see the British public go to the polls on June 23 to decide whether or not to remain within the European Union and Obama has been clear about which side of the fence he falls on.

His decisive stance continued during the recent White House correspondents’ dinner when he mocked Donald Trump’s foreign policy record before he pulled an epic mic drop and told the crowd “Obama out”, prompting the hashtag #ObamaOut to go viral within minutes.

However, in this month’s cover story, Obama takes a more sombre approach, telling us in his own words why he believes Britain is better off within Europe and how the country’s special relationship with the US would be put to the test should the British public choose to leave the EU. Serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Aramex Fadi Ghandour also weighs in on the Brexit debate, telling GC he has seen firsthand how his business, which spans the globe, has benefited from an open EU market. He is also urging Arab policymakers to consider an open market within the region to combat youth unemployment and allow companies to grow.

Back in Europe, we look at Portugal’s new immigrant investment programme, which offers a golden visa to foreigners who want dual citizenship in one of Europe’s oldest countries. In our travel pages, we visit the ancient city of Alentejo in Portugal, which last year saw it declared the European wine capital.

CONTRIBUTORS Zoi Constantine, Phill Tromans, Ivan Carvalho, Sheema Khan, Ben Flanagan, Triska Hamid, Chanelle Tourish, Rachel Taylor PRINTED BY Masar Printing and Publishing www.global-citizen.com www.issuu.com/global-citizen www.facebook.com/GlobalCitizenMag MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE Fierce International Dubai Internet City Business Central Tower A - Office 2803 T: +971 4 421 5455 - F: +971 4 421 0208 tarek@fierce-international.com

REACH MEDIA FZ LLC CHAIRMAN Armand Arton ADVERTISING sales@reachmedia.ae SUBSCRIPTION subscription@reachmedia.ae Dubai Media City, Building 8, Office 87, PO Box 502068, Dubai, UAE T: +971 4 385 5485 - Email: info@reachmedia.ae Copyright 2015 Reach Media. All rights reserved.

Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the permission of Reach Media.

Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the editorial views of the publisher or Global Citizen.

All information in Global Citizen is checked and verified to the best of the publisher’s ability, however the publisher cannot be held responsible for any mistake or omission enclosed in the publication.

Enjoy the issue.

Natasha Tourish 12

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Photo credit: Martin Schoeller/ AUGUST

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CONTRIBUTORS

Zoi Constantine

Phill Tromans

Ivan Carvalho

is an Australian journalist based in Dubai.

For more than a decade she has written on politics, conflict and development from the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and the Arabian Gulf for outlets including Al Jazeera and The National.

is a journalist with more than 15 years’ experience. His exploits have taken him to more than 40 countries. He has written for titles including Evo Middle East and crankandpiston.com

is the Milan correspondent for Monocle magazine, covering a range of topics from politics to business. A native of California, he previously wrote for Wired, Domus and the International Herald Tribune.

Sheema Khan

Ben Flanagan

Triska Hamid

is a Pakistan-based journalist who worked on an English daily newspaper before going freelance. She writes blogs for Huffington Post India and covers education, current affairs and terrorism.

started his career at the Observer in London. He writes about Arab affairs in the UK and Middle Eastern business for outlets including the Al Arabiya News Channel, drawing on 14 years’ experience in journalism.

has been a journalist focusing on the Middle East for the past five years.

Previously, she has worked on the business desk at The National and MEED, covering te‎lecoms, media and technology as well as the political and socio-economic issues of the region.

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GLOBETROTTER MAY

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World Economic Forum Africa Kigali, Rwanda

Cannes Film Festival Cannes, France

Under the theme “Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation” this year's forum will look at why Africa’s positive economic outlook is under pressure – mainly due to adverse changes in the global economy – and is expected to remain just below 5% in 2016. While many countries in the region improve their investment climate, foreign direct investment flows are expected to continue to grow, although at a slower pace.

The Oscar winner and legendary musician Prince, who died last month, will be honoured at this year’s Cannes film festival. On the red carpet will be A-listers including Mel Gibson, who is starring in Blood Father, Steven Spielberg with his version of Roald Dahl’s The BFG and director Jodie Foster with her thriller Money Monster starring George Clooney.

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Italian Opera Gala Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre

Art Basel Basel, Switzerland

Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2016 London

Experience some of the most famous and well-known opera arias of all time. Listen to the likes of Norma

by Bellini among other arias as performed by Monica De Rosa McKay and tenor Gian Luca Pasolini accompanied by the piano duo Larisa Capatina and Vitali Mihailuic for a night of classical music.

Art Basel’s European edition brings the international art world together, with more than 280 of the world’s leading galleries showing works from 4,000 artists, ranging from modern great masters to current emerging stars, creating an exciting week of art.

Whether you're a genuine tennis fan or just in it for the Pimms and a beautiful day out rubbing shoulders with celebrities in the British capital, this year’s Wimbledon tennis championship is one of the most anticipated events of the year.

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INVESTMENT DESTINATION

A SUNNY INVESTMENT Miami is in an enviable position. Plans for a high-speed train to connect it to New York and Cuba’s open market make it a hotbed for investment

BY AMANDA FISHER

in Nicaragua, Miami becomes a logical place to manage your business in the Americas,” he says.

That is not to mention the enticing weather, with average temperature of 25C, the infrastructure—Miami has one of America’s busiest ports and an international airport that serves 40 million passengers every year—and the minimal tax (there is no state income tax in Florida).

“Demographic trends are now suggesting we have a lot more growth ahead of us than New York, which is struggling to maintain its population,” says Zalewski.

The main reason for the growing population is migration, both domestic and international, with more than 1,000 people a day moving to Florida, according to state statistics. Chris Soares, a property agent who runs the website investinmiami. com, says Miami has become the third top US city to invest in, with property much cheaper than in London or New York.

“Miami is host to 1,000-plus corporate headquarters, 73 foreign consulates and is the home of 32 per cent of the finance and insurance industry [in the US]. All these are going to experience [massive growth] by 2020,” he says.

Zalewski says Miami’s international flavour is a key draw.

The US has a population of 321 million with 13 per cent of citizens foreign-born, according to the census, while 58 per cent of Miami’s population is foreign-born.

While a fifth of households in America speak a language other than English at home, in Miami city that jumps to 77

Images courtesy of Getty Images

t is often seen as a laidback, sunshine-filled city—but Miami is undergoing a vigorous regeneration, which will see investment opportunities aplenty in property and infrastructure. There are a host of new projects in the pipeline, including an express high-speed train that will eventually connect Miami to New York, a $2 million upgrade to the port, a 50-berth superyacht marina and a 1,000ft-high observation tower.

But it was in property where Miami first built its reputation for business. The Floridian city had a GDP of $299 billion in 2014 and is said to be the original home of the condominium, building and trading in the solution for inner-city living from the 1960s.

According to the Miami Downtown Development Authority, up until 2002 there were 11,500 condos built in downtown Miami. In the next eight years, that inventory doubled to 22,000. Since 2011, another 23,000 condos are being, or have been built, in the city with a population of 430,000.

Peter Zalewski, the chief executive of the Miami property firm Condo Vultures, says opportunities are plentiful in the multicultural melting pot, which is referred to as both the “sixth borough” of New York and the northernmost city of Latin America, thanks to a large influx from each.

“Because of globalisation, because of movements toward increased dependency with trade between Latin America and the US, the expansion of the Panama Canal and the rival canal

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INVESTMENT DESTINATION

per cent. Another high-profile draw is the US rapprochement with Cuba. After more than five decades of hostility and trade embargoes, the Obama administration has presided over a thawing in relations with the communist nation. While it is still unclear what this will mean, the economic benefits are bound to be “significant” for Miami, according to Richard Jordan, the senior vice president of global markets at US property brokers Douglas Elliman.

The Knight Frank-Douglas Elliman 2016 global wealth report placed Miami 12th in its list of the most important cities to ultra high net worth individuals, just behind top-ranked London, New York and Singapore.

“It is too early to talk about in great detail as it has just happened but there is a large Cuban base in Miami and lifting the embargo allows for travel between both countries and potential trade and business alignments between Cuba and those in South Florida. There is going to be a significant opportunity around that for both markets,” says Jordan.

GCC businesses are already riding the wave. The Dubai government-owned property developer Nakheel invested $375 million in the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach in 2008 before later selling its stake. With Dubai ranking fifth on the wealth report list, Jordan says there is a fundamental similarity between the two business hubs.

“Both have a similar climate and provide a great quality of life. Additionally, both are gateway cites. Miami is the gateway between the US and Latin America while Dubai is the gateway between Europe and Asia.”

But with so much of Miami’s economy tied up in property, are there any potential risks? As the world witnessed in 2008, the property market has the potential to cripple economies with global repercussions.

Jordan says Miami is safely diverse, citing developing medical care and technology industries, tourism and the Miami port extension of the Panama Canal. Art Basel founded its US fair in 2002 and the city’s cultural side is growing.

“Miami in years back was heavily dependent on the property market but it has continued to push itself as a global destination and diversify its business platforms. Markets will fluctuate but it has a sustainable economy behind it and an infrastructure in place.”

Zalewski has a slightly different perspective on the risks inherent in Miami on account of the city’s relative youth.

“The city of Miami was created in 1896. When you put that into perspective, this a city in its infancy.

Because of that there is tremendous potential but there is also tremendous risk.

The infrastructure we currently have is so new, so fresh and is basically not equipped to handle what’s coming with globalisation and then you have the issue of rising sea levels and what impact that will have on Miami.”

Zalewski also points to the possibility Cuba might actually act as a rival to Miami in terms of enticing investors and developers. Proposed US legislation to identify big-ticket investors could also drive people away from Miami while the increased focus on rising sea levels as a result of climate change might be a deterrent.

“These are three big factors that could potentially keep people on the sidelines,” he says.

However, on balance he does not believe such threats will be potent enough to stop investors from flocking to Miami and reaping the benefits—at least not in the short term.

“Miami has the potential to emerge as one of the top potential destinations like Hong Kong or London, where a lot of business can get done between continents. That ultimately is the carrot.”

"Miami has the potential to emerge as one of the top potential destinations like Hong Kong or London"

Traditionally Miami has relied on property but in recent years its economy has become safely diverse with medical, technology industries and tourism all propping it up

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THE START-UP KING Aramex founder Fadi Ghandour tells GC why he supports an Arab common market and why Brexit won’t work

BY BEN FLANAGAN

ou do not need to know much about Fadi Ghandour to guess where he stands on the UK Brexit debate.

The Jordanian, one of the Arab world’s most storied entrepreneurs, made his name as founder of the logistics giant Aramex and now heads Wamda Capital, a prominent regional venture capital firm.

Much of Ghandour’s career has been about either crossing borders – his courier delivery firm has a presence in more than 60 countries – or transcending them, given his recent focus on online start-ups. So it does not come as a particular surprise to hear Ghandour favours Britain voting to remain in the European Union when the country goes to the polls on June 23.

And just as Ghandour does not welcome barriers going back up in Europe, he wants them to come down in the Arab world, both in terms of open trade and on wider issues like encouraging more women into the workplace.

“If you create barriers, you’re in trouble,” he says. “Aramex has a big operation in Europe, particularly in the UK and we have seen the benefits of an open EU market.”

Ghandour founded Aramex in 1982, taking on the likes of DHL and FedEx. Fifteen years later it became the first company from the Arab world to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange

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in New York. The logistics firm later went private before embarking on another listing on the Dubai Financial Market.

Ghandour stepped down as chief executive in 2012, although he remains vice chairman of the company. He now devotes much of his time investing in regional start-ups, with Wamda’s current portfolio including stakes in the regional car booking service Careem and online retailer The Luxury Closet. Ghandour has an impressive track record in this field, notably with his early involvement with Maktoob, the Arab web portal acquired by Yahoo for $165 million in 2010.

Ghandour, who is speaking ahead of his appearance at a Young Presidents’ Organisation network event, is certainly enthusiastic about Dubai’s growing status as a hub for innovation.

“Dubai is experiencing an explosion of start-ups,” he says.

“I am an investor and the floodgates have opened.”

Ghandour cites the relative political stability of the UAE, a strong infrastructure and geographical location as factors behind the boom in high-tech businesses in Dubai. Wamda Capital – which makes investments of between $5 million and $10 million in businesses – interviewed 260 companies looking for funding last year. Its Dubai office now sees about two companies a day.

“This is not Silicon Valley yet. It is about 10 years behind what

ENTREPRENEUR

the US is doing but I see a trend of acceleration,” says Ghandour.

But the spectre of shiny start-ups launching in glitzy Dubai comes in stark contrast to what is happening in the wider region, something the 57-year-old is only too aware of.

The stats say it all. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Arab world has the highest rate of youth unemployment globally. In 2013 the rate stood at 27.2 per cent in the Middle East and more than 29 per cent in North Africa—more than twice as high as the global average.

“Forget the politics of the region. In my view the biggest challenge is how you get millions of youth into the job market.

That is what the region needs to focus on,” says Ghandour.

The start-up scene does have a role to play in addressing unemployment, he says. But it is the—arguably less headlinegrabbing—small and medium-sized business sector that offers the bigger opportunity for growth in employment, he adds.

“Seventy per cent of jobs in the region are in small and medium-sized enterprises [but banks] do not give them loans so there is this massive mismatch,” says Ghandour.

According to the ILO, about 21 per cent of women in the Middle East and North Africa are unemployed, compared to 8.9 per cent of men.

“It is essential we find a way to get 50 per cent of the population much more active,” says Ghandour. “If they do not want to go out in the workforce then let’s bring the work to them at home.

I appreciate there might be some cultural issues but there are many skilled women.”

Education is “paramount” to encouraging more people in the Arab world to work—but it has to be the right kind of learning for the modern private sector workplace, warns Ghandour.

There should be a focus on basic skills like computing and the possibility of work placements in the real world.

“The private sector wants to employ people who have the character of thinking critically, understanding how to analyse information [and are] multilingual,” he says. “You do not need to be an entrepreneur but you need to have an entrepreneurial mind. I think [that] is a learnable skill. These are critical elements that we need to get our universities and schools to understand.”

The ability for Arab companies to set up shop more easily in other regional countries would also help businesses in the region, says Ghandour. Current foreign ownership rules are a “restriction on growing companies”, he adds.

“If a Jordanian entrepreneur who is growing wants to set up shop in Saudi Arabia, let him,” says Ghandour. “Protectionism does not work, in my view. You are creating barriers that are not of significance while if you remove them, you create a significant change in how people go about business in the region.”

Ghandour also supports the long-mooted Arab common market, which would herald pan-regional customs tariffs on trade with outside countries, allowing for a more free movement of goods—a bit like, of course, the European Union. “[A common market] would create jobs because when companies grow, they are going to be employing,” says Ghandour. “If Arab policymakers do not realise this issue, they are not addressing the problem in the proper manner. The open market is how you grow.”

Ghandour acknowledges making some of these regional reforms is “easier said than done”. When it comes to international trade—as the UK will find if it does vote to leave the EU—it takes time to both open and close doors.

“You are creating barriers that are not of significance while if you remove them, you create a significant change in how people go about business in the region”

Jamalon, started by Ala’a Sallal and backed by Ghandour, is now the largest electronic Arabic book reseller with over 10 Million titles 2016 MAY / JUNE

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PIONEER

Maximillion Cooper, founder of Gumball 3000

GETTING THE GUMBALL ROLLING Now in its 17th year, the Gumball 3000 rally this month brings together cars, fashion and celebrity in spectacular style

BY PHILL TROMANS

umball 3000 has been nothing short of a phenomenon.

Since the first rally in 1999, it has developed beyond a party-filled road trip for the wealthy and wellconnected to become a global brand. Today, the Gumball group has a fashion line, video games and a big-budget feature film in the works and the rally is still going strong, with more than 100 cars heading from Dublin to Bucharest this month. Not bad for an event that was originally intended as a showcase of what its founder could do to organise a good time.

In the late 1990s, Maximillion Cooper was a 20-something fashion design graduate from the renowned Central St Martins College in London, where he had studied alongside Alexander

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McQueen and Stella McCartney. He had also worked as a model for the likes of Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, the proceeds from which funded his fondness for motor racing.

“I ended up racing for about eight years,” recalls Cooper. “By the mid-90s I was racing for Porsche and McLaren so you can imagine by the end of the decade I had friends in the fashion scene and lots of friends in the car racing world, including team owners and sponsors and some wealthy individuals. Gumball came about as my way of creating a brand that could bring all of that together. While I loved racing cars, the social side of that world is very corporate and boring. I wanted to bring the music and fashion scene into the car world.”

ENTREPRENEUR

After plans to take over the Tyrrell Formula One team failed at the last minute when his financial backer was outbid by a major tobacco firm, Cooper decided to create something new.

“That deal gave me confidence that something was possible and I had the right contacts and friends behind me,” he says.

“My gameplan changed and I decided to get these powerful friends of mine together. The plan developed to invite them on a road trip, give them an experience and show them that I can put something on, put on great parties each night and create something new.”

The first event in 1999 saw a guest list largely made up of Cooper’s friends and contacts, including Kate Moss, Chris Eubank, Jason Priestley and Billy Zane and 50 cars ranging from supercars and Rolls-Royces to trucks and an ambulance. Over five days, they drove from London to France, Monaco, Italy and Germany, partying in style each night.

“The rally was not a new concept. It was about who was on it and what that collective looked like,” says Cooper, who never intended the first Gumball to be anything other than a demonstration of his event-planning skills. “But by September that year we were in about 500 magazines

around the world. The famous faces on the rally had their own publicists and I reaped the benefits. That sheer demand really gave me the belief I should do it again.”

The Gumball had started rolling at an unstoppable pace and grew over the following years. As the new decade began, Cooper signed a series of lucrative licensing and sponsorship deals. “It was already creating a bit of a brand as opposed to just this rally,” he says. “We had a deal with Hasbro toys to do Gumball Top Trumps cards, which we still do now 16 years later. In 2006, we sold 15 million packs of Top Trumps in one year so it was totally game-changing.”

Cooper kept the guestlist fresh each year, ensuring current celebrities were invited to keep media interest high. A TV documentary won awards and MTV’s Jackass made a show on the rally that proved hugely popular around the world. In 2005, the rally launch in central London gathered a crowd of 400,000 people.

“That was the tipping point in terms of public awareness. Since that year, everywhere we go we get ridiculous crowds and the event changed from almost a private event for the entrants into [what is] very much a public event.”

“The rally was not a new concept. It was about who was on it and what that collective looked like”

Cooper at the starting line of last year's Gumball 3000 rally in Stockholm

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ENTREPRENEUR

The path to success has not been entirely smooth. A 2007 accident on the rally in Macedonia left two members of the public dead, which for a time tarnished Gumball’s image, although Cooper points out the convoy was under supervision from a United Nations escort at the time. “There is always a risk with any event, especially on the roads,” he says. “As long as we drum it into everyone that we are driving normally on public roads, the risk is limited. Now the whole event is marshalled by police, which is great for us.

“People who have done the rally multiple times know it is a road trip, not about how fast you get somewhere. Every year you have a few people who think, ‘I’m going to win it’ but there isn’t any winning. We certainly have to tell them right after the first day.”

This year’s launch event in London will see more than a million members of the public attend, with 2,500 staff working in a closed-off Regent Street – one of London’s busiest shopping areas – to prepare music concerts and a range of branded attractions.

“That audience allows us to get some quite significant sponsorship deals, as any major sports event would,” says Cooper. “The drivers and cars have not changed. It is still an invitation-type event, although numbers have grown—but for them it is still an escape, an adventure, something they want to do in their social time.”

A maximum of 120 cars are featured each year—half are alumni and half are new guests picked by Cooper to maximise

exposure and enjoyment for the participants.

“The premise is to make that 100-car grid as diverse as possible.

There are always between 30 or 40 different nationalities, different industries and different cars,” he says.

“Any car event will always be slightly swayed toward being male-orientated but there is as much of a mix as I can [organise] each year and the fashion and music side of things helps to counteract that.”

GCC entrants have been a regular feature on the rally over the years so could we see Gumball on UAE soil in the future?

Perhaps, says Cooper, although the country’s small size makes things difficult without flying visitors and cars in as part of a wider tour. “We can’t come to the UAE and drive around in circles for six days—but it is definitely in our plans. I’m surprised it is one of those places we have not been to yet.”

With a lucrative Gumball clothing line now in about 3,000 stores worldwide, Cooper has plans to open flagship outlets in cities like London, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Dubai. But no matter the success of offshoot ventures, the rally will always remain the most important focus.

“If we are just a brand like Levi’s then we have to take out traditional advertising and sponsor events and in a way the rally does all of that for us,” says Cooper. “It is the week of the year when celebrities are wearing the clothes and all eyes are looking at us and it is bigger than any magazine ad or billboard. The rally is our unique sales point for the brand.”

Some of the famous faces including David Hasselhoff that put Gumball 3000 on the party map 24

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Q U I N T E S S E N T I A L LY L I F E S T Y L E

THE WORLD’S LEADING LUXURY LIFESTYLE MANAGEMENT SERVICE

To learn how a Quintessentially Membership can work for you please contact the Membership2016 Team on +971 4 437 6800 MAY / JUNE 25

Ahead of Britain’s EU referendum in June, outgoing US president Barack Obama talks about his country’s special relationship with the UK, the challenges he has faced in office and the tests his successor will face when he steps down

BY BARACK OBAMA

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Images courtesy of Getty Images

FACING THE FUTURE

Barack Obama/ The Telegraph/ Interview People

COVER

COVER

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COVER

Obama with his inner circle: Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

Today we face tests to this order—terrorism and aggression, n 1939, president Franklin D Roosevelt offered a toast to King George VI in the White House. 'I am persuaded migration and economic headwinds— challenges that can only that the greatest single contribution our two countries be met if the United States and the United Kingdom can rely on have been enabled to make to civilisation and to the welfare one another, on our special relationship and on the partnerships of peoples throughout the world,' he said, 'is the example we that lead to progress.

We must be resolute and adaptive in our efforts to prevent have jointly set by our manner of conducting relations between terrorist attacks against our people and to our two nations.'

Nearly 80 years later, the United continue the progress we are making to “We must work to Kingdom remains a friend and ally to the roll back the threat posed by Islamic State (ISIL) until it is destroyed.

United States like no other. Our special resolve political relationship was forged as we spilt blood We must work to resolve political conflicts in the Middle together on the battlefield. It was fortified conflicts in the Middle East—from Yemen as we built and sustained the architecture to Syria to Libya—so that there is a prospect East—from Yemen to for advancing stability and prosperity in for increased stability. We must continue Syria to Libya—so that to invest in Nato so that we can meet our Europe and our democratic values around the globe. From the ashes of war, those who overseas commitments from Afghanistan there is a prospect for came before us had the foresight to create to the Aegean and reassure allies who are increased stability” the international institutions and initiatives rightly concerned about Russian aggression. to sustain a prosperous peace: the United And we must continue to promote global Nations and Nato; Bretton Woods, the growth so that our young people can Marshall Plan and the European Union. Their efforts provided achieve greater opportunity and prosperity. a foundation for democracy, open markets and the rule of law, The question of whether or not the UK remains a part of the while underwriting more than seven decades of relative peace EU is a matter for British voters to decide for themselves. That and prosperity in Europe. said, when President Roosevelt toasted our special relationship

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COVER

that night, he also remarked that we are friends who have no fear of each other. So I will say, with the candour of a friend, that the outcome of the decision is a matter of deep interest to the United States. The tens of thousands of Americans who rest in Europe’s cemeteries are a silent testament to just how intertwined our prosperity and security truly are. And the path they choose now will echo in the prospects of today’s generation of Americans as well.

As citizens of the United Kingdom take stock of their relationship with the EU, they should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices—democracy, the rule of law, open markets—across the continent and to its periphery.

The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence—it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain’s global leadership; it enhances Britain’s global leadership. The United States sees how [Britain’s] powerful voice in Europe ensures that Europe takes a strong stance in the world and keeps the EU open, outward-looking and closely linked to its allies on the other side of the Atlantic. So the US and the world need its outsized influence to continue, including within Europe.

In this complicated, connected world, the challenges facing the EU—migration, economic inequality, the threats of terrorism and climate change—are the same challenges facing the United States and other nations. And in today’s world, even as we all cherish our sovereignty, the nations who wield their influence most effectively are the nations that do it through the collective

action that today’s challenges demand.

When we negotiated the historic deal to verifiably prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, it was collective action, working together with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, that got the job done. And the EU’s seat at the table magnified the United Kingdom’s voice.

When the climate agreement in Paris needed a push, it was the European Union, fortified by the United Kingdom, that ultimately helped make that agreement possible.

When it comes to creating jobs, trade and economic growth in line with our values, the UK has benefited from its membership in the EU—inside a single market that provides enormous opportunities for the British people. And the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the EU will advance our values and our interests and establish the high-standard, pro-worker rules for trade and commerce in the 21st century economy.

This kind of cooperation—from intelligence-sharing and counter-terrorism to forging agreements to create jobs and economic growth—will be far more effective if it extends across Europe. Now is a time for friends and allies to stick together.

Together the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union have turned centuries of war in Europe into decades of peace and worked as one to make this world a safer, better place. What a remarkable legacy that is. And what a remarkable legacy we will leave when, together, we meet the challenges of this young century as well.

On his way out: Obama boards Air Force One following his last official visit to the UK 2016 MAY / JUNE

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

LUCKY MAN British entrepreneur Mark Weingard has encountered more tragedy in his life than most but that has not stopped him from creating a luxury global hotel brand and his own charitable foundation

BY CHANELLE TOURISH

epending on which way you look at it, Mark Weingard is either the unluckiest man in the world or the luckiest. The former city trader and philanthropist narrowly escaped the September 11 attacks in New York, followed by the Bali bombings in 2002 and the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand in 2004.

Weingard, 49, the founder of the Bali-based charitable foundation Inspirasia, prefers to look at it from a positive perspective. “Focus on what you can do, not what has happened,” he says from his home in Malta.

His ill-fated story began on September 11, 2001 when Weingard—a former trader at Chemical Bank in London, now JP Morgan Chase— was due to attend a business meeting in Manhattan in the South Tower of the World Trade Centre.

Running late that day saved his life as Weingard just missed the second plane hitting the tower in the terrorist attack, which killed 23 employees in the office he was due to visit.

Just a year later, Weingard again found himself inadvertently caught up in another terrorist attack—the Bali nightclub bombing. At the time he was living in Singapore and it was an argument with his fiancee Annika Linden that prevented him from travelling with her to Bali, ultimately saving his life. Linden died in the blast, together with her group of friends celebrating a wedding. Only the bride Polly Brookes survived when terrorists bombed the Sari nightclub in Bali.

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Still reeling from his fiancee’s death, Weingard again confronted his own mortality in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which claimed more than 230,000 lives. At the time Weingard was living in Phuket, Thailand and was at home with friends when the wave hit. They managed to take refuge on the roof of his house and survived. While some might have suffered the after-effects of so much tragedy in such a short space of time, Weingard chose to fight back.

“They are either going to make you or break you,” he says.

“Luckily I bounced back.

I don’t know why. I think maybe because my father died when I was 10 years old so I learned to deal with crisis in a strange way and try not to think backwards.”

Since then, Weingard has not looked back. To this day, he refuses to watch any footage of the disasters. Instead, he has used the tragedies as fuel for expanding his business and creating his own charitable foundation.

The loss of his fiancee inspired him to create the Bali-based Annika Linden Foundation since renamed Inspirasia - to help children of the city’s bombing victims.

“The mission at the outset was to recognise Annika’s spirit and to do something with my life,” he says. “It has all been one interesting adventure.”

Weingard’s new appreciation for life transpires through his work. After the tsunami destroyed his home in Phuket, he decided to rebuild using world-class designers but this time created a luxury hotel in its place and named it Iniala.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

Inside Iniala's four luxury villas, which have become a celebrity magnet in Thailand

direct to charity, it would be a fortune."

“The whole idea was absolute madness,” he says. “I love hotels and I wanted to create something different and exciting. It is a The foundation is dedicated to funding and supporting beautiful project that is full of life and vitality.” projects in health and education for marginalised communities in Since then, the property has become one of Thailand’s most Thailand, Indonesia, India and Malta. It supports organisations sought-after hotels, with celebrities including financially and offers advice on how to make the Kardashians flocking to stay in one of its communities become more sustainable. Some four private villas, which costs on average up to of its latest projects have included helping “I want people to children with cerebral palsy, elderly stroke $2,000 per night. Although Iniala is a business understand that if venture for Weingard, it has a charitable arm victims and those in need of prosthetic limbs.

Weingard says he never imagined being in a which extends to helping fund projects in they give just one per position to help people. “I did not come from education, health and rehabilitation. Five per cent of their revenue a wealthy family. My father was a cab driver. cent of revenue from Iniala (amounting to approximately $1 million per year) is donated I was a fairly normal kid who had fun with direct to charity, it to the Inspirasia foundation. his friends. At the age of 18, I had never even would be a fortune” opened a champagne bottle,” he says.

“The foundation is the thing I am most proud of in my life,” he says. “Philanthropy is Weingard left his home in the UK at the a strange word. It is about helping and looking age of 20 and is confident he will never return for the root of problems rather than just giving. permanently. Today home is in the city of I want to teach people and be an inspiration. I want people to Valletta in Malta, where he hopes to become a citizen. He says understand that if they give just one per cent of their revenue he is on a mission to make Valletta “a world-class destination

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

within the next seven years”.

Admitting he is a serial risk-taker and likes nothing more than a challenge, Weingard says he wants to become “part of a movement”.

“I want to make a change and do projects that make a difference. I am 50 this year and by the time I am 57, I want to stop doing active investment and go into passive investment, where I am a board member and just direct projects.”

However, he is not throwing in the towel just yet and has several ventures in the pipeline, one of which is building three luxury houses in Barcelona worth between $11 million and $16 million each, with five per cent of the money being donated to charity. Weingard’s latest projects include opening a second Iniala hotel next year. While still focusing on the “small and personal aspect” and exclusivity that Iniala has become known

for, he says the new resort will be more affordable, with rates ranging from $200 to $2,250 per night. Other projects include building residential apartments, an office block, multiple restaurants, shops and luxury homes.

“I have enjoyed travelling the world. I am a nomad,” says Weingard. “I hope to live until I am 76 because that means I am three-quarters through my life. The first quarter of my life I was at school, the second I built my businesses, the third quarter I built a foundation and did some fantastic projects. Hopefully the last quarter I can [use to] travel the world teaching charitable causes and just enjoy the last lap.”

For Weingard, it is not about being lucky or unlucky, it is about not giving up. “If someone throws a ball at you, hard, the best thing you can do is hold out a bat and that ball will go back a long way,” he says. “But some of it is luck.”

Weingard's foundation Inspirasia helps disadvantaged communities in Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malta

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Photo courtesy of Team Sager

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Make a difference by being the difference Discover how we turn local involvement into global impact Global Citizen Foundation supports education research and empowers sustainable development around the world. To find out more about us or to join our cause, please visit www.global-citizen.org.

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2016 MAY / JUNE 33 Involve.

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2016 JAN / FEB

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DIALLED IN Tecom has evolved into a juggernaut shaping the face of media and technology in Dubai

BY TAHIRA YAQOOB

hen the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum transformed Dubai from a tiny desert settlement into a commercial hub, his focus was on creating a bustling shipping and trading port essential to commerce around the world.

The current ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has continued that vision to create a global hub on par with the world’s most vibrant centres of trade. But there is a key difference; the current ruler’s strategy is less tangible but just as forward-thinking.

Its essence is a knowledge-based economy and the creation of a framework for digital, technological, media and design companies to flourish. The umbrella organisation for those aspirations is the Tecom Group, itself a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, which is majority-owned by Sheikh Mohammed.

Most of those living and working in Dubai associate Tecom with a small burgeoning residential neighbourhood in the city. The reality is mind-boggling by contrast: Tecom - which stands for technology, electronic commerce and media - is a vast structure comprised of 11 free zones and business communities with more than 4,650 affiliated companies and a workforce of 74,000.

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“Our story has been an integral part of the Dubai story,” says Tecom chief executive Amina al Rustamani.

The foundations laid for Tecom with the launch of Dubai Internet City in 1999 are still flourishing and one of the sectors that has witnessed the greatest change is media, which makes up nearly half of all Tecom enterprises.

Sharjah-born Mohammed Abdullah, the Emirati managing director of the media cluster, recalls a time when there was “just a shy representation of these companies to serve Dubai and the UAE”.

The former vice president of CNBC Arabia started his career as a reporter and producer for Abu Dhabi TV in the 1980s.

“The BBC and CNN had reporters going in and out at that time. Only Reuters had an office here in Hamarain,” he says.

“There were some international players but not much in the way of local or regional media. With the establishment of Media City, these companies first started to move here and establish their businesses. Those who were here expanded to cover their operations and activities inside and outside the UAE.” Internet City, founded 17 years ago, was the first of the ventures representing the new face of Dubai. This was not long after broadband had become available globally and the power of

BUSINESS

the internet was still relatively nascent. Yet Dubai officials were early adopters keen to embrace emerging technologies and attract new talent.

Together with Dubai Outsource Zone where Du telecoms firm, Emirates airline and the Jumeirah hotel group have bases - Internet City forms the technology cluster. Last year marked 15 years since its neighbour Media City, an amalgam of news organisations, broadcasters and public relations firms, was inaugurated. Its original 99 companies in that first year now number more than 2,000.

Sister quarters soon followed. The media cluster now includes Dubai Studio City, a 22 million sq ft space with stateof-the-art film and TV equipment, and the International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) to cater to the media industry’s printing and publishing needs. Knowledge Village and Academic City followed in an education cluster while Dubai Design District (D3) is the latest addition to the family in a bold attempt to carve a new fashion, art and design sector.

But it all started, says Abdullah, with Internet City and “Dubai’s positioning as a hub for exporting and importing goods. The idea was to shift that concept into an industry that was not related to trade.”

Media firms began to use their bases in Dubai to serve a wider region from Asia and Africa to Europe.

TV producers who previously sourced experienced staff from Egypt and Lebanon no longer had to look further afield for

seasoned workers; the expansion created a large pool of available talent.

But the media zone also had an impact on “the shape of the outcome and content”, says Abdullah, through news gatherers and producers having a better understanding of the region and an improved skillset.

“I have been in the industry for 35 years and it has changed,” he says. “Before 2001, there were two or three local TV stations.

Now there is an increased number of employees and talent working in companies and a transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise.”

Major Arab broadcaster MBC is one of those success stories. Launched in London in 1991, it moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2002, where it operates 10 television channels.

“It was a very brave action to move its operation but it made sense,” says Abdullah. “That is proven by the growth it is seeing today.”

Tecom’s emphasis is on partnerships between different clusters. The group previously ran business speed-dating sessions to matchmake between similar industries and its latest venture is the Innovation Hub, a 1.6 million sq ft space promoting entrepreneurs and start-ups in the technology sector.

“We call Tecom a one-stop shop,” says Abdullah. “For media companies today, the most important thing is the interaction with either your suppliers or your clients. The concept of creating zones of related activities like IT and education means it is not just one segment—it is the whole value chain.”

“We call Tecom a one-stop shop”

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AN ARABIAN GEM Abdulla al Suwaidi has come up with innovative ways to revive the UAE’s pearl farming industry

BY RACHAEL TAYLOR

This all, however, came to an abrupt halt in the 1920s when the Arabian pearl industry, which was still relying on the lottery of men diving into the ocean in search of wild oysters, was superseded by Japan’s culturing techniques that used a farm of oysters impregnated with irritants guaranteed to make them produce a pearl almost every time.

This lost chapter of the Emirates’ cultural identity was never far from the mind of Abdulla Al Suwaidi, whose grandfather was one of the last Arabic pearl divers to make his living through the incredibly dangerous voyages on pearling boats. “All I heard when I was a child was about the suffering of my ancestors,” says Al Suwaidi, who kickstarted a one-man mission to revive

Photography by Jerry Balloch

or thousands of years the Arabian Gulf was the beating heart of the global pearl trade. Just like the precious fabrics travelling out to the world on the Silk Road in the northern hemisphere, the sub-aqueous gems unearthed from the Gulf formed their own important trade route in the southern hemisphere, flowing through the hands of traders in India, Basra and Istanbul to reach European royalty.

This pearling legacy stretches back thousands of years—the world’s oldest pearl is Arabic, a 7,500-year-old gem found at a neolithic site in Umm al Quwain in 2012—and up until the 1950s the region was supplying more than 70 per cent of the world’s natural pearls.

Abdulla Al Suwaidi with his pearl collection

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BUSINESS

Al Suwaidi’s pearl farm in Ras al Khaimah has produced pearls for some of the world’s top jewellery houses

the trade when he opened a cultured pearl farm in Ras al Khaimah in 2004.

“But there was also the joy that came from opening a shell and getting a pearl. I got this passion from my grandfather. Since I was 13 years old, I have been thinking about making this a success. It is my social and cultural responsibility.”

While Arabian pearls cultured by Al Suwaidi have graced collections created by major international jewellery houses, including Van Cleef and Arpels and Mouawad, the project has been held back by funding issues. Running a pearl farm is expensive, with the oysters and the water they live in requiring constant cultivation to create the perfect environment to deliver the best pearls.

Al Suwaidi’s company, Arabian Pearl Holdings, has received funding from the government in Ras Al Khaimah and is currently in talks with investors to reinforce its coffers. But an investment in a tourism project at the site of the farm that failed to take off took its toll and lengthy expansion plans to open a sister farm in the Red Sea had to be put on hold due to the current conflict in Yemen.

At its most productive the farm was turning out 40,000 pearls a year and employed 17 people. This has since dropped to 5,000 pearls a year and a staff of five as the business accumulated a substantial stockpile.

But Al Suwaidi has plans for his Arabian pearls and next year could be the tipping point in his scheme to rebuild what he likes to call the Pearl Road—an international trading route for pearls that once again places the Middle East firmly at its centre.

As well as establishing two Arabian Pearl Holdings wholesale jewellery brands—one prestige, one mid-market—Al Suwaidi has linked up with London-based jewellery designers including Stephen Webster, Leo de Vroomen and Tomasz Donocik to collaborate on trendsetting designs incorporating Arabian pearls. The project has seen two designs released to date and is being coordinated by the company’s marketing director Alex Gregory-Peake, who has previously worked with The Tanzanite Foundation, Boucheron, Harrods and Swarovski.

“My eyes are not only on Europe,” says Al Suwaidi, who notes that today’s Pearl Road would be a much more globalised affair than the linear lines of the route of old, flagging the US as a particularly important market for pearls.

“China, Australia and even Japan are new to pearling but we are different. We have been doing it for thousands of years. The founders of brands owned by companies like Richemont and LVMH used to travel by camels for thousands of miles to get to the traders here.”

“Since I was 13 years old, I have been thinking about making this a success. It is my social and cultural responsibility”

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ENTREPRENEUR

THE BRED ENTREPRENEUR Dubbed one of the most powerful women in Britain, Coffee Republic co-founder Sahar Hashemi now passes on what she learned to a new breed of entrepreneurs

BY TAHIRA YAQOOB

ahar Hashemi is running late. She was hit by the creative muse that morning, she explains, and rather than fighting it went with the flow, penning the first chapter of her new book.

It will be a kind of Lean In for entrepreneurs about “the female brain—because I think the qualities people used to make fun of are qualities that are becoming really essential in business— the empathy we naturally have, the fact we communicate and network the whole time and the fact we are shopaholics. Those are qualities that are going to set people apart now.”

British entrepreneur Hashemi, 48, is well qualified to know.

Back in the 1990s, when the phenomenon of coffeeshop chains was still a novelty in the UK, she brought the concept from

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the US and with her brother Bobby, founded one of the first chains of coffee bars in the UK. Coffee Republic became such a runaway success with 110 outlets nationwide and a turnover of $44 million that it grew bigger than either of them had envisaged, taking them further away from the dream they originally had as entrepreneurs. Disillusioned, they both left in 2001 and within a few years, the company ran into trouble, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy and scaling back its expansion plans.

London-based Hashemi has since dabbled in other startups—she also founded the successful low-fat confectionery brand Skinny Candy in 2005, selling it two years later—but her main focus now is as a motivational speaker and author, running workshops for would-be entrepreneurs and, with her third book underway, teaching them that anything is possible and never to take ‘no’ for an answer. She has also accumulated a host of accolades, including an OBE from the Queen in 2012 for services to the UK economy and charity, was named one of the top 10 original thinkers by Director magazine and one of the 20 most powerful women in Britain by the Independent on Sunday newspaper.

Her mantra—and the title of her first book, penned with Bobby and called Anyone Can Do It—must have the likes of Richard Branson and executives from Apple clasping their foreheads in horror. Hashemi argues there is nothing special about entrepreneurs and they are “bred, not born”. In Anyone Can Do It, the Hashemis write: “Legend and conventional wisdom have made us believe that unless you are a swashbuckling extrovert who has loved business since kindergarten (preferably making your first million selling sweets in the playground) and are somehow blessed with otherworldly skills, then starting up on your own is not an option…Rubbish. All sorts of people start businesses and all sorts of people thrive after doing so.”

Hashemi’s workshops and books—her second was called Switched On—follow the same doctrine. Her books are effectively a manual in which she distills all the lessons she learned the hard way, as well as spelling out the need for a business plan, finance and research, particularly when—as she and her brother did—venturing into a field they had no experience of. She says entrepreneurs succeed because they

Image courtesy of Getty Images

ENTREPRENEUR

Hashemi regrets selling her first start-up Coffee Republic

maintain the passion and enthusiasm for their brand many big businesses forget to nurture.

Tehran-born Hashemi, who moved to the UK with her late parents after the Iranian revolution of 1979, admits she regrets selling Coffee Republic and it was partly the invasion of a big business mentality as the company grew that left her disenchanted: “No one had time to go and have a cup of coffee.

Those 10 minutes would have been so rich, full of seeing what was wrong with what we were giving customers and yet no one had time.”

The old guard, she says, believed in setting up an enterprise then quickly selling it. Her businesses suffered from listening to the wrong people about how to progress, she adds.

“I thought being a start-up was a phase you grew out of and that you should get the suits in. I now see we were wrong.

We thought the professionals could take care of it.”

She says the entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the product is essential to keeping a company going and surviving in a competitive market—something Coffee Republic struggled to do after the Hashemis’ departure as Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa expanded exponentially.

“I think the founder has a special attachment to the company and by leaving, you take a lot of DNA out of the company.”

In Switched On, she condensed the lessons she had learned into eight crucial habits to maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, even as a company expands. They include the notion that entrepreneurial behaviour is for big organisations at every level, not just start-ups, stepping into customers’ shoes, getting out of

the office to inspire creativity and what she calls “the importance of being clueless”—being wary of getting so set in your ways, you miss new opportunities.

And she and Bobby, now aged 50, were clueless when they started Coffee Republic, shortly after their father’s death made them rethink their lives. Both turned their backs on a career in the rat race—Hashemi was a lawyer, her brother an investment banker—and the idea was born because Hashemi was opining the lack of skinny cappuccinos and fat-free muffins in the UK capital. Similarly, Skinny Candy was conceived because she was looking for low-calories sweets and chocolates and could not find anything to suit. It made the brother and sister the perfect pairing for their joint venture: she was the ideal customer and Bobby, who went on to found the London pizza chain Pizza Union, was the business brain.

“You immerse yourself as if it was a swimming pool, dig in for three months and learn everything,” says Hashemi.

“Quite quickly you become an expert.”

Philanthropy plays its part in their ventures. A portion of royalties from Anyone Can Do It went to the Prince’s Trust, Prince Charles’s charity supporting young disadvantaged people in business, while Hashemi became a patron of Child Bereavement UK after her mother died seven years ago. She also fronted a Skills for Business government campaign in 2004.

She hopes her next book will herald the qualities women contribute to business: “We are not shouting about it enough.

There are certainly qualities innate in the female brain which lend particularly well to entrepreneurship.”

“There are certainly qualities innate in the female brain which lend particularly well to entrepreneurship”

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SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES The Abdulrazak sisters broke the mould with their all-female family business—and they are as tight as their brand name suggests

BY AMANDA FISHER

hen they were little girls, Rasha, Hind and Sara Abdulrazak were masters of manipulation. They would often armtwist their Emirati father into taking them into his furniture company offices instead of school.

Perhaps it is a sign that they were always cut out to be highflying business leaders because two decades on, they are at the helm of Sisters Beauty Lounge, an empire that has enjoyed a fast-paced trajectory.

Together with their Iranian mother Shirin, they have overseen its expansion to 10 outlets under three different brands and a burgeoning number of franchises.

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Collectively they preside over a staff of 250.

“We have been raised with entrepreneurial parents since we were born,” says Sara, now 29. She is the youngest of the three; Hind is now 31 and Rasha 33.

Their father, she says, was “so easily swayed” when they were younger.

“My mum would call him and be like, ‘Why am I hearing the kids in the background—why are they not at school?’”

“We were persuasive salespeople even back then,” chimes in Hind.

Shirin, a lifelong entrepreneur, started Sisters Beauty Lounge

FAMILY BUSINESS

in Dubai in 2004 and her daughters joined one after another.

The matriarch of the family studied fashion design in Paris and showed her entrepreneurial streak when she started the first UAE uniform business in the 1980s. Her daughters, exposed to business from an early age, spent their school holidays helping out in this store.

Sara says: “I loved to be in the office and to sell to customers.

We were always in and out of their businesses growing up without realising we were part of the business operational structure.”

Without a male heir, adds Hind, they were natural successors to their father’s portfolio.

“Culturally passing a business on to a boy is very important,” she says.

“We are three girls so naturally our father passed it on to his daughters. He had no boys. That was a catalyst to bringing us up in an environment of business, which a lot of girls would not have got the chance to do.”

So strong is the Abdulrazak entrepreneurial gene, say the sisters, that even when their parents dropped two of them off at university in Boston, where they both studied at Bentley University’s business school, they came back with a franchise for the Bombay Company furniture store.

Despite the environment they grew up in, there was never any pressure to become scions of the family companies.

“There was absolutely no expectation we would join the family business,” says Sara. “Our parents wanted us to do our own thing and get our own experience and learning and the life lessons we needed.”

All three women joined large semi-governmental businesses first. Rasha started working for Dubai International Financial Centre, Hind joined Emaar, where she stayed for six years, becoming the last to join the family company in 2011 and Sara spent two years with Tecom Investments.

The family dynamic has helped them be brutally honest with one another.

“If you are working with colleagues there is always a bit of you that cannot say exactly what you mean and if you do, it can be taken the wrong way,” says Hind.

Sara adds: “With family we can be a bit more blunt. You can have very open conversations and discuss every detail of your business.”

But they are careful not to bring work home with them and have a strict no-business-at-the-dinner-table rule.

“We have also set the company up so we are not stepping on each other’s toes. Our mother is without a doubt the visionary and can be a bit eccentric, Sara is business-minded and brings her down to earth. I am a little more on the creative side,” says Hind.

“We are three girls so naturally our father passed it on to his daughters”

Sara and Hind Abdulrazak

Rasha, who is now juggling four children, acts as a sounding board and mystery shopper. Her children are also going to be testers for their newest child-focused company. The women have been canny spotting gaps in the market. The Sisters Beauty Lounge was the first salon in Dubai to provide multiple services—hair, nails, massage, waxing services—all under one roof.

In 2012, six months after she joined, Hind spearheaded the opening of Caboodle, a ‘play and pamper’ space aimed at children and young people. The business offers spa activities, workshops and a cafe catering for the whole family.

This has meant overwhelming interest from potential franchisees, with about 10 inquiries a week initially. A branch is expected to open in Qatar while Sisters has a franchise in Kazakhstan at the behest of an eager client.

With so many irons in the fire, the women are showing no signs of resting on their laurels just yet and are hoping “to take our brand from the Arab world and send it out there – instead of the other way around, which tends to be what happens.”

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FORTE-TUDE Legendary hotelier Sir Rocco Forte is expanding in the Middle East and aims to become the go-to name for luxury hotels in Italy

BY TAHIRA YAQOOB

When you get to my age, you have done most things so business is the most exciting thing. You are creating something that is your heritage,” says Sir Rocco Forte.

At the age of 71, the legendary British hotelier is showing no signs of slowing down and, with an expansion of his eponymous hotel empire underway, including his first site in Saudi Arabia, he is a long way from retiring. He is looking dapper in a sandcoloured suit and gold tie, which seem to be a nod to the desertand-glitz anomaly that is Dubai, works out with a personal trainer five times a week and cycles and runs regularly. He only gave up competing in triathlons five years ago.

But if he has a lot of running to do, it is to keep up with often precarious and tricky negotiations in many of the regions he hopes to branch into, the changes technology and new development have brought to his industry and, most importantly, to keep pace with his two young daughters, who have already joined the family business and will no doubt one day run his empire. Lydia Forte, 28, oversees the catering side of the hotel portfolio while her sister Irene, 26, looks after the

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Forte brand. They have already brought in new innovations inspired by their own lifestyles, such as improved spas, a Rocco Forte Nourish healthy menu and low-fat minibar snacks. Their recently graduated brother Charles, 23, is expected to join the fold within 18 months.

“It is the most exciting thing because they are an extension of yourself and have all the enthusiasm of youth, which adds a sort of zest to the company,” says Sir Rocco.

“Healthy living is an important factor and my children are very into that. I am not on all this social media stuff but they already have hundreds and thousands of followers.

“People are fed up of talking to me but they can talk to my daughters in a different way about other interests and on different types of media. From that point of view it is great.”

While his daughters bring a youthful vibrancy to the Rocco Forte Hotels group, the company founder is avowedly old school.

He grumbles when he cannot operate the iPad-controlled room settings in his suite in Dubai’s Armani Hotel—“I have an iPad but I never use it”—and prefers the old way of doing things,

FAMILY BUSINESS

when a gentleman’s handshake was as good as his word.

“It happens rather differently now. It is a shame actually,” he says over gnocchi, burrata and brandade in the salubrious Cipriani restaurant in Dubai International Financial Centre.

“Everything is so hard-nosed. Things are too much about money for the sake of money.

“A lot of investments are about 15 per cent IRRs [internal rates of return, used to measure profitability]. Merchant banks only care about the fees they are going to earn. They do not care if you do a good or a bad deal whereas in the old days they cared, there were long-term plans, they gave you the right advice. It might come back but I doubt it.”

He is pragmatic rather than cynical, though, particularly considering the Fortes have had their fingers burned more than once. His father, Baron Charles Forte, spent 60 years building the multibillion dollar hotel and leisure conglomerate Forte Group, only to have his legacy snatched away in 1995 with a $5.6 billion hostile takeover bid by the UK television production firm Granada. The portfolio of 800 hotels—including the George V and the Plaza Athenee in Paris and the Ritz in Madrid, as well as 1,000 restaurants—was unrivalled in its profitability but was broken up almost overnight and sold off, says Sir Rocco, for “less than they paid for it. It was a complete waste of time”.

For Sir Rocco, who had only succeeded his father as chairman four years earlier, it was a devastating blow but he immediately got to work seeing if he could buy back the four and five-star hotels amid rumours Granada planned to sell them. Left with $511 million from the takeover, he began fundraising. The $1.5 billion he raised over five months came too late to buy back the hotels but it was enough to get him started from scratch with his own luxury hotel brand in 1997. Four years later, he was allowed to use the Forte family trademark once again.

“I had a period of thinking, ‘what do I do?’ There were six or seven months when I could not do a deal and nothing materialised,” he says now.

“Eventually the Balmoral [hotel in Edinburgh] came along. It had been there for three or four months and I had not managed

to agree a price. Eventually I found a way of raising my price and went to see the bank. I gave the guy my spiel, he went upstairs, came down with the managing director and we shook hands there and then.”

His portfolio of 11 luxury hotels now includes the Assila in Jeddah, set to open in September. It is new turf for Sir Rocco after a failed attempt to expand into the Middle East with an Abu Dhabi site. He only lasted there for two years, pulling out in 2013 amid complaints it was in the wrong location and promised development nearby never happened. Before the Arab Spring, he toured Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and had six Middle Eastern projects in his sights, including a refurbishment of Cairo’s Shepheard Hotel, but most are now on hold.

“Jeddah is the only hotel to remain,” he says. “Once the hotel opens, we will have a calling card in this part of the world.”

He is tempted by Oman’s “beautiful scenery—there is a lot you could do there” but does not have “a vision for what I would do in Dubai which is different to other hotels”.

Meanwhile, he has hired a development director for the first time to allow himself more time to act as an ambassador for the brand and reinvigorate the company, which was hard hit in the 2008 recession with sales dropping by 40 per cent year on year.

Sir Rocco also has his eye on New York and Marrakech but it is his father’s Italian roots which are proving the biggest lure. He wants Rocco Forte Hotels to become “the Italian luxury chain right across Italy” and take his portfolio up to 30 hotels with sites in Milan, Venice, the Amalfi coast and Sicily, where it already has a presence with his golf resort. In return for 23 per cent of the company, the sovereign wealth fund Fondo will invest an estimated $344 million in hotel acquisitions and renovations. After a lull in fortunes, it will come as a welcome return to expanding rather than simply treading water.

“I think I could still keep the existing ethos and have a really worthwhile company,” he says. “I have a strong sense of Italy and after the UK, know Italy as a country best. I am excited about it. I have no plans to retire. While I have got the energy, I want to keep busy.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

DESIGNS ON INTERIORS Construction might be in Nuaman Soufraki’s blood but instead of following in the footsteps of his property magnate father, he is carving his own path designing luxury interiors

BY TRISKA HAMID

n his first day working as a graduate for his father’s construction firm, Nuaman Soufraki thought he would end up working in the head office and so dressed the part, showing up in a smart suit, shirt and tie. He need not have bothered. His father Hussein, founder of the HNS Group construction firm, with a property portfolio stretching from Canada to Turkey, sent him to work on a building site.

It should not have come as a surprise as Soufraki junior’s upbringing was one of discipline and hard work. He honed his project management skills, doing everything from wheeling around cement to drawing up the accounts.

Today, Soufraki is the man behind Cairo’s Gabriel hotel and is also launching his own interior design company, taking with him the experiences he garnered working in his father’s firm.

He was born in Tripoli, Libya, before his family emigrated in 1978.

He attended boarding school from the age of four in Malta, where he was the youngest pupil in the school.

“That is where my life began. I became very independent from a very young age,” says Soufraki.

For the next 12 years, he went through the boarding school education system in the UK before his family relocated to Canada.

“The internet did not exist at the time and I had not heard much about Canada,” he says. “I saw pictures of woods and thought I would be in a village. I was there for two years and the whole concept of living with family – I could not bear it, we had more rules and regulations being in a Muslim family than I had at school.”

Family pressures were too much for Soufraki, who at the age of 17 decided to pack his bags and escape in the middle of

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a blizzard. He had stuffed his belongings in bin bags and left at 3am with two taxis he had booked – one for him, the other for his luggage.

He turned up at a young people’s shelter who informed him that he was not staying at the Ritz and assigned him a small locker for his belongings while the rest was kept in the office.

“I lasted two or three days and got myself a job as a sales rep for Encyclopaedia Britannica,” he says. “I was hungry to make a point and the woman who hired me trained me to become regional manager for the whole state of Ontario.”

By this point, his father had cut him off and threatened to disown any of his seven siblings who contacted him. Eight months later, his father invited him back to the family house and instructed him to get a degree in international business in London.

“I was a bit of a rebel as a teenager.

I am a middle child and was a revolutionary. I paved the way for the rest of my siblings,” he says.

Soufraki eventually towed the line by completing his degree and enrolled in the family business, slowly working his way up. The family owns a mansion in Heliopolis in Cairo where his brother Salah Din Soufraki, known as Dino, designed the local shopping mall.

That was also Soufraki’s first major design project. The Gabriel is a boutique hotel and forms part of the mall complex.

“My brother asked me what my ambition was in life,” says Soufraki. “I told him to design a lifestyle hotel and to take that brand all over the world. He mentioned there was space for a hotel and I jumped on it. I was so excited, I was conceptualising ideas for the space before I had seen it.”

ENTREPRENEUR

The Gabriel hotel in Cairo

Soufraki developed the name and overall design of the hotel, choosing every detail from the bathrobes down to the cutlery.

The Gabriel opened in 2012 and has since amassed several awards, including one for high-end design from the World Luxury Hotel awards.

“The challenges I had working in Cairo were definitely unique,” he says. “I was trying to source a carpenter and went to meet one in Maadi [district]. We sat with his family and my driver drinking tea and a lamb and baby camel went by. I thought, this would never happen in London.”

The fall in tourism amid fears about security has had a devastating impact on the hotel sector in Egypt. While Soufraki still maintains managerial control over the Gabriel, he is hoping to expand on his interior design ambitions instead.

“I never did a degree in interior design, it was more a passion I had,” he says.

His enthusiasm began during his student years, when he showed more interest in art than his business degree. He would also design the show flats for his father’s residential projects in London, which would be the first ones to sell.

“That was when my passion started and my apartment was featured in the 25 most beautiful apartments by Tatler,” he says.

But while the economy is suffering, the well-heeled still have cash to spend. Soufraki is planning to have showrooms in both Cairo and London, which he plans to finish by September.

The eponymous Nuaman Soufraki Interiors aims to add his personal touch to designs.

“People will hopefully hire me for a particular lifestyle that I sell,” he says. “My inspirations come from everywhere—travel, magazines, places I stay. I cannot sleep at night sometimes if I start thinking about designs.”

“I was a bit of a rebel as a teenager. I paved the way for the rest of my siblings”

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ENTREPRENEUR

A BITE OF THE START-UP CHERRY In three years, the food delivery app Deliveroo has grown from a two-man startup to a global empire in 12 countries and 65 cities with a staff of 5,000

BY RYAN YOUNG

Will Shu

t was a grumbling belly that inspired Will Shu, then an investment banker with Morgan Stanley, to come up with the notion of Deliveroo. The food delivery app connects hungry customers wanting a decent takeaway meal to a global network of drivers, who then pick up food from their favourite restaurant and bring it to their door.

The company’s co-founder Shu came up with the idea after he was transferred from New York to London in 2004 and quickly became disenchanted with the range and unreliability of food he could order to his office. From that seed grew a business which now serves thousands of hungry customers in 65 cities on three continents, with orders increasing tenfold since January last year. The service has just launched in Dubai and is poised to spread across the Middle East.

“In my former life I worked very long and tough days and I got introduced to the wonderful world of food deliveries,” says the 36-year-old entrepreneur.

“In New York you can get anything you want delivered, any time. In London, I immediately noticed there were really no good food delivery options. I was hungry.”

Existing delivery services such as Just Eat did not match up to his experience in New York, he says. “There was no great food quality, the delivery time was all over the place – it could take 40 minutes or two hours – and I was left with a very bad customer experience.”

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It sparked the idea for Deliveroo, which operates as a gobetween. Rather than relying on restaurants' often patchy in-house delivery service like so many other apps, Deliveroo employs a global network of more than 5,000 delivery drivers to pick up the food and deliver it to your door. This both speeds up and standardises delivery times—and means for the first time, customers can order from restaurants which do not offer a delivery service.

It took some time for the sapling of an idea to bear fruit.

Shu spent three years at Morgan Stanley in New York before moving to London, then transferred to a hedge fund two years later. It was not until 2010 that he abruptly walked away from life in the City.

“I had a disconnect from my work,” says Shu. “It was just about money and nothing else, which I did not find very satisfying.”

Looking for a new direction, the Connecticut native enrolled in a two-year business masters degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His return to the US gave him the chance to reconnect with his childhood friend Greg Orlowski, a software developer who brought Deliveroo to life on screen.

The pair launched the business in London in February 2013 targeting individual neighbourhoods first. For the first few weeks, Shu was the only delivery driver, a role he kept up for

ENTREPRENEUR

seven months, pounding the pavement for six-hour shifts seven days a week.

“I did it because I wanted to understand exactly what the interaction was between the restaurant, the delivery guy and the customer,” he says.

At the beginning of last year, Deliveroo began expanding across cities in the UK, launching internationally soon afterward.

Initially self-financed, the businesses has now attracted more than $100 million in investment. Shu says he was never nervous and cites the firm’s consistent growth of 25 per cent per month for the past 36 months.

“You have to be prepared to take risks, to jump straight in,” he says.

Today the business operates in 36 cities in the UK and another 29 worldwide with markets outside Europe including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. The fleet of more than 5,000 delivery people are dubbed “Roowomen” and “Roomen”.

However, Orlowski bowed out of the business in February this year for what Shu describes as “personal reasons”.

“We grew up together so of course I am

sad,” says Shu. “The company would not exist without him.”

Shu puts the company’s success down to being “in the right place at the right time”.

He says: “What is very clear is that around the world there is a global demand for better delivery services. It is the same message in every market.”

When expanding, the main considerations are population density, the quality of restaurants in the area and, as Shu puts it, a “certain level of affluence”.

He plans to focus on customer interaction and sustaining existing markets rather than increasing exponentially. Shu describes his offering as a lifestyle concept revolutionising the way we eat.

“You can use Deliveroo three times a day,” he says. “It has been very interesting to see how people's lives can change so quickly. For me, it is really about a personal story. The reason we started is because I was unhappy about getting not-great food. It is not just a passion for food but for convenience – and technology is a way to solve that problem.”

“It is not just a passion for food but for convenience – and technology is a way to solve that problem”

Deliveroo is available in more than 65 cities globally through its app

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PHILANTHROPY

GATEWAY TO CHANGE Dr Valerie Bemo, who helms crisis response teams for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tells how those in need can be the greatest teachers

BY ZOI CONSTANTINE

ven as a teenager growing up in Cameroon, Valerie Nkamgang Bemo had an altruistic streak. While other girls her age, including her siblings, enjoyed the school holidays, she would leave her city life behind and decamp to a village to live and work alongside rural families.

“Going to a village and living for two weeks with farmers, sleeping where they slept, cooking the way they cook, you learn so much and I started to be passionate about that,” says Dr Bemo on a visit to Dubai. “Nobody encouraged me to do that. I did it myself.”

While her family were always supportive of her choices, it was this innate drive to help others that led her to train as a medical doctor and from there to a career in international aid and development—work that has taken her around the world over the last two decades.

“As a dreamer, I always did my medical work to help. I didn’t start initially with humanitarian work, I started with

the development response and then more and more it ended up that they were sending me to where there were crises and outbreaks,” she says.

“I think by doing my medical degree I always wanted to be able to help around the world. That was a dream as a kid, to help—more than to make money.”

After working for NGOs primarily across Africa, eight years ago Bemo moved to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she is now senior programme officer for emergency response. The multi-billion dollar endowment launched 16 years ago by the Microsoft founder and his wife supports development initiatives in more than 100 countries, from efforts to eradicate diseases such as polio to helping poor farmers grow more crops.

Bemo’s remit is slightly different. Working on emergencies, she straddles the divide between the main long-term development efforts of the Seattle-based foundation and its humanitarian relief response.

Makeshift refugee camps on the Syrian/Jordian border

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PHILANTHROPY

challenges facing the displaced.

“The foundation is not humanitarian by definition, we are more long-term development,” she says. “We recognise the In Lebanon the foundation is working to improve poor need to respond when people are in need but we also look at sanitation through a project to develop new latrines—and in it as an opportunity. If we say that all life is of equal value, in the process perhaps turn waste into energy, fertiliser or even emergency situations these lives also have equal value, so [we usable water. The new latrines will be tested later this year. look at] how can we take our long-term innovative methods “And if it is working, guess what? It is not just for humanitarian to improve the way we are doing the day-to-day humanitarian emergencies or for refugees, it would help the whole society,” response.” she says, sitting in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton DIFC, a world Bemo’s work can involve providing emergency grants to away from the crowded settlements she had visited just days before. “These are the things I think are a big opportunity if partners in the immediate aftermath of a humanitarian disaster we can find the right solution.” or introducing innovations proven in a development setting and adapting them to a crisis situation. That Bemo is in the UAE for the annual might mean the quick introduction of a Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and new vaccine during a disease outbreak or Development conference, which this year something as simple as encouraging the focused on aid and innovation, a subject practice of skin-to-skin contact for mothers close to the ethos of the Gates foundation.

Innovation, she believes, does not have to and newborns during a crisis.

One ongoing emergency that Bemo has mean new technological advances but could been working on recently is the massive be something as simple as listening to others Syrian refugee crisis. After five years of and acknowledging there might be different conflict, more than 4.8 million Syrian ways to approach a problem. refugees have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, “I think understanding that as you Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. Meanwhile Syrians progress, you learn a bit more every day continue to attempt to reach Europe, and you should be flexible enough in your mind to accept sometimes you learn more adding to the hundreds of thousands who have already risked their lives to get to from people who are in the middle of a countries such as Germany. crisis situation [by] thinking about them Bemo recently travelled to Jordan and and listening to them,” she says.

“Sometimes you learn Lebanon to visit Syrian refugee camps, “Learning that humility is the key to where she saw for herself the multitude of what we are doing in the day-to-day.” more from people who

are in the middle of a crisis situation [by] thinking about them and listening to them”

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PHILANTHROPY

CHANGING FACES Masarrat Misbah is helping Pakistani women who have been scarred by acid attacks

BY SHEEMA KHAN

iaz Bano fixes me with her one working eye and describes how her body is being reconstructed, one painful surgery at a time. The 55-year-old sits on a bench at an office in Karachi as she uncovers the right side of her face to expose burnt skin where there was once an ear. “All the way down to my neck, shoulders, my chest, arms, hands and even my back—all burnt,” she says.

She is one of the 700 victims of acid attacks being treated by the non-governmental foundation Depilex Smileagain Foundation (DSF), run by beautician and philanthropist Masarrat Misbah.

Bano calls Misbah ‘bhaji’ (sister) and says: “Bhaji made me who I am today. I cannot stop praying for her.” Before she ended up at DSF, she did not go out in public because she was so embarrassed about her looks. Today she works at an animal rescue organisation as a cleaner.

Her story is depressingly familiar: after the mother-of-four was widowed, she remarried but says her new husband took a dislike to her daughter, then aged 16, so she married her off in a bid to control the situation. Little did she know this would anger him further and result in him disfiguring her in an acid attack.

His first attempt was only four days after her daughter’s marriage. He brought her a cup of tea laced with acid, which she did not drink. In his second attempt, he mixed acid in her kohl, or eyeliner, which she failed to use. Finally he came home one afternoon with a bottle of acid in his hand, asked Bano to bring him a glass of water and when she returned, flung the acid over her.

Nor is the incident an isolated one. Acid attacks against

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women carried out by their husbands or male relatives have been widespread in Pakistan. Misbah’s foundation has helped multiple victims who have been left scarred for life with some even losing their private parts as a result. Misbah says this practice is usually inflicted upon women who do not give birth to a son. In other instances, men have thrown acid on women who rejected them. “I have a victim who was gang-raped and had acid thrown on her after that,” she says.

Although men have faced violence using acid, the numbers are minimal by comparison. “A woman threw acid on her father-in-law because he was trying to rape her. Maybe that is the only solution she found to saving herself,” says Misbah.

Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, thinks the problem worsened because “there was a tendency to belittle victims and ignore the attackers” but he says attitudes are changing gradually. “Young men need to accept women as their equals and misogynist characterisations of women must be replaced with recognition that men do not have the right to attack or disfigure women in the name of honour.”

Attitudes might be changing—but they undoubtedly have some way to go. When Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen ObaidChinoy won her nation’s first Oscar for her documentary Saving Face about acid attacks, then notched up a second Oscar last year with A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness about honour killings, the reaction was mixed. While some celebrated her success, there were critics in the wings who complained she was a “traitor” who had brought “shame” on her country.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

PHILANTHROPY

(HRCP), between 150 and 400 cases of acid attacks are reported in Pakistan every year. The noted lawyer and human rights activist Zia Awan says until there is political will to curb these acid attacks, perpetrators will continue to get away with it. “All sorts of laws exist to punish such people but implementation is missing,” she says.

Misbah, who has been in business for 35 years with 42 branches countrywide, got involved when she was about to leave her head office in Lahore one evening in 2003 and a girl clad in a black burqa entered. “She asked me to hear her and I asked her to come back the next day.” Instead the girl took off the veil that covered the face. “In front of me was a faceless person.

Her eyes and nose were gone and her neck and face were stuck together,” she says with tears in her eyes.

Misbah says the girl thought because she was a beautician, she could fix her face. “I told her it was not my job and that she should go to a doctor. But she shot back, ‘I cannot afford to go to a doctor’.”

Later, Misbah did get in touch with doctors to ask if they could help the young woman and that was the beginning of her foundation.

Then she placed an ad in a local newspaper, asking victims of acid attacks or kerosene oil burns to visit her. Two weeks later, 42 girls assembled in her office, most of them acid attack victims with only a few of them suffering from accidental burns. It was only then that she realised how common acids attacks are in the country. She officially registered her NGO in 2005 with the intention of helping all acid attack or kerosene oil burns

victims by giving them a job in one of her beauty salons and enlisting the help of local and foreign doctors to offer them plastic surgery.

Typically, she says each victim undergoes 30 to 40 surgeries. “We have even received victims with 20-year-old burns,” she says. The cost of each surgery starts from about $500, which is covered by DSF and gives the women rehabilitation, training or education, depending on their needs.

“We believe in raising awareness about the problem among the local community,” says Misbah.

“Pakistan still has people who think bringing publicity to these issues will bring a bad name to the country but I am glad there are many people who know about DSF and the work we are doing.”

Pakistan’s former minister of interior, Rehman Malik, has also been vocal about the need to raise awareness, especially in the country’s media. He says: “These acts are neither permitted by religion nor laws under the constitution of Pakistan.”

Misbah thinks female empowerment is key.

“Girls need to be educated.

Only then will they be able to understand their rights and which laws are there for their support.”

She points out that out of all of the women who have come to DSF, only six of them have taken their perpetrators to court.

“Due to familial and societal pressure, women often end up forgiving the criminals.” Her future plans include opening a shelter for women who have been subject to acid attacks and feel they have nowhere else to go.

“Pakistan still has people who think bringing publicity to these issues will bring a bad name to the country”

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ACTIVIST

BATTLING EXTREMISM Sara Khan co-founded Inspire as a channel to articulate British Muslim issues. The author and activist has a new battle on her hands with radicalisation and extremism on the rise

BY RYAN YOUNG

f the tragedies of recent months have reminded the world of anything, it is that the battle against extremism really does begin at home. In the UK, few can claim a higher profile in that fight than Sara Khan, the co-founder of Inspire, a nongovernmental organisation aimed squarely at countering the twin evils of extremism and gender inequality in the country's sizeable Muslim communities.

Following the sudden rise of the terrorist group Isis (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), Khan has been thrust further into the limelight as a figure of authority and a vocal opponent. Last year she was named one of Britain's 500 most influential people

Kham meets with British Muslim women to discuss extremism and women's inequalities 52

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by the publishers Debrett's, deemed an authority on the British way of life. In July Khan appeared alongside Caitlyn Jenner and Angelina Jolie-Pitt on the BBC Woman’s Hour power list.

Khan is the face of a grassroots organisation, founded from a kitchen in 2009 by a collective of Muslim women united by a need to tackle head-on the inequalities and indoctrinations they saw embedding in their own communities.

“A group of us realised that none of these so-called Muslim bodies represented us or our views,” says 36-year-old Khan.

“There was a real sense of frustration, of ordinary Muslim women deciding, ‘we have got to do something because the

ACTIVIST

current status quo is just not acceptable to us.’

“We had no money, no offices—all we had was passion.”

Still reliant on external funding, Inspire leads awareness campaigns, offers consultancy and training to public bodies and hosts workshops for marginalised young women. But the public profile comes from the distinct voice Khan offers to the ongoing media narrative, writing for leading UK publications including the Guardian and the New Statesman.

When, in February 2015, three schoolgirls left London to join Isis in Syria—just the latest in a string of hundreds of teenagers to fall under the group's indoctrinating rhetoric—London schools were sent a letter to read out to pupils. Addressed ‘dear sister’, that letter was penned by Khan. It was viewed 40,000 times within a day of going online and reprinted in newspapers across the world.

The key to Khan's approach was talking in a language young women could understand and in the words of a relatable British Muslim who shared similar experiences growing up. Born in the northern English city of Bradford to what she describes as an “ordinary Pakistani British family”, Khan's religion had always been an “important part of my identity”.

After school she studied pharmacy, something she admits was “more what my parents wanted me to do – quite an Asian thing”. After qualifying with a masters degree, Khan practiced as a pharmacist for several years before returning to university to study a masters in understanding and securing human rights.

At the age of 29 she stopped wearing a hijab because she “didn't feel it theologically resonated” anymore.

“As long as I can remember, I have always had a strong affiliation with God and that is what motivates me to do what I do,” says Khan. “Seeing Muslim extremists justify violence, hatred, murder and dehumanising other faiths in the name of the religion I prescribe to, I find absolutely horrifying. It is a mission to claim back my understanding of my faith.”

The mission has not always been plain sailing. Inspire's profile was perhaps at its highest following its #MakingAStand campaign, which was launched across cities in the UK in 2014 with government funding.

Such close cooperation with the UK prime minister David Cameron's Conservative government brought widespread criticism, derision and even threats from the heart of many of the communities Khan was seeking to reach.

“The times where we have thought, 'shall we do this anymore?' are when we have been met with so much abuse and threats,” says Khan. “The level of backlash is just so severe. It has been very difficult.”

Khan, whose book The Battle for British Islam is set to be published later this year, is speaking on a visit to Dubai, where

Sara Khan

she is appearing on stage at the Young Presidents’ Organisation's annual Edge conference.

“Islamic extremism currently poses a threat everywhere,” she says when asked about the region.

“Nobody is immune and the threat is to all of us. It is absolutely vital that we discuss this.”

The proliferation of social media means the threat has never been greater. Moreover, adds Khan, the increasing spike in Isis attacks globally shows a worrying trend away from enticing radicalised youths to defect and instead encouraging them to commit acts of terrorism on their home soil. Since June 2014 the terrorist group has "conducted or inspired" more than 70 terrorist attacks in 20 countries outside Syria and Iraq.

“Isis has without doubt managed to put the issue of radicalisation at a scale we have never seen before because of social media and because they have been able to produce high definition films and glossy magazines. Al Qaeda could never compete with Isis in terms of the propaganda being put out there. Isis has really set the standard in that regard.”

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L-R: Noella Coursaris Musanka and American rap artist Eve at the opening of a new library in Malaika's school project in the Congo

CREATING FUTURE LEADERS

oella Coursaris Musanka knows firsthand the power of a good education. Today the model and philanthropist lives in London with her financier husband and two young children but like the hundreds of girls whose lives she is helping transform, she was born into poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

However, Musanka’s childhood was a world away from other Congolese children, who typically live below the poverty line and have a one in five chance of seeing their fifth birthday. At the age of five, Musanka, who was a only child, was sent to live in Europe with her aunt and uncle shortly after her father died and her mother realised she could not afford to care for her anymore.

After being separated from her mother for more than a decade with only a few phone calls in between, Musanka went back to the Congo when she was 18. She described the meeting with her mother as “emotionally tough”.

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“You are meeting someone who is like a stranger to you but at the same time, she is your mum,” she says.

“Being a mum now myself, I know how important that bond is between a mother and child. No one can replace a mum or dad.”

While the separation from her mother at such a young age was traumatic for both mother and daughter, mother-of-two Musanka admits her mother made the “right choice” as growing up in Belgium and later moving to Switzerland in her early teens afforded her opportunities she would never have had otherwise.

She was a latecomer to modelling, preferring instead to finish her studies. “I was about 23 or 24 and my friends pushed me to enter a competition for Agent Provocateur in London where I was living at the time. I began modelling then in other campaigns and spent 10 years going between London and New York for work.”

In 2007, with the help of a handful of wealthy friends,

Photography by Remy Whiting and courtesy of Malaika

Noella Coursaris Musanka’s own difficult childhood led her to found the non-profit organisation Malaika, which provides free schooling to girls in Africa

Malaika school in Kalebuka provides free schooling to over 230 local girls

“We want to provide these girls with a quality education for free so they can become independent women and, if they want, the future leaders of our country”

Musanka founded her own non-profit organisation Malaika in New York, to ensure that new generations of Congolese girls are educated for free at home and parents do not have to make the same tough choices as hers.

“Through our charity, we are creating an entire generation of agents of change, the leaders of tomorrow who will have a positive impact on the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” she says.

The Malaika School opened in 2011 in the town of Kalebuka, not far from where Musanka was born in Lubumbashi in the southeastern region of DRC. Before that, Kalebuka had only five educational centres for a population of 42,000 and none were free, which explains why the average girl in DRC only stays in school until the age of nine.

Today Malaika’s school has 231 local girls enrolled with modern facilities including a community football pitch, art and theatre classes and solar panel roofs sponsored by the Global Citizen Foundation, which allow the school to save money by generating their own reliable source of electricity. They also help power the school’s computers.

“I believe if my mother had been educated when my father [died], she could have kept me and supported herself without having to rely on a man,” says Musanka.

“My message is really to empower women by giving them an education. Traditionally, if a family had money they would send the boys to school first, so we want to provide these girls

with a quality education for free so they can become independent women and, if they want, the future leaders of our country.

“In a country like DRC, which is one of the richest countries in the world yet one of the poorest in terms of its healthcare system, infrastructure and education, we hope to help a generation to take control of their own country, their own destiny and the best way to do that is to give them an education.”

In March, American rap star and actress Eve visited the school with Musanka to open a new library after she read about the charity project in an online newsletter and contacted the foundation through Instagram.

Eve says: “I am hugely supportive of anything that helps young girls, whether it is going to talk to young girls or donating, I think a lot of our young women do not have an outlet to express themselves and I feel sometimes they can be looked over.”

Like Musanka, Eve is convinced the school project can contribute to real change in the country.

“I had great conversations with lots of people—some Congolese, some from other places, from all different backgrounds, political and business men and women—and they all felt strongly that supporting projects like Malaika and supporting these girls is the road to change. It will obviously take time but as long as people are dedicated then I'm sure it can happen.”

For more information visit malaika.org

2016 MAY / JUNE

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XXXXX

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ADVERTORIAL

TRAVEL IN STYLE Football and luxury don’t tend to go hand-in hand but UEFA have made sure that anyone travelling to this summer’s Euro 2016 tournament will be more pampered than the players

or football fans, there is only one destination on the bucket list this year—UEFA EURO 2016, which is set to kick off in June. Hosted in France, the location could not get much better for football enthusiasts worldwide with direct flights to the capital, where a number of the biggest games (including the opening ceremony and the final) will take place and ports where yacht owners can hop on and off to enjoy matches along the famous Cote d’Azur.

The 15th European championship will see 24 teams playing for a place in the final. Twenty-four national squads will have trained hard, gearing up mentally and physically to give it their best shot in the hope of lifting the famous Henri Delaunay trophy on July 10 at the Stade de France in Paris. Everything is in full swing in France, which hosted the competition in 1960 and 1984. There is an exciting line-up of entertainment, public viewings and fan zones. Above all, however, purpose-built or fully refurbished stadiums—revitalised with a $1.8 billion investment—are being prepared for players, supporters and the global audience.

The programme that has caught the attention of elite jetsetters is that of Corporate VIP Hospitality, a programme designed to cater for those with specific needs and high expectations. With 10 years of heritage, UEFA has a tried and tested product, which is based on its success during the acclaimed club finals, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The lucky few will enjoy their own private sky boxes, nestled in the best locations within the stadiums with the option of the best category one seats for when they feel like joining the crowds. Access to the stadium is prolonged for hospitality clients allowing lengthier attendance than for the regular matchgoer, with entry permitted three hours before and access for 90 minutes afterward. Once within the

stadium walls, private butlers keep the grand cru champagne flowing while the impeccable five-star service includes signature dishes from the Michelin-starred chef Joël Robuchon. The service is renowned in the sporting world, with organisers of the World Cup and other major sporting events trying year-onyear to reach the same standards of UEFA’s hospitality offering and its eye for detail.

The real question for the rich list is not whether or not to go but which match to attend. With all the great things that France has to offer, it surely comes down to a matter of geographical preference. With all the renovated stadia equipped with newly furnished sky boxes and lounges to accommodate the influx of VIP guests, the choice lies between the streets of Paris and the allure of the southern sun and famous beaches in the likes of Nice, Marseille and Bordeaux.

Once you have decided on your destination, it is on to the fun part, much like choosing between luxury treatments in a spa. The programme is unparalleled in its set-up and is the best mix of football and luxury, letting guests choose just how extravagant their quarters are and whether to go solo or share them. Tailor-made programmes enable the client to attend the games most pertinent to them and their guests.

It is nothing less than a well-oiled machine, with everything handled in-house. UEFA even sells directly to try and save its clients from the black market, which is rife in markets outside Europe. The association wants to maintain top-level customer service, which it says is only possible when it manages the entire programme, from selling tickets directly to welcoming guests personally. This is how the world’s wealthy and top businesses will watch the game, in style and luxury.

For more info visit uefa.com/hospitality

The lucky few will enjoy their own private sky boxes, nestled in the best locations within the stadiums

2016 MAY / JUNE

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PORTUGAL’S GOLDEN TICKET Portugal’s golden visa scheme offers EU residency and an attractive return on investment ollowing a tough few years due to the Eurozone economic fallout, Portugal has bounced back and is revelling in its success, with record revenues in its tourism sector last year, bringing in €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) in hotel revenues alone.

Since October 2012, wealthy foreign investors have flocked to one of Europe’s oldest countries to obtain a Portuguese residency permit to profit on a secure and fast developing market, with access to the entire 26-country Schengen zone.

The success story of a crushing economy Even for a country of such luminosity, radiance and culture, Portugal has had its fair share of dark times. After a crushing economic crisis, the Portuguese government is resurrecting its stagnant property market by initiating the golden visa program.

“Economic growth continues to accelerate with real estate investors reclaiming and renovating the unoccupied buildings that adorn the streets of Portugal and revitalising the blissfully elegant shores of the Atlantic ocean,” says Mario David, member of the board of advisors for Arton Capital, a global leader in

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residency and citizenship solutions.

According to the Arton Index—the industry benchmark to compare and assess different investor immigration programs— Portugal’s scheme scores a total of 54 points and ranks the highest for global mobility and quality of life among Europe’s residency programs, such as those in the UK, Hungary and Bulgaria. The main benefits of the program are a low property investment level, fast processing and a minimal requirement for residency.

Portugal’s golden visa became so popular among third country nationals that legislators had to reorganise the scheme and introduce more investment options.

In July last year, the Portuguese government introduced a new and more streamlined investment solution to open doors for more investors. Portugal’s residency permit can now be acquired in exchange for an investment of just €350,000 ($396,000) in property more than 30 years old. This will allow for the regeneration of Lisbon and Porto's city centres, which are some of the most visited cities in the world.

PORTUGAL Golden Residency Permit

EU residency. Lifetime of benefits. Guaranteed return on investment.

Invest € 350,000 in a qualified historic restoration real estate project to qualify for European residency in under 3 months. Benefit from 4% annual rental return and a fully guaranteed investment. Limited time offer exclusively promoted by Arton Capital in the MENA region.

Qualify for citizenship of Portugal in 6 years.

Become a Global Citizen®

empOWeRiNG GlOBal CiTiZeNsHip®

TORONTO | mONTReal | paRis | lONdON | BUdapesT | sOFia | isTaNBUl | limassOl | BeiRUT | dUBai | Cape TOWN | siNGapORe | BeiJiNG | aRTONCapiTal.COm

T + 971 4 319 7665 | iNFO@aRTONCapiTal.COm

Arton Capital is a leading global financial advisory firm providing custom tailored services for immigrant investor programs to government agencies, certified partners and high net-worth individuals and families from around the world. Become a Global Citizen® and Empowering Global Citizenship® are registered trademarks of Arton Capital. 2016 MAY / JUNE 59

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Track record Property investment with guaranteed returns According to the updated official data of SEF, since October 2012 Portugal has Casa de Campainha is the renovation of a palatial house located issued 3,165 residency permits for investors; 2,991 of these by the acquisition of in the heart of Porto’s ancient city centre and guarantees real estate, andPORTUGAL more than 4,841PORTUGAL for their family members. investors a four per cent annual rental return PORTUGAL with an easy PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL The total amount of investments has exceeded €1.9 billion with more than €1.7 and flexible exit strategy. Construction on the emblematic for investors; for investors; 2,991 of for these 2,991 investors; byofthe these for acquisition 2,991 investors; byfor the ofinvestors; for these acquisition of 2,991 investors; real by the 2,991 of estate, these of acquisition 2,991 real ofand these byestate, of the more these by acquisition ofthe for and than real byinvestors; acquisition more the estate, 4,841 acquisition of than for real and 2,991 their 4,841 ofestate, more real ofof family for these estate, than real and their estate, by 4,841 members. more and family the formore for than investors; acquisition andtheir members. more 4,841 than family than 2,991 4,841 for of their real 4,841 members. of forthese estate, family their forby their family and members. the formore family acquisition investors; members. than members.

4,841 2,991 of real for ofestate, these their family by and themore acquisition members. than 4,841 of real for estate, their family and more members. than 4,841 for billion by the purchase of real estate property; with most from China, amount totalof amount investments The total of investments amount The has total exceeded The of investments amount has total The1.9 exceeded total amount billion of amount investments has 1.9 of euros investments exceeded billion ofwith investments has euros more 1.9 The exceeded billion has with total than exceeded has more amount euros 1.7 1.9 exceeded billion billion than with 1.9of1.7 billion by investments more euros 1.9 billion the billion than euros purchase with by The euros 1.7 more the with has billion total purchase ofexceeded with more than amount by more 1.7 than the of billion 1.9 than purchase 1.7 ofbillion investments billion by 1.7the billion euros of by purchase the The with by has purchase the total more exceeded ofpurchase amount than ofinvestors 1.9 1.7 of of billion billion investments euros by the with has purchase more exceeded than of 1.9 1.7billion billioneuros by thewith purchase more than of 1.7 b building, which was built in the 18th century, The is total setThe to begin real estatereal property; estate property; with real most estate with investors property; real most estate real investors from with estate real property; China, most estate property; from investors with Brazil, property; China, most with Russia, from Brazil, with investors mostChina, South real most investors Russia, estate from investors Brazil, Africa South China, from property; and Russia, from China, Africa Brazil, Lebanon with China, South and Brazil, Russia, most buying Lebanon Africa Brazil, Russia, real investors South luxury estate and Russia, buying South Africa Lebanon from property; South luxury Africa China, and buying Africa Lebanon with and Brazil, Lebanon luxury most andbuying Russia, Lebanon investors realbuying estate luxury South buying from property; luxury Africa China, luxury and with Brazil, Lebanon most Russia, investors buying South from luxury Africa China, andBrazil, Lebanon Russia, buying South luxury Africa a second containing homes second and homes summer second andhouses. summer homes second and houses. second homes summer second homes and houses. homes summer and summer andhouses. summer houses. second houses. homes and summer houses. second Lebanon homes and summer houses. second homes and summer houses.homes and Brazil, Russia, South Africa and buying luxury second in June to revamp the property as luxury residences Main Nationalities summer houses.

27 beautifully decorated suites, a health club and spa, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, bars, restaurants and a number of high-class facilities for guests.

Arton Capital is the exclusive agent in the Middle East offering Main Nationalities this historic project to investors. The capacity is limited to 32 investors, all of whom must be co-owners of3,165 the3,165 entire 3,165 3,165 3,165 2,991 3,165 2,991 2,991 3,165 2,991 2,991 4,841 2,991 4,8413,165 4,841 2,991 4,841 € 4,841 1 .94,841 € Billion 13,165 .9 Billion €2,991 1 .9 Billion €4,841 1€ .9€1Billion €.9 1 1.7Billion .9€ Billion Billion 12,991 .7 Billion €4,841 1 .7 € 1Billion €.91Billion € .7 1Billio €.71Bi .7 Residency Residency Permits Residency PermitsResidency Permits Residency Residency Residency Permits Residency Permits Permits Permits Residency Permits Residency Residency Permits Residency Residency Permits Residency Permits Residency Permits Permits Permits Residency Residency Permits Residency Permits Residency Permits Residency The Permits Residency Total Permits The Residency Permits Amount Total Permits Residency The Amount Permits of Total Residency of Permits The Amount Total ThePermits The Total Purchase of Amount Total Residency Amount Purchase Amount of Residency Real of Permits Purchase ofofReal ThePermits Total Purchase of Real Amount Purchase Purch ofRes R of China property and will not only have the right to become a citizen for Investors for Investors for Investors for Investors for forAcquisition Investors for Investors for Acquisition of for Acquisition offorfor Investors Acquisition forofAcquisition for offoroffamily for of Investors Acquisition Investments of for Investments Investors for Acquisition Investments of Investments Estate Investments for Property Estate Acquisition Property Estate of Investments Property Estate Estate Proper Esta Pr forAcquisition family forfor family for family for family for family for Investments family for family Real Estate Real Estate Real Estate RealReal Estate Real Estate Estate Real Estate Real Estate Real Estate Nationalities of the EU but will also receive an ownership certificate.

All 2457 32 shares can be sold individually at any time.

China

Fast track to EU residency and citizenship 2457 After five years, investors and their family members become Brazil eligible for permanent residency in Portugal and qualify for PORTUGAL China EU citizenship one year later, making the golden visa one 140 Nationalities of the fastest and most transparent residency-by-investment 2457 Time toMain EU residence: programs in Europe. Brazil Time to EU citizenship: With more than 300 years of history, Casa de Campainha 140 China will reopen its handcrafted wooden gates to guests in Main late 2017.Nationalities Investment type: 2457 This new investment option proposes a rare and attractive Russia Brazil Investment amount opportunity to non-EU nationals to obtain the residency 108 permit of an EU member state at an affordable price, with an 140 Brazil China Investment guarantees: 140 almost guaranteed profit. Main Nationalities 2457

Russia 108 China

Annual Return on Investment:

Brazil

Main Nationalities Main Nationalities of Applicants 2457

Russia 108

China 2457

Brazil

140 South Africa

South Africa

Russia

rica

108

108

South Africa

82 Lebanon 48

Lebanon 48

48

Lebanon 48

Countries Infographic Option 2

Countries Infographic Option 2

82

48

Countries Infographic Option 2 Countries Infographic Option 2

MAY / JUNE 2016

108 4% rental guaranteed

Lebanon

82

Countries 48 Infographic Option 1

60

Russia Yes, 100%

South Africa

Option 1

Countries Infographic Option 2

€ 350,000

Lebanon

82

Countries Infographic 48

ries Infographic Option 1

Real 140 Estate

South Africa

Lebanon

n

72 months

Brazil

Russia

108

Lebanon

South Africa

Lebanon82 48

2457 3 months

South Africa

108

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140

82

82

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Russia

140 South Africa

Brazil

82

Source: ArtonCapital.com

Main Nationalities

Where can your passport take you?

Explore the world of passports, curated, sorted, compared and ranked.

Discover how you can improve your Global Mobility Score by investing in a second citizenship.

Become a Global Citizen速

passportindex.org

EMPOWERING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP速 2016 MAY / JUNE

61

LIFESTYLE

TOYOTA SETSUNA Toyota’s latest concept car made its debut at Milan Design Week. This beautiful roadster is made almost entirely of wood — Japanese cedar and birch, to be specific — and was built using traditional Japanese carpentry techniques that do not involve nails or screws. Not just a work of art, the car is drivable up to a top speed of 45km but Toyota has not yet made it street legal nor available for sale.

All prices approximate

newsroom.toyota.co.jp

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GADGETS

ZEPPELIN WIRELESS Bowers & Wilkins launches the Zeppelin Wireless. With superlative audio performance, the single-speaker system is as beautiful as it is sonically capable.

Its sweeping contours command aesthetic appreciation while producing a reassuring room-filling sound. Whether perched on a bookshelf or placed in the centre of a room, the improved sound quality creates an acoustic experience that belies its size.

$699.99 bowers-wilkins.com

OCULUS RIFT The much-anticipated virtual reality system is finally on the market. The Oculus radically redefines digital entertainment, whether you are stepping into your favourite game, watching an immersive movie, jumping to a destination on the other side of the world, or just spending time with friends in VR. The Rift uses state-of-the-art displays and optics designed to ensure you feel like you are really there.

$599 Oculus.com

24-CARAT GOLD ANALOGUE NT Analogue is giving its 8-bit system an upgrade, both in materials and price. The limited edition 24-carat gold Analogue Nt has been made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda video game, which first hit Nintendo's game catalogue in 1986.

The Analogue Nt will be limited to 10 units and will come with a gold-coloured Legend of Zelda cartridge as part of the deal.

$4,999 www.analogue.co

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COME FLY WITH ME Ferretti Yachts debuts its latest flybridge model

ou can live luxuriously on the high seas in Ferretti Yachts 850, one of two brand new models that Ferretti launched this year. Its official debut will be at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September.

The yacht introduces a styling feature that will later be incorporated in all Ferretti models in the future. The boat, which measures 26 metres, boasts trapezoidal hull ports that are bigger than the windows of her predecessors.

In her flying bridge design, the Ferretti 850 has a sumptuous sunning, seating and dining area up top. Beyond the dining area stands an original bookcase with open frames in brushed metal and fume glass cube compartments, which divides the salon from the lobby while preserving visibility and a sense of proximity.

The main bulwark, visible in the background through the open bookcase, is lined with a Florim ceramic material for a natural stone and marble effect.

Additional alfresco dining and seating areas are situated toward the bow and on the aft deck. The aft deck’s seating doubles as a chaise longue due to a movable backrest. This area can be enjoyed to the full, thanks to an innovative mechanism to open and fold

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down the transom door, which becomes a bench area that can also be lowered into the water. Not only does this provide guests with a large submersible platform, it also makes tender operations easier for the crew (the garage can fit up to a William 385).

But it is the interiors that make this megayacht so special.

Eschewing fussiness in favour of simplicity and elegance, it was designed in collaboration with Italian brand Minotti to integrate accessories, wood selections and built-in furniture.

All bedrooms are below deck. The airy master stateroom sports the same style as the main deck. In addition to a central double bed, it features a study area as well as a large wardrobe and spacious storage compartments. Two VIP suites and a twin cabin offer ample accommodation while there are quarters for four crew members.

The galley is located on the main deck on Ferretti 850s destined for all markets. American buyers, however, will see a slight difference as their models will include a cocktail bar, allowing guests to enjoy a sundowner while taking in the marvellous views out to port.

For more information, visit artmarine.ae

YACHT

2016 MAY / JUNE

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AUTO

A TURBOCHARGED VINTAGE Phill Tromans spends time with a rare, sought-after version of Porsche’s iconic 911, which boasts a royal history

orsche is a global, iconic brand, a byword for sports car excellence. Its flagship model, the 911, is a machine honed over 50 years of revisions by engineers searching for motoring nirvana. The 911 is the holy grail for petrolheads across the world.

But not all Porsche 911s are equal. Since its introduction in 1963, the German company’s icon has gone through many iterations and some are loved more than others. Broadly speaking, they can be split into two categories – those with engines that are cooled by air and after 1998, those cooled by water. The purists among Porsche fans argue that air-cooled engines are part of the 911’s heritage, along with the location of the engine behind

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the rear axle. The decision to do away with it verged on sacrilege.

Consequently, air-cooled cars have retained much more affection in the hearts of collectors than the later 911s and command a premium. Classic cars generally have skyrocketed in value over recent years and Porsches are always near the top of collectors’ wishlists.

Within the pantheon of air-cooled 911s, there are a few favourites. Racing cars with heritage in major races fetch seriously big money, well into millions of dollars. But among the road cars, rarity and low mileage counts for a lot – as well as being of a vintage generally considered technically desirable.

So, we come to the car you see pictured here. This is a 911

AUTO

from 1993, a generation known as the 964. The 964s are very well regarded and heralded as the most advanced model that best retains the classic qualities of the original 911s, before they became too modern and sophisticated, too insulating from the outside world.

But this is not just any 964. It’s a Turbo S model – the most powerful of the generation – and it boasts the smaller-production 3.6-litre, six-cylinder engine, which had more power than the 3.3 version that went before it. Most noticeably, it has a different front end to the majority of 964s, the result of a secret option from the factory called Flachbau, known in English as Flat Nose. Only those in the know and close to Porsche knew of the Flachbau option, as it didn’t feature on any dealer extras lists. It was for exclusive, well-connected (and well-heeled) customers and so just 76 cars were made that featured the unusual smoothed face and pop-up headlights. Of these, just seven were made in righthand drive, like this one. Add in the fact that this one features the X84 performance package, which made the engine more powerful than standard, and you have a rare beast indeed.

Oh, and it has just 1,014 miles (1,632km) on the clock. It was formerly owned by the Brunei royal family but now belongs to British Porsche specialists Hexagon Classics and is expected to fetch upwards of $550,000. Chairman Paul Michaels suspects it was barely touched by the former owners, such was the scale

of their collection. But that makes it only more desirable. “This is absolutely at the top for a Porsche collector. It’s as good as it gets,” he says.

It is understandable then that my time behind the wheel is restricted – more miles means less money. The originality of the car is remarkable. For something touching a quarter of a century in age, it almost looks in factory condition. The driver’s seat is snug and some adjustment is needed to get used to the pedals, which are offset to the left. The engine fires up first time with a civilised thrub and during the brief moment I am able to open up the throttle, it wows with its acceleration once the turbocharger kicks in. With 385 horsepower, it is fast even by modern standards and the amount of feedback and feel through the car’s wheel and seat make it seem every inch the supercar. Modern cars’ advances in comfort and insulation mean one rarely feels this in tune with the surface under the tyres.

Despite the car’s rarity, Michaels does not expect a quick sale.

Buyers of cars this rare and expensive don’t usually leap into quick decisions, even if they have the money required.

“Very rarely will a car like this fly out of the showroom,” he says. “It will likely take months to sell because people are very careful. And this is one of the most important Porsches we have ever bought.”

2016 MAY / JUNE

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R-L: Creative Director of Maison Corthay, Pierre Corthay with CEO, Xavier de Royere

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HANDMADE

A MASTER OF LEATHER Pierre Corthay, the artistic director of the shoemaker Maison Corthay, talks about his passion for his craft

ierre Corthay discovered a love of leather as a child.

Though the company has an extensive ready-to-wear line, the “The material combined a lot of things—first the bespoke shoe service is the root of the business. A bespoke shoe sensuality when you touch it, then the smell, the versatility, from Maison Corthay takes six to seven months to produce. A its softness. I truly love everything about leather,” says the artistic craftsman measures the client’s feet and returns three months later director of Maison Corthay, the luxury men’s footwear company. with a trial shoe, which can be further adjusted to accommodate His early fascination with the material prompted him to join for fit and comfort. Another three months is required for the finished the prestigious French guild of craftsmen, Les Compagnons du product. After the first fitting, the customer’s measurements are Devoir, to develop his leathermaking skills. He spent six years then archived in Paris, making it easier to produce other pairs in the working as an apprentice, honing his craft and travelling all over future. Celebrity fans of the brand’s colourful and exquisitely made France to different workshops. Learning to make shoes requires footwear include Clive Owen, Cate Blanchett and Rafael Nadal. being skilled in four areas: wood-carving, patternwork, stitching The brand’s main market is Asia but the Middle East is quickly and rubber but Corthay says the most important thing he learned growing. “I feel our Middle Eastern clientele is very sophisticated from that time was “patience and humility”. and understands our products and the fact that we are different.

It is this passion for quality craftsmanship that Corthay brings The bespoke part is very appealing as it is an opportunity to to his eponymous shoe range, which he started after spending have a unique made-to-measure product, the ultimate luxury,” time at Berluti and John Lobb. says Corthay.

“I really wanted Maison Corthay to be the point where creativity, The brand’s Dune sandal is an interpretation of a traditional aesthetics and skill meet,” he says. men’s sandal from the region, composed “I like to create a fascinating fusion between of 100 per cent camel leather sourced from “We are the first French Abu Dhabi. traditional know-how and sophisticated avant garde dressing.” Corthay is the only men’s “We are the first French luxury brand to luxury brand to source shoemaker to have been awarded the title source camel leather from the Middle East camel leather from the Maitre d’Art (Master of Art), a distinction and create unique products,” says Corthay.

Middle East and create bestowed upon him by the French Ministry “That makes me very proud and it is my way of Culture in 2009. of paying a tribute to the region.”

unique products”

2016 MAY / JUNE

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DESIGN

Fairgoers enjoy the installations at the 55th edition of Salone del Mobile in April

ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR alone del Mobile, the international furniture fair, takes place every April in Milan. The fair, along with a series of events throughout the city, form Milan Design Week, the most important worldwide event for design professionals and enthusiasts. GC selects some of this year’s highlights.

Charleston sofa by Marcel Wanders, Moooi, price on request

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DESIGN

Tom Dixon, Fade lights, $1,100 each

Credenza by Patricia Urquiola and Frederico Pepe, Spazio Pontacchio, $15,000

Aledin lamp by Alberto and Francesco Meda, Kartell, $350 each

All prices approximate

Marble coffee table with glass legs, handblown glass chandelier and loveseat, Ini Archibong and Terry Crews, price on request

2016 MAY / JUNE

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DINING

WORKING UP AN APPETITE Where to go to let off steam after a hard day in the office? These choice picks at the heart of business hubs are the perfect spots for some downtime

MAYTA DUBAI Mayta injects some much-needed life into a previously reserved— and let’s face it, sometimes stuffy—corner of DIFC. Taking over the third floor of the Capital Club, the colonial atmosphere gives way to sexy dark wood panelling, Aztec wall hangings and hip Latin American beats.

Leave any formality at the door. The Peruvian eaterie, with native Jaime Pesaque at the helm, encourages you to get the party started at the cosy bar with an extensive range of pisco-based cocktails, from traditional sours to a delicious passion fruit variation.

The menu meanders through a range of sharing plates, starting with ceviches and tiraditos and expanding to marinated and grilled cuts in anticuchos, brasas and ‘big shares’—if you make it that far.

Slivers of seabass artfully tossed with shavings of ginger and plantain and given a coriander twist in a tangy ceviche are so meltingly light, they leave plenty of room for the steak tataki spiked with daikon radish, soy and ginger and mariscos, a delightful medley of squid, potatoes and green beans, smothered in spicy aji chimichurri. Surprisingly traditional dishes are given a modern spin with carefully orchestrated presentation while the Peruvian love of marinades, herbs and spices lifts every dish from the ordinary to the sublime.

Desserts are a revelation, from dulce de leche paired with meringue, custard and lime sorbet, which enliven every tastebud, sweet and sour, to gooseberry pannacotta and a stickily indulgent and citrusy quinoa bread pudding.

Mayta Dubai, Capital Club, Dubai International Financial Centre +971 4 514 8774

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DINING

BURGER AND LOBSTER There is no menu at this new DIFC spot but the name of the restaurant pretty much says it all. You can order burgers, lobster rolls or steamed lobster. An option for those torn between the choice of three is to order all of the above to share between two.

In the lobster roll, imported Canadian lobster is lightly dressed with mayonnaise before being sandwiched between griddled halves of a buttery brioche bun. The burger, made with all meat and no

fillers, has a wonderful umami quality, the probable result of the restaurant’s rumoured use of Asian fish sauce in the seasoning.

Dessert choices are equally lean, if not in actual caloric content.

The lemon cheesecake and the tres leches both provide a soothing ending to this post-work comfort meal.

Burj Daman Building, DIFC +971 4 514 8838

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THE CROFT With its sprawling rooftop terrace providing marina views, The Croft is the perfect after-work casual hangout while the weather is still pleasant. During the summer, kick back on plush leather sofas and soak up the retro British surroundings with a craft beer in hand from a drinks selection as impressive as the food.

The fare is quintessential British pub grub with an added dollop of finesse provided by chef patron Darren Velvick, a protege of both Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing.

While The Croft is British-inspired, Velvick prefers to offer good quality local produce with Mediterranean and Asian influences.

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Start with a citrus-dressed summer salad of oily local mackerel on top of raw apple, radish and shredded carrots. A classic is the local organic roast chicken stuffed with foie gras and truffle—or if that is too rich for your palate, keep it simple with homemade leek and cheddar sausages and tangy mustard mash. For dessert, Eton mess is given a grown-up spin with a gin jelly and elderflower cream in a dish called Neat and Tidy.

Dubai Marriot Harbour Hotel, Dubai Marina +971 4 319 4794

DINING

COCKTAIL KITCHEN Cocktail Kitchen marries hyper-trendy New York style with laidback Catalonian. The neighbourhood hangout in JLT has a distinct underground feel with a ridiculously long bar, concrete floors, leather apron-clad bartenders and DJs spinning vinyl records.

The Mediterranean influence shines through in a daily aperitivo from 5-8pm where vermouth plays a starring role in the cocktails, alongside elaborate Italian canapes such as olive ascolane, fried green olives stuffed with spicy minced meat and grilled bruschetta with figs and melted blue cheese.

The venue offers several spaces for diners to get a front-row view of the high-octane mixology, tasting tables where they can witness the bartenders’ artistic flair up close or a back room where larger groups can get a private masterclass.

While the venue is seductive, the real reason to come back is the quality of ingredients in both the cocktails and gastronomy.

Friday brunch is a chilled affair, a world away from the hectic buffet brunches in Dubai. The a la carte menu is reflective of the restaurant’s easygoing vibe. Must-tries are the beef carpaccio with caper berries, baby beetroot chips drizzled with a balsamic emulsion and the Bloody Mary short ribs, all served at your table in a well-lit enclosed terrace. For the pick of the cocktails, StopWine-ing is a favourite, a refreshing blend of Lacuesta blanco, Qcumber soda, basil and cucumber topped with sparkling wine.

Armada Bluebay Hotel, Cluster P, JLT +971 56 828 0727

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HOTELS

COASTAL ESCAPE Enjoy panoramic sea views and rugged luxury in these cliffside hotels

AMAN SVETI STEFAN SVETI STEFAN, MONTENEGRO The island of Sveti Stefan is perhaps the most iconic symbol of Montenegro. What was once a 15th century fisherman’s outpost and a prosperous resort in the 1950s fell into disrepair during the Yugoslav wars. In 2008, Amanresorts International conducted a massive restoration of the entire island, revealing several longforgotten historical buildings, including a medieval church.

A path of pink pebbles forms the causeway that leads to Queen Marija’s early 20th century summer residence, Villa Milocer, which is attached to Aman Sveti Stefan’s boutique retreat and spa. The

resort is effortlessly elegant and romantic. Cottages and suites retain Aman’s signature style of restrained luxury. Whether dining on freshly caught seabass in the restaurant, enjoying a bespoke spa treatment with locally sourced herbs and olive oil, or simply relaxing on the grounds with a glass of rose in hand, the charm of this hotel is that it doesn’t feel like one at all but rather, an exclusive village that one is privileged to visit.

Double rooms from $1,000, aman.com

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HOTELS

CASA ANGELINA PRAIANO, ITALY Perched on the edge of a cliff along the picturesque Amalfi coast is Casa Angelina, one of the area’s only contemporary boutique hotels. From the rooftop terrace of this hotel, one can witness a vast spread of ocean interrupted only by the islands of Capri and Li Galli and the Sorrento peninsula, which stretches into the horizon.

In this abode of barefoot luxury, interiors gleam brilliantly white,

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offset only by colourful Murano glass sculptures that decorate the communal areas. Just 10 minutes from Positano, the property offers a refreshing alternative to the area’s traditional hotels and opulent resorts.

Double room from $460, casangelina.com

HOTELS

POST RANCH INN BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA, US High atop the cliffs of Big Sur, 1,200ft above the Pacific Ocean, sits Post Ranch Inn. Located along California’s Highway One, known as one of the world’s most scenic drives, the journey to this magnificent abode will take you through majestic state parks, beaches and waterfalls. Each cabin and cottage, composed of recycled redwood trees, offers guests total seclusion. There is

nothing but soaring condors, starry nights, breathtaking views and a wood-burning fire for company. It makes the perfect destination for relaxation, rejuvenation and, of course, romance.

Cottages from $1,225 per night, Postranchinn.com

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FRAGRANCE

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SUMMER SCENT-SATION These new fragrances evoke the best of the warmer season

1: 1927 Vintage Edition, Chopard

The House of Chopard has always maintained close ties with the classic car racing world over the years, supporting several competitions, such as the Mille Miglia race. This partnership has inspired the design of several watches and of a line of perfumes that now includes the Chopard Vintage Edition. Top notes are lavender, green notes and juniper, middle notes are violet leaf and asphalt, base notes are leather and amber.

80ml, $113

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2: Pour Homme Essence Aromatique, Bottega Veneta

Fresh and casual, this new scent comes from Bottega Veneta’s creative director Tomas Maier and perfumer Amandine Marie. To begin, the pungent freshness of citrus gradually gives way to woody accents. Fresh top notes vibrate with Italian bergamot, countered at the heart by a strong masculine patchouli essence from Indonesia and finally ending with Siberian pine.

200ml, $117

3: CK2, Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein’s first unisex fragrance, CK One in 1994, was an instant hit epitomising rebellious youth of the era.

In 2016, Calvin Klein returns with a new adrogynous scent intended for the millennial generation. CK2 combines wasabi, mandarin and violet leaf. Even wet cobblestones and concrete appear in the mix with orris root and rose absolute, with a woody base of vetiver, sandalwood and incense.

100ml, $91

4: CH Men, Carolina Herrera

Carolina Herrera launches a limited edition fragrance CH Men, inspired by New York’s Central Park. The scents are meant to evoke spring strolls through the park with an aroma of flowers and trees. A woody and spicy fragrance, it begins with fresh ginger with a heart of black cardamom and a base of cedar.

100ml, $110

GROOMING

A HIP SHAVE Akin Barber & Shop offers grooming services for hipsters and fashion followers

his is the barbershop for the region’s hirsute and designconscious males. The backstreets of Dubai might be filled with neighbourhood salons but Akin seeks to fill the gap “between the street level barbershops of old Dubai and the upmarket hairdressing salons found in hotels or malls,” says co-founder and entrepreneur Leith Matthews. The store offers haircuts, beard trims and straight razor shaves alongside a curated concept store and an endless supply of brews from the coffeehouse next door, The Sum of Us. The cool, urban and industrial environs were designed by the UAE-based Anarchitect in collaboration with Tarik Zaharna of Tzed Architects.

Burj Al Salam Tower, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, next to H Hotel Akinbarbershop.com

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DESIGN ENTREPRENEUR

ONE TO WATCH Dario Spallone founded his start-up while still at university. Three years on, his edgy timepieces have found favour with celebrities

BY NAUSHEEN NOOR

s a management student at Milan’s Bocconi University, Dario Spallone wrote his thesis on the marketing of a new watch brand. But he did not stop there. At the age of 20, he put his theory into practice when he set up his watch company D1 Milano with his sister Alessia and his two close friends, Alessandro Pedersoli and Mattia Bodini.

Three years on, the business has already garnered a steady following. Its trendy timepieces, which cost an average $170, are more fashion statement than heirlooms. The brand distinguishes itself with the use of inventive materials such as thermochromic paints, marble dials and soft touch polycarbon straps.

Last year, D1 launched the world’s first thermochromic watch, a limited edition piece that changes colour based on the temperature of the wearer. “We did one year of research,” says Spallone. “I am really into the trend of infusing technology with fashion right now.”

Last year Forbes named Spallone “one of the most promising young Italian fashion entrepreneurs”. This year the magazine ranked D1 among “the top 10 start-ups redefining Italian fashion”.

This type of recognition has been greater validation for the entrepreneur than profits, he says.

“I do not care about the monetary results as much as seeing the brand I co-founded being duly acknowledged.”

The brand has also generated a fair amount of celebrity interest, ranging from the likes of actor Tyrese Gibson and DJ Diplo to Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

“We don’t call them celebrities but friends as they are not sponsored by the brand,” says Spallone.

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“I am just good at organising, paying attention to detail and I like working with people. I think that is what being an entrepreneur is” With all this success, Spallone now returns to Bocconi University to lecture students and budding entrepreneurs like himself. “I always tell [the students] the hardest part in the beginning is giving yourself structure. Even when there was nothing to do and we had no clients, I forced my partners and myself to be in the office. Sometimes we would just stare at a blank computer screen.

This is not a hobby. It is a constant battle with yourself,” he says.

Spallone adds the brand is “growing double digits everywhere”.

Italy, France and the UK are the main markets in Europe while east Asia has been gaining traction, with two flagship stores in Japan. In the Middle East, D1 has just opened a flagship store in Bahrain’s Al Aali shopping mall and is currently stocked in Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdales in Dubai.

At just 23, Spallone’s passion and business know-how make him sound like a seasoned chief executive but he still remains humble: “I am an entrepreneur and not a creator. I know how to manage things and people. I tell people, I wish I could be an employee but I am not good at anything. I am just good at organising, paying attention to detail and I like working with people. I think that is what being an entrepreneur is.”

DESIGN ENTREPRENEUR

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ART

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ART

GARBAGE ART

A new work from Tunisian-French graffiti artist El Seed pays tribute to Cairo’s rubbish collectors

BY NAUSHEEN NOOR

rom street level in the Cairene neighbourhood of Manshiyat Naser, Tunisian-French graffiti artist El Seed’s new work Perception appears to be made up of disparate elements.

Orange, blue and white paint covers the top-left corner of one building and half the facade of another. The piece in its entirety is only visible from a cathedral carved within a cave on Mokkatam mountain. From this vantage, the elements come together and the script reads “anyone who wants to see the light clearly needs to wipe his eyes first”, a quote from the third century Coptic bishop Saint Athanasius.

With this work, El Seed sheds light on Manshiyat Naser and its inhabitants, the Coptic Christian community known as the Zabbaleen, which translates as “garbage people”. They are responsible for gathering and recycling Cairo’s rubbish, a crucial yet underappreciated task.

“When I went there I realised these people are not living in the garbage, they are living with the garbage, which is totally different,” says the artist.

The Zabbaleen, whom El Seed describes as “the most generous people” he has met, are impoverished and viewed as second class citizens. They collect rubbish from homes in Cairo, transporting it with donkey carts and living amid piles of refuse in their own neighbourhood, which they sort through industriously. Sorted garbage is sold to middle men or repurposed while organic waste is fed to animals.

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ART

“The Zabbaleen are so well-educated, well-mannered and honest,” says the artist. “One of my team members lost his wallet but it was returned to him with everything inside. Yet just because of what they do, people will look at them the wrong way. The poorest of the poor will view them in a condescending way and the richest of the rich will do the same.”

El Seed, who briefly worked as a rubbish collector as a teenager in suburban Paris, says he identified with them. “Garbage is something we are connected to every day. I worked with the garbage trucks in France and I saw how people looked at me.

When you are a cleaner or a garbage guy, there is always this stigma.”

It took El Seed and a team of 21 artists three weeks to paint the mural. The anamorphic artwork covers more than 50 buildings, beautifying a section of Cairo that for decades has been associated with squalor. Once complete the image, partially composed of fluorescent white paint, was illuminated for one night only for the community as a tribute to their unsung work. The reaction, he says, “was overwhelming”.

“I feel like these people are the perfect mirror of our society— how much we waste and how much we consume,” he says.

“Everything they have is not their own, it is from Cairo. They themselves say they are not the people of the garbage, the people

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of Cairo are the people of the garbage because they create it.”

Born to Tunisian parents in France, El Seed spent his youth in the suburbs of Paris. He channelled his multicultural upbringing into a form of artistic expression, blending Arabic calligraphy with graffiti, an art form now known as calligraffiti. Though his work has gained significant popularity, with exhibitions from Los Angeles to Melbourne and high-profile collaborations with the likes of the label Louis Vuitton, El Seed says he is careful to stay true to the essence of street art as a political tool, even as it becomes increasingly mainstream and lucrative as a genre.

“The commercialisation of street art has changed its nature,” he says. “Sometimes I feel we have really lost the meaning of it.

Some artists now don’t work on anything unless it is within the frame of a festival or an event or a brand.”

Perception, which is being turned into a documentary, was entirely self-funded. El Seed used money from the sale of his artwork— which typically fetches between $5,000 and $15,000 at auction—to fund the project.

“From the few canvasses I sold in the last few months, I told [the buyers] that I was working on this new project and the sale would help me fund it. It is really up to the artist to stay responsible to what they are doing. It shouldn't be about the money. It's nice to be able to keep your independence. ”

ART

I “ finally found all of the privacy and relaxation I had been craving for months on an island as beautiful as it is welcoming.”

www.baros.com

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LITTLE BLACK BOOK

LITTLE BLACK BOOK TOKYO Innovative interior architect Masamichi Katayama has designed flagship stores for Thom Browne, Fred Perry, Uniqlo and Nike in New York, London and Moscow.

Recently he completed the Intersect by Lexus space in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Bookworm Go for a wander

Post, an independent bookshop, is only a short walk from the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

It carries not only new titles but also some more uncommon western publications. The owner’s selection of books represents his ability to appreciate things of beauty.

On top of the world The Park Hyatt is a symbol of Tokyo. It is beautifully designed by John Morford, with the lobby located on the 41st floor. From here, we are reminded that Tokyo is a big city. The service is excellent.

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Images courtesy of Corbis / ArabianEye.com

the I love walking around and looking at ge chan s store The ma. architecture in Aoya it. enjoy I and ly rapid

LITTLE BLACK BOOK

On the grill Yakiniku Yuji in Shibuya is one of my favourite restaurants. It looks like an ordinary Yakiniku place and rather casual but the food they offer is spectacular.

Tokyo is a laboratory for everything from around the world. Success and failure co-exist there

Preserved in time Since the Edo period, Tokyo has lost many valuable historical buildings because of fires, floods, earthquakes and warfare. The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum aims to preserve historical buildings of great cultural value. The residence of one of my favourite architects, Kunio Maekawa, is there.

Vintage finds Tamiser Antiques specialises in rustic artefacts from around the world as well as glass pieces by Tokyobased American glassworker Peter Ivy.

Looking trim I love the Japanese brand Kolor. It is known for its meticulousness, subtlety and the way it pursues form and details. The brand is constantly evolving.

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TRAVEL

THE BREAD BASKET OF PORTUGAL

Alentejo, Portugal's wine country, also boasts historical and architectural splendours

Image courtesy of Getty Images

BY IVAN CARVALHO

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TRAVEL

lentejo in Portugal is separated from the north of the country by the Tagus river and covers nearly a third of it—one could fit Belgium inside its borders—yet it is home to just five per cent of the population. Its 182km of pristine coastline, much of which is designated as parkland, has long been a draw for sun worshippers, especially the sand dunes around Comporta. Yet recently attention has turned inland to the region’s sweeping plains, dotted with whitewashed villages and fields populated with rows of oaks that are harvested by hand every nine years to supply much of the world’s vintners with a naturally made bottle stopper, for the area produces more than half the world’s supply of cork. One tree alone can provide 4,000 bottle corks and the industry employs 60,000 in the region.

Wine, in fact, is helping to pull in more visitors as connoisseurs look beyond the better-known Douro producers in the north for novelty. Those keen to develop their palate and sniff out interesting bouquets have been nosing around the gentle hills of Alentejo, known as the “bread basket” of Portugal. It yields indigenous grape varieties grown in soils varying from the mineral rock schist and pink marble to granite and limestone.

The sun-soaked countryside of Alentejo boasts vines with Antao Vaz grapes, the base of white wines with good acidity and tropical fruit flavours. Reds range from Aragonez, the most widely-planted, to varietals such as Alfrocheiro, Trincadeira and Tinta Caiada. Among the eight sub-regions that demarcate the Alentejo wine-making zone is Reguengos, an area that was last year proclaimed a European wine capital.

Just two hours from Lisbon by car, the landscape of Reguengos is marked by red soil, grey boulders and trees and chimney

tops with stork nests. The land is a step back in time, its territory punctuated by large monoliths that bear testament to Neolithic settlements. History is tangible as one ventures past fortified Roman towns, Moorish ruins and hilltop castles, the latter having been constructed to defend against a Spanish invasion from the east.

Amid this unspoiled countryside are towns and villages where, when hunger calls, travellers can be sure to get proper sustenance. Herbs, both fresh and dried, are used liberally in the local cuisine, including coriander, which frequently appears in kitchens in Portugal and testifies to the nation’s historic trading routes to exotic corners of the globe. Coriander seasons the dish acorda, a soup that calls for day-old bread, olive oil, poached eggs and garlic. Herds of cattle and sheep supply eateries with hearty fare along with game such as partridges, hare, rabbit, quail and woodcock. Not to be overlooked are the regional conventual sweets like pao de rala, made with egg yolks, lemon zest, almonds and sugar, which can be enjoyed in Evora, the regional capital, located about a half-hour drive from the Reguengos vineyards.

There is architectural splendour found in the streets of Evora, a Unesco heritage site, where one can sit with a refreshing drink in summertime in one of the many esplanades and admire beautiful neoclassical and romantic facades. For those seeking products with a local provenance, search out the rug-makers in nearby Arraiolos, where craftsmen have hand-embroidered wool artefacts since the 17th century. Farther afield in Estremoz, famed for its marble quarries, one can lodge in a 700-year-old castle at the local pousada, a network of traditional inns throughout Portugal that have transformed historic landmarks.

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TRAVEL

WHERE TO GO

HERDADE DO ESPORAO

MONSARAZ

ALQUEVA

EVORA

One of southern Portugal’s oldest settlements, the hilltop medieval town boasts a 13th century castle and charming whitewashed homes with red roofs and elongated chimneys.

It is the perfect place to enjoy stunning panoramas of the Alqueva reservoir.

Image courtesy of Getty Images

Alentejo’s leading vintner Esporao is known for its exceptional vintages. Its 2014 Verdelho was voted Portugal’s best wine last year. The estate’s restaurant offers views of sweeping vineyards and dishes made from seasonal ingredients in a wood-burning oven.

Europe’s largest artificial lake with more than 1,000km of coastline is lined by several castles and has many islets and hideaways for canoeing, kayaking and sailing enthusiasts. Its clear night skies are ideal for stargazing.

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Cobbled streets are home to a rich architectural legacy that includes a Roman temple and 16th century patrician residences decorated with traditional azulejo painted ceramic tiles and wrought-iron balconies. Stay at the Pousada dos Loios hotel, a former 15th century convent next to the ancient monument.

TRAVEL

WHERE TO STAY

SAO LOURENCO DO BARROCAL

Set on 800 hectares of property marked by olive groves, vineyards and holm and cork oaks, the newly opened Sao Lourenco do Barrocal is a 200-year-old farming estate that has been meticulously refurbished by Pritzker-winning architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, who used regional marble, granite and traditional terracotta tiles to remodel the property as a 40-room resort with suites and cottages occupying former stables and barns. The

restaurant focuses on regional delicacies and ingredients sourced from its garden. There’s a shop selling contemporary Portuguese crafts and rooms feature blankets fashioned out of mountain wool from Serra da Estrela. To unwind, there’s a Susanne Kaufmann-run spa with organic treatments and swimming pool set in a citrus orchard, while active types can explore the land on horseback, foot or bicycle. barrocal.pt

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FASHION

Grosgrain hat, Gucci, $295

Distressed belt, Gucci, $360

GO GREEN

Leather wallet, Comme des Garcons, $210

The spring/summer 16 runways were awash with shades of verdant green

Polka dot label pin, Charvet, $150 Cotton checked shirt, Public School, $285

Floral print cotton tee shirt, Gucci, $540

Nubuck driving shoes, Tod's, $495

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Cashmere hoodie, Massimo Alba, $995

All prices approximate

Cotton tee shirt, Missoni, $220

FASHION

Berluti, S/S16

Craig-Green, S/S16

Linen shirt, Missoni, $510

Original Stan Smith leather trainers, Adidas, $75

Richard James, S/S16

Striped linen shirt, Freeman’s Sporting, $220

Cotton and cashmere blend polo shirt, Gucci, $560

Camouflage print leather and canvas pouch, Valentino, $2,145

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HOROLOGY

BEST OF BASELWORLD 2016

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Our picks from the annual watch convention

OMEGA GLOBEMASTER CHRONOMETER ANNUAL CALENDAR

Now in 41mm, this new annual calendar features each month of the year in the 12 facets of the trademark pie-pan dial. Then, a thin blue hand points towards the current month, which then instantly jumps at month's end.The case remains stainless steel while the polished, fluted bezel is made of scratch-proof tungsten carbide.

As with the other Globemasters, the annual calendar features a co-axial, master chronometer certification from METAS. BLANCPAIN THE GREAT WAVE, METIERS D’ART STUDIO

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Inspired by the motion of the sea, this latest creation highlights a gemstone used for the first time by Blancpain, Mexican silver obsidian, semi-transparent volcanic rock known for its soothing qualities. This gem serves as a base for wave applique in white gold, which is inspired by the Great Wave of Kanagawa, a 19th century Japanese woodblock print by the artist Hokusai. Blancpain has modified the famous hand-wound 13R0 calibre, calling the progress a 13R3A movement. The power reserve display appears on the bridge side of the model so as to provide sufficient space and ensure optimal visibility to the engraving. The movement with its 8-day power reserve is equipped with three series-coupled mainspring barrels that successively wind and unwind.

HUBLOT BIG BANG MECA-10

With its plates, axles and gears, this watch if for the guy who spends hours building and dismantling technical constructions and experimenting in an engineer’s world. The watch is a transitional object that took two years to develop and refine a new manufacture movement with onboard mechanics. The skeleton mechanical movement with manual winding and a 10-day power reserve boasts 223 components, straight and curved perforated metallic strips, crown gears, racks, plates, axes and ratchet wheels.

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HARRY WINSTON HISTOIRE DE TOURBILLON 7

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The brand reveals its seventh edition of their most famous complication: the tourbillon. After having explored several variations, this watch boasts two biaxial tourbillons that dance with time. The right side of the dial features a pyramid-cut reading area that houses the hour and minute hands. It is surrounded by indexable inserts that form a tilted three-dimensional hour circle.

Extended by a long strip in either red aluminum or anthracite, depending on the version, perforated for a better view of the two bi-axial tourbillons, it overlooks a power reserve indicator in roll form that is flush with a domed sapphire crystal.

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THE WORLD’S FIRST MASTER CHRONOMETER Proven at the industry’s highest level, the OMEGA Globemaster has been rigorously tested and officially certified by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS). Along with exquisite design, it combines superior precision with anti-magnetic resistance of 15,000 gauss, proudly setting a new standard in watchmaking. For OMEGA, this is just the beginning. www.omegawatches.com / globemaster

Available at:

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OMEGA Boutiques - Dubai: BurJuman • Deira City Centre • Dubai Mall • Dubai Festival City • Mall of the Emirates • Mirdif City Centre • Jumeirah Beach Hotel • Sahara Centre • Wafi and at select Rivoli Stores.

Abu Dhabi: Marina Mall • Yas Marina • Toll Free: 800-RIVOLI

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