A nagging mother, an overprotective brother and a nosy neighbour. Hayla Ghazal transitions between these characters with such ease on her channel Hayla TV that it feels like she has known them all her life.
But the 20-year-old Syrian YouTube star, who was appointed as a Change Ambassador to the United Nations in March, is quick to clarify that her caricatures bear no resemblance to her own family.
“I always get asked whether the people I make up for my videos are based on my family,” says Ghazal, who is one of the most influential young YouTubers in the Middle East.
Her recent foray into Arabic comedy sketches have caused subscriptions to her channel to soar to more than one million this year.
“The ‘mum’ character is not my mother,” she says with a giggle. “It’s all about keeping it light and funny – these sketches portray an exaggerated version of an Arab family.”
For Ramadan, the Dubai resident has started a special Arabic comedy series, A Teenage Girl's Diary, in which she plays all the characters from a hysterical mother to a coarse-voiced teenage boy. Ghazal writes all the episodes, which are uploaded twice a week and subtitled in English. It takes a full day to shoot an episode around the house.
One recent episode is about conflicting advice given by family members on how to conduct herself on the first day at university. The episode has almost 1 million views.
“It takes you into the day-to-day life of a teenage girl. She writes in her diary what happened to her,” says Ghazal. “And it always involves her mother.”
Ghazal says her YouTube channel was born out of a tenacious attempt to get her foot in the door of the media industry in 2013.
“I found that nobody was accepting of the idea of women working in the media within my family circle,” she says. “This is a common issue in the Middle East. I’ve always wanted to be a TV presenter, but was faced with reactions like: ‘Don’t even think about it.’”
She says her family was initially reluctant about her career choice. “They never differentiated between me and my brothers at home, but they were worried about the negative feedback I would receive.”
Ghazal says she turned to YouTube to find her voice and began making lifestyle videos for teenage girls in English. “In the beginning I didn’t know what to talk about, so by default began producing fashion and beauty videos,” says the young entrepreneur, who also owns a bridal- wear boutique, Hayla Couture, in Dubai.
“But I wasn’t enjoying them. It was only a few months ago that I really found my direction, which is comedy. I wasn’t getting much feedback on my English videos, so I moved to Arabic. There is more demand there.” The idea for her Ramadan series came during a meet-up with fans at her store.
“I was expecting only young girls to be there, but was surprised when I saw them with their mothers and aunts – they all follow my channel. They told me that the girls were more encouraged to play with their sibling after watching the videos where I challenge my brother,” she says. “So that gave me the idea to make something that not only spreads positivity, but also brings families together.”
Ghazal finds inspiration for her sketches in “random settings”.
"I reluctantly attended a wedding with my mother once, and that resulted in a video on different types of wedding dances. This video has more than five million views. You know, the great thing about YouTube as a platform is that you have the freedom to create your content as you like and anywhere. You have the freedom to express yourself, and anyone can be a part of it."
• Episodes of A Teenage Girl’s Diary are uploaded on Mondays and Thursdays at 9pm on Hayla TV
aahmed@thenational.ae
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The cost of Covid testing around the world
Egypt
Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists
Information can be found through VFS Global.
Jordan
Dh212
Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.
Cambodia
Dh478
Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.
Zanzibar
AED 295
Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.
Abu Dhabi
Dh85
Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.
UK
From Dh400
Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Film: In Syria
Dir: Philippe Van Leeuw
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bo Abboud, Mohsen Abbas and Juliette Navis
Verdict: Four stars
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Poacher
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Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
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PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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