Shaqran makes a flying visit



Our man in Dubai, Gary Meenaghan, comes face to face with 'the blonde falcon' who will help generate publicity for October's Fifa Under 17 World Cup, to be held across the Emirates.

He did not quite fly in through the window of the Burj Al Arab’s 27th floor, but he did seem to magically appear from nowhere. Yesterday, in a plush ballroom close to the top of the world’s only seven-star hotel, local organisers unveiled a furry falcon that will become increasingly familiar as the UAE’s Fifa Under 17 World Cup approaches.

Following a short, untranslated speech in Arabic by the emcee and an unscripted, off-the cuff-of-a-dishdasha interview with the Emirates’ football golden boy Omar Abdulrahman, two large, branded Fifa panels separated to reveal Shaqran, a two-metre tall colourfully clad mascot.

According to the organising committee, Shaqran (pronounced Shag-ran in the Emirati dialect) is a colloquial term for a blonde falcon and is synonymous with the country’s heritage and tradition.

“Falcons are a potent symbol of our nation and represent great strength and determination, two qualities present in all 24 qualifying teams for this tournament,” Mohammed Abdulla bin Bdoua, the tournament director, said.

The three-week tournament will run from October 17 to November 8 and feature 52 matches across six venues in five emirates. The objective of Shaqran throughout the coming months is to build momentum and bring the attention of people – particularly children – to the competition.

Inaki Alvarez, Fifa’s deputy director of competitions, said he is “optimistic” stadiums will be full, although was quick to push the fact the tournament will be “as much a TV event as it is a spectator event”. It will be broadcast to 190 territories around the world.

Alvarez said they are helping the Local Organising Committee, “but at the end of the day, the UAE people must want to go to the stadiums and be a part of this event. There is a job to be done to show the people there is value there and a reason to go.”

Alvarez added that while stadium redevelopments are on track and should meet their June delivery deadlines, the process is at a crucial juncture because of the looming Holy Month.

“Right now, we have to get the construction work going and finished,” he said. “This is a critical time for us before Ramadan, because after Ramadan will be the draw and then the team delegates will be coming. We need to stay focused. A lot of progress has been made, but I don’t want to remove the urgency.”

How will Gen Alpha invest?

Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

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Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
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The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Airev
Started: September 2023
Founder: Muhammad Khalid
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Generative AI
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
 
The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

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The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol

Power: 154bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option 

Price: From Dh79,600

On sale: Now

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BORDERLANDS

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis

Director: Eli Roth

Rating: 0/5

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Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Company%20Profile
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SPECS

Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now


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