MBRGCEC endowment grows to Dh6.2b in a month

Shaikh Mohammed praised the outcomes of Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy during a briefing on the first month results on Friday. - Wam

Within a month since its inception, the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy (MBRGCEC) has raised a whopping Dh6.2 billion of assets which would generate a revenue of Dh503 million.
Taking stock of the initiative he launched a month ago, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on Friday innovative endowment is a developmental tool to support economy and social development.
"We want the societies to innovate developmental solutions to build a better and happier future for people. In one month after the launch of the global vision for endowment, the concept of innovative endowment has proved itself by making a positive impact for the society," Shaikh Mohammed said.
"Reviving endowment is not restricted to adopting the traditional endowment, we need to innovate to have a greater impact of this tool. The concept of innovative endowment, which we launched a month ago, has exceeded the limits of the traditional endowment as it is open for everyone to participate."
Shaikh Mohammed made his remarks during a briefing on the first month results achieved by the MBRGCEC, part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives.
Shaikh Mohammed directed the centre to continue receiving applications from businessmen and enterprises regardless of their size to adopt innovative endowment.
Mohammed Al Gergawi, Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives, said that innovative endowment has opened doors to all enterprises regardless of their size, he said, adding, "In one month, these enterprises have supported education,
health, society campaigns, innovation, future research, medical research, youth projects and many other fields."
He said the Dubai Endowment Sign, which was also launched by Shaikh Mohammed last month, provides an opportunity to both the government and the private sector to take part in community services.
Al Gergawi said that Shaikh Mohammed's Global Vision for Endowments initiative aims to transform Dubai into a global centre to stimulate and enable awqaf and endowments to serve humanity through eight enablers, including a comprehensive strategy; a clear legislative environment; effective consulting; global best practices in the creation and management of awqaf and endowments foundations; maximising the impact of awqaf and endowments through highlighting innovative social opportunities; monitoring urgent social needs that can be addressed by awqaf and endowments; and finally by stimulating awqaf and endowment through collective funding opportunities.
He added that these eight enablers work together in an integrated approach to achieve Dubai's global vision in this area. These enablers address four strategic objectives, the first of which is to turn Dubai into a catalyst to serve the community through endowments and donations. The second objective is to transform Dubai into a strategic regional hub to meet the social needs in the Arab world by harnessing awqaf and endowments.
The third objective is to transform Dubai into a source of global best practices for awqaf and endowments, while the fourth objective is to transform Dubai into a global centre for research and expertise of awqaf and endowments.
Al Gergawi said that the MBRGCEC utilises the Dubai monitoring system for the social needs in the Arab world.
The system harnesses reliable global data to calculate and develop a heat-map of the most important needs of each country in the Arab world. The data is updated periodically.
The MBRGCEC has also developed a Best Practices Guide for Awqaf and Endowments that combines global best practices and practical examples of various international experiences in the creation and management of awqaf and endowment foundations.
The guide explains the best way for the formulation of strategic plans for organisations that operate in the field of awqaf and endowments based on each organisation's needs, size and objectives.
The guide also includes options for organisational structure, the general framework for setting priorities for projects to maximise social impact, investment management, performance indicators, as well as development operations. The MBRGCEC provides the necessary consulting in this area for existing or yet-to-be-established Awqaf and endowment institutions. - Wam