Dubai: His goal in life may be to explore, but his motive is to inspire and move society to higher goals in life.
Oman’s Nabeel Al Busaidi, the first Arab to walk 650km to the magnetic North Pole and the first Arab to row 4,600km across the Atlantic Ocean, is now eager to ensure he can inspire communities, especially the younger generation.
In Dubai for the Second Middle East Sports Event Summit, Al Busaidi, 44, related how he visits schools and educational institutions in the Gulf in an attempt to inspire people towards lofty goals in life.
“If you see my role as an adventurer, it is pretty much selfish as I don’t achieve anything precise for society. But after I speak to these children in schools I am able to inspire them to raise funds and make a significant change in the manner they think,” Al Busaidi told Gulf News.
Al Busaidi is truly an inspirational story. Being the first Arab to accomplish some astonishing feats, Al Busaidi has been voted one of the Top 100 Most Influential Arabs in the world by Arabian Business magazine in 2009, the Top 50 Influential Arabs by Middle East magazine in 2009 and 2011, and remains in the Top 500 Power List in 2011 for Arabian Business magazine.
He has also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica. He also missed summiting Mount Everest when he had to return to base camp after breaking both his ankles following a fall.
A documentary about his trek to the magnetic North Pole was directed and edited by two-time Emmy Award winning director David Ward.
However, it is his inspirational streak that has helped moved society. Inspired by a boarding school friend Major Phil Packer, who raised more than £1 million (Dh6.2 million) for charity, Al Busaidi is working on a tour of 100 schools throughout the GCC with the target and hope of raising $1 million (Dh3.7 million) for local charities.
So far, Al Busaidi has covered 28 schools inspiring kids to raise $330,000. “I have not yet done schools here in the UAE, but definitely I would love to do so,” he said.
Even after achieving so much as an adventurer, Al Busaidi still has a few more adventures lined up. “One is to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town and the second one is to walk from the Coast of Antarctica to the South Pole,” he said.
“The climb up Mount Everest is not one of the burning ones, but maybe I will do it some day,” Al Busaidi added.
