Nabil Al Busaidi (born 23 January 1970 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is an

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

i adventurer. Al Busaidi is considered to be the first Arab to walk to the

magnetic North Pole The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...

, to climb

Mount Vinson Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, and to row across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. He was 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. A documentary about his trek to the magnetic North Pole was directed and edited by two-time

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

winning director David Ward.

Early life and education

Al Busaidi was born in 1970 in London, England, and split his time between England and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. He studied at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

earning a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Mathematics (1993) and Masters in Management (1997). He is a

Project Management Professional Project Management Professional (PMP) is an internationally recognized professional designation offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). As of 31 July 2020, there are 1,036,368 active PMP-certified individuals and 314 chartered chapters ...

(PMP) and a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(FRGS). In 1998, he moved back to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, residing in

and Bahrain.

Career

Employment

Professionally, Nabs worked at a number of institutions such as Gulf International Bank (Bahrain),

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

(Oman),

Mizuho Bank is the integrated retail and corporate banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group (; ), the third largest financial services company in Japan, with total assets of approximately $1.8 trillion in 2017. Mizuho is one of the three so-called Japanese ...

(Bahrain) and

Gulf Air Gulf Air ( ar, طيران الخليج ''Ṭayarān al-Khalīj'') is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British Pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline ...

(Bahrain) before becoming a full-time adventurer.

Sports

An avid sports enthusiast, Nabs was awarded university colours for soccer and

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

at Bath University. He is a

Royal Life Saving Society UK The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a drowning prevention charity founded in 1891 in the UK. It has had Royal Patronage since 1904. History The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a national charity, founded in 1891 by William Henry, with the aim of ...

Bronze award holder and a PADI advanced open water scuba diver. In Bahrain, he played for Bahrain RFC, an amateur rugby team, during their 1997–2005 seasons and as a lifelong fan

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

he set up a Bahrain Liverpool FC Fan Club on Facebook.

Other

Nabs published a coffee table book entitled ''The Arab who Took on the Arctic – From Sand to Snow'' in 2011 and is registered with the London Speakers Bureau as a motivational speaker.

Adventurer

An active adventurer, Nabs has undertaken the following adventures since 2009: * In April 2009, he became the first Arab to walk the 650 km from

Resolute Bay Resolute Bay is an Arctic waterway in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Parry Channel on the southern side of Cornwallis Island. The hamlet of Resolute is located on the northern shore of the bay with Resolute Bay Airp ...

to the magnetic North Pole and one of less than 500 ever to walk to a pole. * Later in the same year, he climbed

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895m and one of the seven summits. * In January 2010, Nabs climbed the highest mountain in Antarctica, Mount Vinson – (4,897m) also one of the seven summits. * * He became the first Arab to row over 4,600 km across the Atlantic, albeit in a team comprising 14 members, one of only 250 crews to achieve this feat and breaking the record for being the largest crew ever to complete the trip.

Current activities

Inspired by a boarding school friend Major Phil Packer, who raised more than one million pounds for charity, Nabs is working on a tour of 100 schools throughout the GCC. He is hoping to raise US$1 million for local charities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busaidi, Nabil Explorers of Antarctica Explorers of the Arctic Ocean rowers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst People educated at Eltham College 1970 births Omani Muslims Alumni of the University of Bath Living people CFA charterholders Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society