Forbes Under 19 Arab Achievers
Forbes Reveals Its ‘Under 19 Arab Achievers’ List and It’s Left Us Feeling, Well, a Little Like Underachievers
Recently, they came out with the '30 Arabs Under 30' list – a ranking of revolutionary young people from the region, transforming their fields of business and industries with their radical and progressive ideas.
Now, Forbes Middle East has revealed the 'Under 19 Arab Achievers,' and if you thought you were impressed before, well, let's just say you're about to be awe-struck.
The list is minuscule - there are only four people on it. In fact, at first glance, it feels like an after-thought. But when you look at these kids' resumes, you'll see that they don't need to be in the company of other people, they're pretty darn fascinating on their own. And three out of the four are Emiratis. Go figure.
First on the list is 16-year-old Emirati, Rashed Belhasa. The son of Dubai construction billionaire Saif Ahmed Belhasa, this vlogger and social media star is a sneaker head through and through. He owns more than two hundred sneakers, which he regularly showcases on his YouTube channel, MoneyKicks. He's got over 1.4 million subscribers, and the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Wiz Khalifa, DJ Khaled, and Mariah Carey, Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul plus several famous footballers are some of the celebrities who have featured on his channel or visited his house.
His Instagram account has 1.2 million followers, and he's recently launched a line of contemporary street clothing called KA-1 Clothing.
He's got tigers as pets and the sickest car collection, ever. One of his most famous posts on Instagram (with over 92,000 likes) is of him leaning against his Ferrari F12 Berlinetta with a V12 engine, which he got wrapped in a Louis Vuitton/Supreme collaboration print. He captioned the post, "We living Life". There is no doubt that this kid is, indeed, "living life."
Second on the list is Tambi Asaad Cimuk. When 15-year-old Tambi, a Syrian refugee settled in Turkey with his family, walked into a music store with his mother, he didn't even realize he could play piano. Fast forward three years, and with no formal training, Tambi has played Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Mozart at New York's Carnegie Hall and been hailed as a music prodigy.
Then there's Adeeb Alblooshi. This 14-year-old Emirati native is youngest and most recognized inventor in the UAE. He is also a member of the Arab Robotics Association, has more than sixty certificates of achievement under his belt and in 2013 he was awarded the UN Information Centre's Award of Excellence, among a bunch of other accolades.
It all started when he decided to invent a light-weight, waterproof prosthetic foot for his father, whose original prosthetic was giving him discomfort. Then, seeing his mother work tirelessly around the house, he invented a cleaning robot to help her out. He's also created a water-proof fire helmet with a built-in camera and audio system that allows firefighters to see and hear better in a fire. A smart wheelchair and a seatbelt with a fitted heart monitor technology that sends information to emergency services, are some of his other inventions.
Notice how all his inventions facilitate other people. Adeeb has said before that he wants to change the world by helping all the people in need of assistance. Smart and selfless, we're rooting for Adeeb to make it on many more lists in the future.
The last person on the list is 12-year-old Emirati and Adeeb's younger sister, Dana Alblooshi. When she was nine, she was the youngest astronaut to be trained at NASA, where she did a one-month stint along with her brother in 2014, courtesy of a world tour to seven of the world's most technologically advanced countries, sponsored by Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Dana has said that when she's older she wants to be the first and youngest Emirati to go to Mars and the Moon, and have a little fun with gravity, according to Gulf News.
While the 'Under 19 Arab Achievers' list falls a little short on the number of people that made the cut (I mean, there must be more than just four teenage Arabs in the world that can knock our socks off), we can't deny that the four on the list are pretty impressive. In fact, it kinda makes us wish they were our kids!