What would inspire one of the world’s wealthiest men to, on his 41st birthday, donate half of his $1.5 billion fortune to charity?
Speaking to The National, founder and managing director of VPS Healthcare, Dr Shamsheer Vayalil says he has always had a burning desire to "do more".
“I’ve been wanting to do something and I have always believed that doing something good is good business as well.
“And being in the UAE, you get to meet with leaders who believe in giving so you always feel that you need to do something more,” he said.
This “something more” was to join the list of thirteen of the world’s wealthiest people that have pledged half their wealth to charitable causes.
Dr Viyalil joined The Giving Pledge, an initiative created by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda and business magnate Warren Buffett in 2010 to support good causes around the world.
“This being the Year of Zayed and on my 41st birthday, I said to myself, let me do the pledge. It was something that happened spontaneously.
“I had met Bill a couple of times and I was sure that I can learn a lot and be part of an organised philanthropic group.
“I also always enjoyed innovation and felt that this group can do a lot to impact the lives of people and so it happened,” he said simply.
Dr Vayalil began his medical career as a radiologist at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi. In less than a decade he established an integrated health care group with 20 hospitals, more than 100 medical centres, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other health care support services across the Middle East, Europe and India.
He has also established his own charity organisation but has yet to release the details of its work.
“It is still in its initial stages. We want to do things in a more organised way and make sure that we work with like-minded people. We have focus areas and want to maintain that and join with others.
“Health care is at our core and education is something we love to associate with,” he said.
Yet it is clear that Dr Shamsheer will use the focus and drive that he has used to establish an international health care network to run his philanthropic initiatives.
“The first challenge is how to do things in an organised way because we feel that we are not doing it as efficiently as it can be done.”
Focus and organisation are very important to the young entrepreneur who sees that many initiatives are being "duplicated".
“There is even some competition along the line. Which is absurd,” he said.
“Organised philanthropy is critical. People who decide to donate, come together and decide which areas they would like to impact and look at the outcomes. The ability to change lives is something that we should all decide to.
“The majority of people who do charity have good intent but the means to this charity isn’t transparent or accessible to many people which is why it is important to work with credible organisations,” Dr Vayalil said.
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He has previously worked with the Red Crescent Authority to treat hundreds of patients in conflict zones. Many were transported to VPS health care hospitals for treatment
“For us it is all about doing philanthropy in a joint format. We like to learn from others and we have our target areas where we believe we can help affect lives. Our main thing is to remain focused. We are very new in the field of philanthropy and now we are learning,” he said.
“We are excited about it. We do philanthropy with the same energy that we do our business. That makes it more sustainable and we believe that will bring about good results. Whenever we have done it in the past it had always been successful and we continue to try to impact as many lives as we can,” he said.
It should be like a Bollywood movie, he said during a panel that looked at how the new generation of entrepreneurs philanthropists are changing the face of giving.
"We want [philanthropy] to be like a Bollywood movie. We want the hero not to be killed, there's some romance … it should be fun."
The panel, held in May at the Milken Institute Global Conference, was titled Breakthroughs in Philanthropy: Game-Changers in Social Impact. The discussion featured Princess Ameerah Altaweel, Founder and Chairwoman, TIME Entertainment Holding; Peggy Marie Alford, Chief Financial Officer, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; along with Dr Vayalil and others.
The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.
Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
More on Quran memorisation:
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
