Sultan Al Hajji is as dedicated to his philanthropic endeavours outside the office as he is to his job as vice president and chief strategy officer of the oil and gas company Total UAE. The Emirati, 57, has been working for Total since 1983, starting in the human resources department. Mr Hajji has been in his current role for the past four years.
5.30am
I love to look through the window to see the garden at sunrise. I do my morning prayers, read the holy book and ask God for blessings. I take a banana or an apple on the way out of my home in Khalifa City to drive to Total's offices in the Tourist Club area of Abu Dhabi. I often listen to an audio book on the way. The one I like most is Never Be Sick Again by Raymond Francis. Most of us think we eat well, but when you read a book by an expert, you think differently.
8am
I start with an espresso, looking at my commitments on my daily calendar to check nothing overlaps. I go through my emails – there's a lot of junk there – and I scan The National and Aletihad newspapers, mainly for the society news – who is who, what's happening in the city, any official decrees coming up. With the recent announcement of the new government structure, we at Total congratulate new ministers and start to establish relationships with them. Sometimes there are condolences so I pay my respects to the family.
11.30am
If my boss wants something, I’ll go see him. I also say hello to the guys in the office, checking everything is OK. I then focus on reports, analysing different strategies and coordinating with the Paris office.
1pm
The second part of my day is dedicated to my outside interests, which Total supports. I’m involved in many non-profit organisations. I recently had an appointment with the chancellors of Zayed University because next May, I’ll be the chairman for a Toastmasters conference for 1,000 people at Zayed University. I am patron of the Toastmasters UAE Chapters. Toastmasters is a non-profit international organisation established in America in the early 1920s to help people develop their level of speech. We have almost 60 clubs in the UAE, opened by myself and B R Shetty, the founder of NMC Group. At weekends, I have meetings in the evenings, which involve fundraising and planning who is to speak. It’s leadership training, basically. People who were shy of their own shadow a year ago have become real speakers.
3pm
I have a board meeting in Dubai for Manzil handicapped centre. I am the vice-chairman, and I’m chairing a meeting to see the plans for next year.
I’m also the chairman of UAE University’s college of science. Usually on an advisory board, your role is limited to advising, but I took it to the next step – I said “no, we have to be in the front seat, they should be in the best 20 universities in the world”. To bridge that gap, we hold a meeting almost every month with different people. The problem is that students are not very interested in science. We’re trying to bring science back into their lives.
5pm
Before driving back to Abu Dhabi, I receive an email from the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi friends committee, which I am vice chair of. My 26-year-old son is just finishing his masters there. I’m in charge of their scholarships and endowments. They’ve asked me to deliver a speech on why French is so important. My father believed that education is the only way for us to develop ourselves. I used to do my homework in a tent – lying down on my belly on the sand with a kerosene lamp. I finished secondary school at 16 – a big deal at the time in my family – and was sent to the US to study. I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I started with zoology, then engineering, then IT, and finished up with a bachelor’s in political science and public affairs from the University of Miami. I had to be independent, which taught me a lot – my discipline came from that.
6pm
I eat my lunch now. Sometimes I eat lunch straight after noon prayers but often, I’m so busy I forget. Yesterday I didn’t eat until 8pm when I had dinner with colleagues at Emirates Palace. I try to focus on nutrition rather than just filling myself up.
9pm
If I have time, I put my headphones on to listen to nice, soothing music or a lecture, and walk or cycle around my neighbourhood. I used to paint but today, I just collect paintings. I’d like to go back to painting, I love it.
1am
I go to bed late. I only sleep for three to four hours, which I know isn’t much. I get annoyed if I sleep too much, even at weekends.
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