A couple of years ago, an Egyptian millennial with the unlikely name of Omar El Galla predictably quit his lucrative job in pursuit of entrepreneurial adventure. Fast forward to 2019, and this gambler is still taking risks, only this time, he is eyeing a Guinness World Record for the longest swim ever attempted in the Red Sea. It all began with the financially ruinous decision to quit his family’s exceedingly successful jewelry business. “I was good at what I did and I made good money. I thought maybe that would sustain me and make me happy, so I continued to do it, but I have always wanted to go out into the world and experience things, rather than just sit somewhere and make money,” he says. “When I turned 30, everything came to a head. I started my own business and lost a good chunk of my money. I was depressed, and I ended up just isolating myself and watching a lot of Netflix. I have probably watched everything on Netflix, really, at some point.” It wasn’t until 2018 that El Galla traded his sweatpants for a bike and a…
This Adventurer Is Swimming the Length of Egypt to Combat Plastic Pollution
September 12, 2019
