Writing about an artist from my country - Essay Example

Mans Al Otaiba is a Poet from United Arab Emirates who has published almost fifty books of poetry. Al Otaiba enjoys a unique distinction amongst global poets as has made commendable roles as a politician, a businessman and a policy maker while being a poet. His achievements both in politics along with remarkable records of literary publications make his achievement stand out. It is notable here that his political commentary on Petroleum Concession Agreement and other connected issues have been quite influential within in the oil industry.

Anything important in the oil industry has high relevance in the current geopolitical context. This fact makes Mans Al Otaiba and his political commentary important globally. Al Otaiba writes poems both in English and Arabic. The objective of this essay is to explain the life and works of Mans Al Otaiba. The essay initially deals with the personal details of the subject and later talks about his literary, political and economic contributions. Mans Al Otaiba was born in Abu Dhabi. He was born in the month of May in 1946.

His father’s name is Saeed Al Otaiba. He was fortunate enough to be born and brought up in a highly influential environment. He later became the Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the country while Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the president of United Arab Emirates. His influence in the ministry is quite evident by the fact that he later became the President’s personal advisor. The good will that he had was maintained for long as he remained in this official position till the death of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

He also continued to be the private advisor to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan . He was a member of Royal Moroccan Academy as well. One of the most important political positions that he held for long is the president-ship of OPEC which he held 6 times. He has caught the attention in global political by violating some of the OPEC understandings on oil quotas. The business ventures of Mans Al Otaiba included private equity, direct equity, asset management, investment placement and investment banking.

His firm was called Noor Capital, of which he was the chairman. He also had a major stake in Abu Dhabi Group which dealt with telecommunication, banking including Islamic banking, real estate, hospitality, ISP, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. He was a business partner in Dana Gas, a company which dealt with petroleum. Interestingly, this is one of the first private sector investment made in the industry by a local player in the gulf countries. He also made his business presence made in Morocco through the business venture Maissoune.

He also owns a number of hospitality businesses both within and outside UAE. Though it is inferred that there are many other business interventions done by Mans Al Otaiba, many of them remain unavailable for reference, due to its private and secret nature. As far as his literacy contributions concerned he has on records published 42 poetic works. This included both Arabic and English. It has been recorded that his poetry became well noticed even before the political unification of the United Arab Emirates.

Many of his Arabic poetry are of much relevance in the local context as he has written many of them in colloquial Arabic. Probably this is the factor that has contributed to his popularity as a poet in the Arabian countries. He has remarkable records in formal Arabic publications as well. One of his most acclaimed novels is Karima. Most of his non fictional work dealt with oil and the allied politics. He has written extensively on the Petroleum Concession Agreement. In honor to the literary and political contributions that Al Otaiba made to the world, he was honored by a number of universities across the globe by their honorary doctorates.

The long list includes University of Keio , Japan; University of Manila , Philippines and University of Sao Paulo Brazil. His disciplines of research include law and economics.