SimplyAbuDhabi XXXVII

It would be interesting to turn around an entire country. “Maybe if it was a very small country, but you would still have to focus on the whole picture. I don’t like to multitask.” Philanthropy, he insists, is fun. “It’s more stimulating than a holiday. It’s not just fulfilling, it’s interesting, going into malaria meetings and this guy saying, ‘Let’s talk vaccines, risks and possibilities.’ I am lucky I have had two careers. The fact that this is not a profit, market-share-driven thing, that makes it a little more relaxing.” Gates only has 26 minutes before his plane is scheduled to take off and we are miles from the airport, but he appears unperturbed as we hurtle along. How does he wind down? “Melinda and I meditate most days,” he says. “Not cross-legged or anything, but on chairs next to each other.” 060 | SIMPLY INFLUENTIAL SIMPLY INFLUENTIAL | 061 “I’m lucky, I’ve had two careers.” His family are increasingly important. Bill and Melinda have matching offices side by side in Seattle; they often read for several hours a day and watch Netflix. He helps with homework and takes his teenage children to sports competitions. Occasionally, he will drop a large sum of money on a vintage car, Leonardo da Vinci manuscript or a new ranch, but he’s mindful that this is detracting from his causes. The jet he justifies because it helps him to operate more effectively across continents. We arrive at the private section of the airport with two minutes to spare. “It has been a good trip,” he says to me, before walking up the red carpet and straight on to the plane. The engines have already started. I realise he has barely stepped out of air-conditioned rooms and cars; he has not even felt the sun. Luggage has been delivered; his library of books is on board. He will read and sleep. None of his aides fly with him. I suspect they find him too intense and need a rest. He is alone, looking like a small geeky boy at the end of an adventure. I return to the city centre in a car without an exhaust to catch up with President Kagame. Bill Gates, he says, has been the perfect guest and should receive a Nobel prize. “How does the world give back to such a person? He would be more comfortable just relaxing now. He has sacrificed not only his money, but his time, more holidays with his family and even his health for Africa. He looks older now, but he is a godfather to this young continent.”