By Kara J. Peterson

Kamal Bahamdan was just seven years old when he discovered that horses would become his life's passion. "I had my first dirt bike and was treating it like a horse- had a name for it and everything," he says. "So my parents decided to get me a real horse and sent me to riding school." Kamal didn't miss a day of practice for two years. He was, as he puts it, "hooked."

That was twenty-five years ago. And today not much has changed. To date, Kamal has competed in two Olympics-the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2000 Sydney Games, took first place in the 1999 Grand Prix Fleet Jumper Classic, finished second in the 1999 Valkenswaard International Derby, placed in several New England regional events, competed in the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Spain, and is currently in training for the 2004 Olympics. "I can't imagine a day in my life without horses," he says.

Soft-spoken and serious, Kamal credits his parents with setting him on the road to success. "My father is one of those people who believes that if you want to do something, you have to do it all the way," Kamal explains. "Like if you want to play tennis, you have to prepare with the proper clothes, equipment, and coach. You don't just go out and hit the ball and expect to be the best. All the sports that I am involved in have strict discipline as the common factor and the whole idea of all of them is that I go all the way in whatever I do." Today, the 32-year-old athlete displays this level of dedication in every aspect of his life.

In addition to being a world-class equestrian, Kamal is a graduate of the College of Engineering at Boston University (he graduated in 1994 with a BS in manufacturing engineering). He is also a successful venture capitalist. In 1995, he cofounded BV Global Partners, a $150 million private equity fund that invests in technology start-ups and other venture groups. He also serves on the Dean's Advisory Council at the College of Engineering, which reviews the latest technologies under development at BU and in the Boston area. He advises the Council on industry and market developments.

"I spend a lot of time on airplanes," he laughs. "I think that 1998 was the worst--I must have boarded a plane more than two hundred times that year." So how does he do it? "You simply have to make the time," he says. "And you have to make the best of the time that you have."

The son of a prominent banker, Kamal grew up in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, where horse jumping was not a popular sport. "When I was growing up, horse jumping was pretty much nonexistent in Saudi," he says. "The only chance I had to excel or progress at the sport was to go to Europe every summer and ride there because no one would sponsor any shows in Saudi." In fact, Saudi Arabia didn't form a horse jumping federation until 1994. But that didn't stop Kamal from following his dream. And besides, "horse jumping is addictive," he says.

Kamal's first Olympics were in 1996, "And I wasn't even supposed to be there," he says. "But at the last minute, another rider failed to place, so I was called in with only three weeks before the games began." This was also the first time that Saudi Arabia competed in show jumping, a sport traditionally dominated by France, Holland, Germany, and the United States. "We weren't taken too seriously at first," Kamal remembers. "We were kind of like the Jamaican bobsled team." But all that changed when one of Kamal's teammates took home a bronze metal from the 2000 Sydney games.

"Horse jumping is gaining a lot of popularity in Saudi Arabia right now," he says. Currently training in Belgium with a German coach, Kamal plans to take a year off before the 2004 Olympics in Athens. "I really want to give it my all," he says. "Otherwise, I will always wonder how far I could have gone."

As a child, Kamal also developed a taste for the board room. "My father started taking me to business meetings when I was twelve years old," he says. "Afterwards, we would discuss what happened-he would ask me what I thought. This taught me a lot about business principles."

But it wasn't until high school that Kamal started thinking about engineering. "I decided on engineering because it teaches problem solving," he says. "You can't get that in other disciplines." Kamal narrowed his choice down to manufacturing engineering because he wanted to learn more than "just pure engineering." He says that while a student at Boston University, he learned management skills as well as technical skills. "And once I decided on manufacturing engineering, I knew I wanted to go to Boston University or the University of California at Berkeley, since they offered the best manufacturing engineering programs in the U.S."

Kamal says that studying engineering actually made sense for him. "Horse jumping is all about mechanics," he says. "When a horse jumps, its back legs act like a spring. As a rider, I have to understand this spring action and the trajectory, the take-off angle, the distance from the jump, etc. Good riders understand this as second nature, but it is pretty difficult to teach something that is second nature. So my understanding of the basic principles of engineering really helps me explain show jumping to kids."

Kamal adds that studying engineering helps him in his role as a venture capitalist as well. "I understand the technology being offered," he says. His competitive nature has also helped him succeed in business. "Alex Vahabzadeh, the cofounder of BV Group, was originally my adversary," Kamal explains. "We were on opposite sides of a business negotiation and were working really hard to outsmart each other, so the negotiation failed." But later, Kamal says that he ran into Alex and the two hit it off. They collaborated on a few deals, eventually forming the BV Group. "Knowing how the other person's brain works has proven to be an important element in our success," he says. And succeed they have.

The BV Group has excelled in investing in technology start-ups, real estate, hedge funds, and private equity, primarily within the U.S. and Europe. To date, the group has completed more than forty-five direct investments and more than ten private equity fund investments. In the New England region, for example, BV has invested in MarketMax Inc., a Wakefield maker of supply-chain software for retailers; in Pittsburgh's FreeMarket's Inc., a business-to-business auction site for industrial parts and commodities; and in Peracon Inc., a Web site for commercial real estate transactions.

So what is next for the multitalented Kamal? "I would like to teach riding to children," he says. He hopes to start a horse jumping organization in Saudi Arabia where he could pass on his knowledge to kids. "After all," he says, "life is about learning-it is a never-ending process that keeps us going." And no matter what happens at the Athens games, Kamal says he feels like a success.

"As a child, I always imagined myself working with the best people," he says. "At this point in my life, I can look back and say that I achieved that goal. Whether you are talking about jumping, investment banking, or investigating the latest technologies, the one thing I can say with certainty is that I have always worked with the best people."