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-In her message to Emirati women, Fatima Alloghani said it's never too late to fulfil your dream and try to find yourself beyond what everybody told you to be
"The hardest part of my journey was not crossing borders, but crossing the borders inside me. Whenever I was under the impression that I was riding alone, I was not alone because my country was riding with me," says Fatima Alloghani, the first Emirati woman adventurer who has travelled to 27 countries on her bike.
From mountains to deserts to rivers, Alloghani has travelled to 27 countries, covering 30,000 kilometres. In 2025 alone, she travelled to 17 countries, spanning 7,000 kilometres.
"Last year, I left Dubai. I crossed Kuwait and entered Iraq from the Safwan border. I started encountering control checkpoints every 50 kilometres. Whenever I handed over my passport, nearly every time a passport control officer would look at me and say, "A woman." "Emirati." "Alone?" I kept hearing these three words at every border crossing and petrol station," she said while narrating her story to the audience at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival 2026.
“A year before, even at Khardung La Pass in the Himalayas, 5,400 metres above sea level and the highest paved motorway, when I arrived at the peak, overwhelmed with the steam and the fog inside the helmet, more than outside the helmet, I was trying to find a place to park my bike among the tourists. But it was an elevated place, so I fell off the bike. Everybody rushed to come and pick up the bike with me. The moment I opened my helmet to say thank you, everybody asked, ‘Where is your guide? Where are you from? Are you alone?” said Alloghani, who got her licence and first bike three years ago.
‘Why live for others?’
Sharing her experience, she elaborated that this was never about a motorcycle “but about being out of the norm of the gender, nationality and age.
“As soon as I opened my eyes into this world, I realised that I was different. I thought differently, looked differently, felt differently, and wanted different things. So, I chose an education far from the country, a career far from home, and many other choices that were unprecedented… I tried to change, fit in, and be accepted. No matter what I did, it was not good enough, and the further I tried to fit in, the further I felt I was distancing myself. Then came the pandemic, and then I thought that if the world is this unpredictable, why are we living it for others?” she said.
In her message to Emirati women, she said it's never too late to fulfil your dream and try to find yourself beyond what everybody told you to be.
“The beautiful thing about the UAE is that women are so empowered and free to make all the choices. With freedom comes responsibility, so we can't just wander free without really having an identity. We should really give a chance to our true inner self to surface and not care so much about what everybody says and not really just run after the crowd. It's okay to stand alone and be different. I enjoyed time with myself.”
‘I didn’t rebel; I just rode to find myself.’
To pursue her dream and passion, she quit her job, took the motorcycle and just rode with no destination.
“From the outside, it looked all perfect, but from the inside, I didn’t feel everything was right. So, one day, when I woke up, I quit my job, took my motorcycle, and just rode with no destination. I did not try to rebel. I did not ride for freedom. I just rode to find myself. On the road, layers started falling off, but the hardest part was not crossing borders; it was crossing the borders inside me,” she told the audience, attentively listening to an inspiring Emirati female rider’s story.
“Sometimes, it doesn't take a leap to find yourself. You just have to take the first step, and everything becomes history,” she concluded her story with applause from the audience at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival 2026.
-In her message to Emirati women, Fatima Alloghani said it's never too late to fulfil your dream and try to find yourself beyond what everybody told you to be
"The hardest part of my journey was not crossing borders, but crossing the borders inside me. Whenever I was under the impression that I was riding alone, I was not alone because my country was riding with me," says Fatima Alloghani, the first Emirati woman adventurer who has travelled to 27 countries on her bike.
From mountains to deserts to rivers, Alloghani has travelled to 27 countries, covering 30,000 kilometres. In 2025 alone, she travelled to 17 countries, spanning 7,000 kilometres.
"Last year, I left Dubai. I crossed Kuwait and entered Iraq from the Safwan border. I started encountering control checkpoints every 50 kilometres. Whenever I handed over my passport, nearly every time a passport control officer would look at me and say, "A woman." "Emirati." "Alone?" I kept hearing these three words at every border crossing and petrol station," she said while narrating her story to the audience at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival 2026.
“A year before, even at Khardung La Pass in the Himalayas, 5,400 metres above sea level and the highest paved motorway, when I arrived at the peak, overwhelmed with the steam and the fog inside the helmet, more than outside the helmet, I was trying to find a place to park my bike among the tourists. But it was an elevated place, so I fell off the bike. Everybody rushed to come and pick up the bike with me. The moment I opened my helmet to say thank you, everybody asked, ‘Where is your guide? Where are you from? Are you alone?” said Alloghani, who got her licence and first bike three years ago.
‘Why live for others?’
Sharing her experience, she elaborated that this was never about a motorcycle “but about being out of the norm of the gender, nationality and age.
“As soon as I opened my eyes into this world, I realised that I was different. I thought differently, looked differently, felt differently, and wanted different things. So, I chose an education far from the country, a career far from home, and many other choices that were unprecedented… I tried to change, fit in, and be accepted. No matter what I did, it was not good enough, and the further I tried to fit in, the further I felt I was distancing myself. Then came the pandemic, and then I thought that if the world is this unpredictable, why are we living it for others?” she said.
In her message to Emirati women, she said it's never too late to fulfil your dream and try to find yourself beyond what everybody told you to be.
“The beautiful thing about the UAE is that women are so empowered and free to make all the choices. With freedom comes responsibility, so we can't just wander free without really having an identity. We should really give a chance to our true inner self to surface and not care so much about what everybody says and not really just run after the crowd. It's okay to stand alone and be different. I enjoyed time with myself.”
‘I didn’t rebel; I just rode to find myself.’
To pursue her dream and passion, she quit her job, took the motorcycle and just rode with no destination.
“From the outside, it looked all perfect, but from the inside, I didn’t feel everything was right. So, one day, when I woke up, I quit my job, took my motorcycle, and just rode with no destination. I did not try to rebel. I did not ride for freedom. I just rode to find myself. On the road, layers started falling off, but the hardest part was not crossing borders; it was crossing the borders inside me,” she told the audience, attentively listening to an inspiring Emirati female rider’s story.
“Sometimes, it doesn't take a leap to find yourself. You just have to take the first step, and everything becomes history,” she concluded her story with applause from the audience at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival 2026.
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