Sequoya Borgman is not one to shy away from taking on a challenge. In fact, his bucket list focuses on activities specifically designed to push his physical, emotional and mental strength. The founder and CEO of Milwaukee-based private equity firm Borgman Capital fulfilled one of those bucket list items in August, when he climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Located in Tanzania, Kilimanjaro is considered the highest free-standing mountain in the world, with an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet above sea level.
Borgman signed up for the climb earlier this year – on “probably a stressful day” – and spent three months working with personal trainers at Fit Pro MKE, mainly to build cardiovascular endurance for the trek’s high-altitude conditions.
“It’s not so much the physical part that’s hard, it’s really just the elevation. … It’s like working out with half as much oxygen,” he said.
Joined by his guide, four porters and a handful of other hikers from around the world, Borgman embarked on the six-day expedition on his 49th birthday – a gift to himself, he said. The first night on the mountain brought a bout of altitude sickness that was “pretty painful” but didn’t stop him from reaching the summit by the dawn of day five.
It turns out the experience of climbing a mountain, one step at a time, can be compared to the world of business and investing, said Borgman.
“It’s like goals in business,” he said. “If you have a very large goal and just focus on that, it may be harder to reach that goal, whereas if you focus on just one day at a time, one small goal at a time, eventually you’ll get to the larger goal and get to the peak or the summit.”
