Israeli author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg has not had a run-of-the-mill life. Quite the opposite in fact. Having served in the Israeli Navy, Yossi decided then to take to South America for the trip of a lifetime. There he and two new friends met Karl Ruprechter who promised the group he was an expert in travelling the jungle. Despite warnings from the locals about the deadly terrain, the group trusted him and were after an adventure. Yossi and the group took to the Amazon jungle in Bolivia, aiming to get a glimpse of an indigenous village as Karl had promised them.
The men quickly ran into trouble when Yossi was swept away by the current and carried two miles downstream. Not knowing what happened to his friends and surviving the great water pressure of the canyon - he was alive. But alone. Having luckily found his survival backpack he had some of the food and resources to help him survive.
Yossi followed the river in the hope of finding his friend and escaping the jungle alive. Battling floods and food shortage, fear, infection, insects and predators, the young adventurer now had trench foot. And to make matters worse, a jaguar had found him. Amazingly, he had a cigarette lighter and a can of repellent with him. He set the repellent on fire and managed to scare the big cat away. The following days proved harder for Yossi, and he was famished, weak and delirious. Bleeding, infected, with fungus feet and seemingly on death's door. After being lost for three gruelling weeks, Kevin (one of his friends) appeared and found Yossi and the two embraced the miracle that occurred. Karl Ruprechter, the ‘expert’ later turned out to be a wanted criminal. The experience went on to be turned into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Yossi has since become a published best-selling author with several books detailing his experiences,
His story is one that inspires, motivates and proves that when humankind is on the brink, survival mode kicks in. For tales of hardship and anecdotes aplenty, Yossi is an ideal after-dinner speaker to impress guests and delegates. Having founded the tech company, Headbox and developed the Blinq mobile app under the company name, Yossi is also a leading business speaker with extensive knowledge in the technology arena.
How to hire Yossi Ghinsberg
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Yossi Ghinsberg for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
When he's at corporate events, Yossi is known to cover the following topics:
- Leadership
- Motivation: finding it and keeping it
- Pioneering mindset and breakthroughs
- Team performance and improvement
- Mental resilience
- Goal setting and setbacks
- Risk vs. reward
- Global environmental change and corporate sustainability
- Peak performance
''It's always a challenge to find speakers of the right caliber for these high profile events. Your story of survival against all odds was both fascinating and challenging. You possess the extremely rare gift of a great storyteller with the ability to create word pictures which capture the imagination of an audience and take them on a journey with you. We look forward to an opportunity to work with you again in the future.'' - Wendy Hand, Managing Partner Big Yellow Suitcase
''After hearing Yossi speak last year at the Corporate Lunch, I felt he would be an ideal candidate to inspire and encourage our Sales Team to new heights and to push the boundaries. I am pleased to say that Yossi’s speech/presentation did achieve the desired result. Everyone who participated in the evening had nothing but glowing references and felt an enormous sense of exhilaration in recounting Yossi’s story. I would not hesitate to recommend him to other companies thinking of using him in a similar situation.'' - Brendan Nicholls, Manager Precision Instruments Division, Olympus
''Australian society of orthodontist Yossi’s story is inspiring to everyone – it is a story about human survival. However, through his experiences, Yossi provides thought-provoking questions to understanding oneself and the purpose of life. He captivated the audience through his demonstration of strength and bravery, his path to self-discovery and his enthusiasm in story telling. We all have dreams and he brought alive the realisation that in order to achieve our dreams we have to make sacrifices. The sharing of his experiences has made a difference to each person in the audience and that is a very special talent to have.'' - Atul Mehta, President, Mehta Orthodontics
2017 - 'Jungle' film release based on Yossi's story
2016 - Release of 'Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Adventure, Danger and Survival' one of Yossi's books on the experience
2015 - Launched Blinq2014 - Launched Headbox
2015 - Appeared in an article 'A Year from Now They Will Still be Talking About These 5 Speakers'
1981 - Survived three weeks alone in the Amazon jungle
He opened 12 medical centres worldwide and eventually settled in Australia, managing the Sydney CITA centre.
