Born in Jeddah in 1955, Prince Alwaleed’s business career began in 1979 after graduating from Menlo College in California, beginning his journey from a small, nondescript office Riyadh. From these humble beginnings, today he sits at the helm of Kingdom Holding Company, a massive conglomerate – of which he owns 95 percent – which includes companies in tourism and hospitality, mass media, entertainment, retail, agriculture, aviation, technology and real-estate, among other sectors.

Among his most important business decisions came in 1991 when he bought a large tranche of shares in the then-struggling Citicorp. From an investment of $550m, his holdings eventually grew to approximately $1bn. He remains as the company’s largest individual shareholder, and also holds significant parts of other companies, including Twitter, Lyft, the Four Seasons hotel management chain, News Corporation, Rotana Group. In the past, he invested in AOL, Apple, Motorola, MCI and Fox News.

In addition to his business acumen, Prince Alwaleed is a well-known philanthropist, with charitable activities ranging from funding educational projects around the world to helping the people of Palestine.

Alwaleed Philanthropies has allocated $30m to a number of initiatives working to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The $30m in funds includes a significant allocation towards initiatives such as UN-Habitat to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in vulnerable communities and to establish shelters and fix damaged houses to address overcrowding and enable social distancing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.