What The Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundations
Who HRH Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
What A Middle Eastern charity operating on a global level
Why Despite considerable personal financial losses, the Prince continues to give on an almost unbelievable level.
The global financial crisis has been unkind to every wealthy man’s net worth, especially those with large equity holdings in the international banking sector. But given that HRH Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud’s vast and wide-ranging investments are mostly concealed behind some customary Saudi Arabian secrecy it would clearly be a complex task to ascertain the specific losses he has incurred this year. Forbes’ attempt estimated his 2009 personal fortune at thirteen billion USD, which if true represents a year-to-date loss of over one-third of his wealth.
Given the above, it might be reasonable to expect the Prince to have scaled back his financial contributions. Not so. Astonishingly, the man Time magazine once named the Arab Warren Buffet actually continues to give generously to a variety of good causes. Indeed his commitment to charity has proven to be as great as his commitment to business ventures having established a multitude of foundations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa donating more than 100 million USD annually to those in need. When asked by Bespoke, His Royal Highness explained that his “philanthropic activities span 57 countries. We provide global, on-the-ground assistance to the victims of natural disasters, developing local residential projects, as well to charitable causes in addition to supporting the education of Saudi women in order to empower their role in society.”
To put it all in perspective, over the past 30 years Prince Alwaleed has donated approximately nine billion USD to charities all over the world. When we asked him what his proudest moment was over the course of his lifelong charitable initiatives, he recounted that, “I can never forget the time the President of Niger personally appealed to me that he must save the lives of three million people of Niger. I contributed to that cause and on my next visit to Niger, the President told me, ‘Thank you, you have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of my people in Niger.’ Then I contributed again.”
It may be easy to take for granted the generosity of the wealthy when the economy is in good health, but in times of severe financial depression, such unremitting philanthropy is truly commendable.
