The man behind one of the world’s most successful international holding companies, Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), has been named twice by Forbes magazine as one of the smartest and most creative investors in the world. Such a portrayal encapsulates the remarkable achievements of His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, founder and chairman of one of the world’s most successful and diversified financial investment enterprises.

Prince Alwaleed was born in 1955, He is the grandson of two remarkable, and in some ways legendary, historical leaders, King Abdulaziz Al Saud, founder and first ruler of Saudi Arabia, and Riad El Solh, an iconic statesman in Lebanon’s drive for independence and its first Prime Minister.

The uncommon achievements of those two personages must have loomed large in shaping Prince Alwaleed’s propensity towards excellence, as became evident in his school years.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, magna cum laude, from Menlo College in California in l979, and his Masters in Social Sciences with Honors from Syracuse University in New York in 1985.

In recognition of his business and civic accomplishments, Prince Alwaleed has been the recipient of numerous honors and accolades from many organizations, societies, monarchs and heads of state. These include 27 Honorary Doctorates from universities in the U.S., Britain, Korea, Egypt, Malaysia, Ghana, Palestine, Philippines, Tunisia, Uganda, Indonesia, Hungary, Jordan, Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Spain, Bulgaria, and Madagascar.

The citations accompanying these honors particularly point to his financial contributions to education, international understanding, coexistence, and to the provision of assistance to the victims of natural disasters, as well as to the poor and needy, irrespective of nationality, race or creed.