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Who is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal? Till now, the world knew him as a member of Saudi royal family with a lot of money. In fact, he comes in at number 34 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people. But unlike other outrageously wealthy sheikhs, bin Talal is not in the news for buying gold-plated sports cars or keeping big cats as pets. Instead, he has announced that he will be donating all of his personal wealth, about $32 billion, to charity.

The 60-year-old nephew of King Salman, and the founder of Kingdom Holding Company, a Riyadh-based publicly traded conglomerate, announced that the money would be used to foster cultural understanding, empower women, and provide vital disaster relief.

Known as the "Warren Buffett of Arabia", bin Talal has stakes in Disney, 21st Century Fox, News Corp, Apple, GM, Twitter, and a string of hotel chains and luxury hotels, including New York's Plaza Hotel and the George V in Paris. Interestingly, the majority of Alwaleed’s staff in his company turns out to be women because of his strong belief on women's equal rights.

Bin Talal says he was inspired by Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, who has similarly pledged to donate his entire wealth to charity. Alwaleed decided to establish his own organisation to manage the money, Alwaleed Philanthropies, which aims to offer valuable humanitarian, educational and social assistance all across the world.