Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has made it to the '2008 Time Magazine's 100 List of the World's Most Influential People.'

Prince Alwaleed was included in the Builders & Titans category with an excerpt describing HRH: "Prince Alwaleed… has shown that the common goals of peace and stability can conquer ill-founded prejudices. He has charm, a wonderful sense of humor and the rare ability to answer tough questions with candid answers," said a KHC press release. 

Kingdom Foundation chaired by Al Waleed has funded many cultural, educational and philanthropic projects globally including, a £16 million ($31.7 million) endowment to create two new research centres for Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh.

In 2005, he made a $20 million donation to Harvard University to create the University-wide Islamic Studies Program, a $20 million donation to Georgetown University to create the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, a $20 million donation to the Louvre in support of its collection of Islamic art.

In 2004, Prince Alwaleed also made a $5 million donation to establish the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) at the American University in Beirut (AUB) and donated $10 million to finance both the construction of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS) building in the new campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC), and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK received a €1 million endowment from the Prince in 2003 and His Highness gave a $5 million gift to support Harvard Medical School’s research center in Dubai.

He has also made donations to President George H.W. Bush Sr. Scholarship fund established by Phillips Academy, the Carter Center for Peace and the James Baker III Institute, Rice University.

Moreover, Al Waleed supported the 'Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington DC' (IFC). Furthermore, also donated $19 million for the South Asia Tsunami victims in 2005, over $5 million to Pakistan’s earth quake victims and $1 million through the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) to the drought-ravaged people of Kenya.

This year, Institutional Investor magazine listed Prince Alwaleed on its first-ever ranking of the most-powerful figures in finance, Arabian Business magazine ranked him number one on the list of the World’s Most Influential Arabs and also number one on the list of 50 Wealthiest Arabs. The Arabic edition of Forbes magazine ranked Al Waleed number one on the list of Wealthiest Arabs in the World.

In 2007, Forbes magazine ranked him number one on the Middle East’s 20 Richest People List that was featured in Time Magazine's 100 List of the World's Most Influential People, was awarded 'Man of the Year' and Kingdom Holding Company 'most admired company' by Arabian Business.-TradeArabia News Service