The princess is the first Saudi to join the UN Women as a ‘Global Champion’for gender equality. In 2018, she was recognised as an outstanding ‘Woman Leader in Community Development’, an award given by the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute that honours women leaders and executives in Dubai.

She says: “It’s extremely important we all work together to support, mentor and encourage women into leadership positions and help them reach their potential. The key is providing mentoring and giving a clear direction to women of the future path ahead of them and how they can reach it.

“A factor crucial to this is for organisations to see and recognise the true value that female leaders can bring to the table and to the board. Having women in leadership roles brings much needed diversity and in many instances, can provide tangible benefits such as increased productivity and profitability.”

Princess Lamia was appointed secretary general of Alwaleed Philanthropies in April 2016, having previously served as executive manager of media and communications at the foundation.

In her role as secretary general, she leads an all-female team that is combating inequalities and providing opportunities for those in need in the Middle East and around the world.

In addition to investing in programmes that build cross-cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women and young people and assist those affected by disasters, Alwaleed Philanthropies has partnerships with global organisations in humanitarian issues, healthcare, development and civil society.

She says: “We are focussing our efforts to create opportunities for graduates by giving access to recruitment channels, training and development centres. So far 7,000 women have benefitted, such programmes allow us to see measured change, more than pure networking events.”

Earlier this year, she was appointed as the first Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Arab States by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

Highly regarded for her efforts to advance sustainable and inclusive development, in her latest role, she will advocate for sustainable urbanisation, helping UN-Habitat to address urban challenges in Arab states and advance sustainable urbanisation as a driver of development and peace.

“Across our region and globally, perspectives of women are changing but there is more to do; we must lead by example. There is a role for us all in the transformation required, men and women, to encourage and live the change we need to see. It is important that this isn’t done in isolation.

“Men must be part of the conversation and have an important role in nurturing talent and creating opportunities.  We must all collaborate to identify sectors where there is need for change and ensure women are being educated and trained for better representation.”