Having raised £600m from a London IPO last month and now seeking a further $500m for a new private equity company focused on financial services in the Middle East and North Africa, Maha Al-Ghunaim, founder and chairman of Global Investment House, wants to turn GIH into the Goldman Sachs of the Middle East.

Ms Al-Ghunaim set up the investment bank in Kuwait 10 years ago, amid slumping oil prices and Saddam Hussein sabre-rattling across the border in Iraq. Frequently ranked among the top businesswomen in the Middle East, she turned a $50m start-up into an institution with $9.3bn of assets under management and offices across the Gulf.