Early life
Saleh bin Abdul-Aziz bin Saleh ibn Suleiman ibn Mohammed ibn Suleiman ibn Nasser Al Rajhi was born 1921 in Al-Bukayriyah, Qassim, KSA. His father, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al-Rajhi was a farmer and trader of lesser means. After his father's moveEarly business enterprise
In the early 1930s, Al Rajhi worked odd jobs at the local marketplace to earn money. Initially, he worked as a porter. Upon saving some money, Al Rajhi used it as capital to trade scrap items. He bought and sold keys, locks and haberdashery items, hawking the items in public places, particularly in the busy areas adjacent to the markets and mosques. In 1937, as Al Rajhi turned 16 years old, he managed to occupy a space among the vendors and set up a (a small trading place on the ground demarcated by a sheet or cloth spread upon which items are placed). He was first located in Safat, in front of the Grand Mosque in Riyadh. This involved breaking down Riyals into change – and . For this he earned a commission of 5%. As his business grew, he changed his for a chest. This had kept his money in different denominations safe. Gradually, his customers started to bring in different currencies for him to change. Businessmen, pilgrims and travelers would exchange different monies from Indian Rupees to gold.Currency exchange business
In 1947, Al Rajhi opened a formal currency shop in Riyadh. He sent for his brothers, Mohammed and Sulaiman, to be a part of the business. Sulaiman, who later succeeded his brother as head of the family conglomerate, was a teenager then, hired for a salary of $10 to do exchange delivery and messenger jobs for the shop. The older Al Rajhi developed the systems and methods by which they recorded, traded and handled the money they received. Toward the 1950s, Al Rajhi sent his brother Sulaiman to Mecca to conduct the exchange business for pilgrims and business people who had frequented the area. Sulaiman, with the blessing of his older brother remained in Mecca and further expanded to Jeddah which was growing economically at the time as well. The brothers conducted their currency business between the three branches for the next 25 years, which marked the beginnings of Al-Rajhi Bank.Al Rajhi Bank
In 1957, the brothers formally established the beginnings ofAgriculture
Al Batin Project
In 1993, Al Rajhi established an agricultural plantation inDurma Project
In 1994-1996, Al Rajhi started the Durma Project. With a land area of 760 hectares, specialized tissue palms were planted. The area had a unique characteristic which included high arability of the soil, availability of natural deep wells and low water tables. As with the Al Batin project, the farms were initially planted with wheat and barley and subsequently transitioned the crop to palm dates. The three-tiered project spearheaded by Al Rajhi spanning 1994-1996 aimed to plant 50,000 palm seedlings of different types.Other projects
In the 1990s Al-Rajhi turned over the reins of the heading the Al Rajhi Bank to focus on real estate and agriculture. His ventures in these two sectors eventually became some of the most successful in KSA. Aside from these, Al Rajhi held stakes in another financial of import Al Baraka Banking Group and shares in cement and construction ventures. Aside from the main business of currency exchange and banking, Saleh Al Rajhi held various positions in other companies with the following designations:See also
* Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi * Al Rajhi BankReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajhi, Saleh Abdul Aziz 20th-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 21st-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 1921 births 2011 deaths Al Rajhi Saudi Arabian billionaires People from Al-Qassim Province Saudi Arabian philanthropists