Ali Al-Naimi is the former Saudi oil minister – and OPEC kingpin – a position he held for the two decades between August 1995 and May 2016. In this time, Al-Naimi’s briefest utterances moved markets. But it wasn’t always that way. Al-Naimi was born into abject poverty as a nomadic Bedouin in the 1930s, just as US companies were discovering vast quantities of oil under the baking Arabian deserts. From his first job as a shepherd boy, aged four, to his appointment to one of the most powerful political and economic jobs in the world, his memoir, Out of the Desert charts Al-Naimi’s extraordinary rise to power, and gives special emphasis to the importance and rise of Asia – and his own personal, excellent relationship with Asia nations and leaders. Described by Alan Greenspan as ‘the most powerful man you’ve never heard of’, Al-Naimi’s incredible journey proves that anyone can make it – even a poor Bedouin shepherd boy.