An expert on family offices in Saudi Arabia and the wider world – and a prominent figure at the Columbia Business School – examines a role that in some ways moves on from those of the placement agent, capital raiser and family office advisor. Welcome, to the private market "diplomat."

Abbas Hashmi (pictured below), the author of this article – who has already appeared in these pages here and here – examines a feature of the private markets investment world that wealth managers, private banks and family offices ought to consider. With private market investing being all the rage, these observations are especially important. The editors are pleased to share these insights; the usual editorial disclaimers apply. To comment, and get involved in the conversation, email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com and amanda.cheesley@clearviewpublishing.com

Abbas Hashmi

There is more private capital waiting to be deployed today than at any time in recorded market history. As of 30 June 2024, global private equity dry powder stood at approximately $2.52 trillion. The issue is not a shortage of capital. There is a shortage of people who can unlock it.

The money is there. The deals are there. The friction is human.

Capital does not move because a fund has a high internal rate of return. It moves because someone knows how to make the two sides trust each other long enough to say yes. That person has existed for years without a title. Today, that role finally has one.

The private market diplomat
This is the evolution of the placement agent, the capital raiser, the family office advisor, and the cross-border strategist. It is the person who operates in the space between allocator psychology and deal economics. Their value is not in “introductions” but in translation.

They remove the invisible frictions that kill deals: cultural misreads, narrative mismatches, ego errors, timing mistakes, and lack of protocol awareness. When this person is missing, the spreadsheet is irrelevant. The deal dies.

Why the role exists now
Capital is global. Trust is still local. A sovereign wealth executive in Abu Dhabi will not respond to the same narrative as a next-gen allocator in Austin. A sixth-generation European family will not evaluate risk the way a founder-led Singapore single-family office does. The spreadsheet never travels alone. The story does.

Wealth is no longer controlled by a single decision-maker. In most modern families, multiple voices now influence allocation. The daughter who runs the impact portfolio. The son who is crypto native. The mother who sets the philanthropic brand tone. The cousin who is the real CIO behind the scenes. A banker sees none of this. A diplomat does.

Allocators no longer reward persuasion. They reward alignment. The top 1 per cent of families will not be pitched or pressured. They expect belonging before briefing – respect before data rooms. A private market diplomat knows how to earn that posture without ever asking for it.

What a private market diplomat actually does
They are not paid to “market a fund.” They are paid to prevent the wrong meeting from happening and the right meeting from failing.

Core functions:
-- reframes the GP narrative in the allocator’s worldview; 
-- maps real influence inside a family, not just the org chart; 
-- protects both sides from reputational harm; 
-- adjusts timing to respect culture, religion, and hierarchy; 
-- builds continuation rapport after the allocation closes; 
-- speaks fluently in returns and relationships; and 
-- understands the political, emotional, and identity layers behind capital. 

Their value is simple. They know what not to say. They know who not to bring. They know when not to push.

How this differs from the old model
Old world: distribution. New world: fit.
Old world: access lists. New world: earned trust.
Old world: decks and data rooms. New world: narrative, timing, and context.
Old world: a transaction fee. New world: a continuity role.
That is why this function is not a junior IR title. It is closer to the role of a strategic envoy. Someone who sits at the dinner before the diligence, not only at the closing dinner after the documents.
Who becomes a private market diplomat
Not the loudest person in the room. The calmest.
Not the most persuasive. The most trusted.
Not the one with the most meetings. The one with the fewest wasted ones.

Typical background:
-- lived or operated in multiple regions; 
-- multilingual in both language and intention; 
-- comfortable with sovereign funds and solo GPs; 
-- understands founder psychology and family office hierarchy; 
-- protects reputation capital more than fee capital; and 
-- is able to reduce a 40-slide deck to a four-sentence framing that resonates.

This is not a sales role. It is a stewardship role.

Why the next decade belongs to them
Private markets are becoming more cross-border, multi-faith, inter-generational, and politically sensitive. Sports rights. Cultural assets. Media IP. Giga real estate. Climate transition. Saudi entertainment. US family co-investment. Asia secondaries. None of this is plug-and-play.

The spreadsheet is the last part of the conversation. The human bridge is the first.

And as more capital pools converge – RIAs, sovereigns, family offices, endowments, ministries, next-gen funds – the person who can move between those worlds without losing authenticity will hold the single rarest asset in global capital markets.

Trusted access

Why I am naming the role
I have seen too many deals collapse for reasons no term sheet can fix. A misplaced joke. A scheduling disrespect during Ramadan. A GP who spoke to the son but ignored the mother, who controls the philanthropic trust. A founder who pushed urgency on a family that measures time in generations.

There needed to be a name for the person who prevents that loss.

Now there is one.

About the author
Abbas Hashmi is a capital formation strategist and principal of Saudi Family Holdings, a private investment platform anchored in New York and Riyadh. He advises global family offices, RIAs, and real estate funds on cross-border capital strategy and serves as program leader for Columbia Business School’s Family Enterprise and Wealth program. He previously held roles at Goldman Sachs Wealth Management and led US trade missions to the Gulf for the US Department of Commerce.

He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Silverstein Dream Foundation, part of Silverstein Properties, a global real estate and venture platform with multi-billion-dollar assets under management and a legacy that includes the development of the World Trade Center. As a frequent keynote speaker, Hashmi appears at global investment summits to speak on family office capital, co-creation models, and emerging market strategies.