In Monaco’s prestigious yacht club, something big is going down. Tom Kaplan, billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Panthera, an organisation devoted to the preservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats, is making a speech. He’s introducing someone who he says is one of the most spectacular humans he has ever met; a woman who will become ‘the most important force for wildlife preservation in the world today’.

This, he says, is one of the greatest moments of his life. He Qiaonyu – or Madame He, as she is known (pronounced ‘Her’) – is a diminutive, jolly Chinese philanthropist and entrepreneur who is also a self-made billionaire through her Beijing Oriental Landscape and Ecology Company (‘She’s landscaped China,’ whispers the man next to me).

Over the course of the next 15 years she will be giving $200 million towards the protection of big cats, focusing on 10 of those most at risk. It is an unprecedented figure for Panthera and enormously good news for the 10 species of wild cat, beginning with the snow leopard and the African lion.

Madame He speaks no English, but interpreters are on hand to impart the good news through our headphones. The audience – mostly conservationists and press, plus 35 Chinese billionaires who are trainee philanthropists – erupts in a cheer.