Our Founder
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar – Social Entrepreneur
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar is a social entrepreneur, media executive, and institution builder focused on advancing free markets, critical thinking, and economic opportunity in the Middle East.
As the founder and president of Ideas Beyond Borders, Faisal has built the organization into a leading platform for translating classical liberal thought, promoting innovation, and supporting policy reform across the Arab world, particularly in Iraq. Under his leadership, IBB has expanded access to knowledge, supported entrepreneurship, and championed reforms that reduce bureaucracy and create pathways to employment and growth.
Faisal collaborates with intergovernmental institutions, policymakers, and private sector leaders to identify scalable solutions in complex and diverse societies. His work bridges economic development, media strategy, and counter extremism, empowering individuals with the ideas and tools needed to build stable and prosperous communities.
He serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and as a Non-Resident Scholar at the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, where his work focuses on counter extremism, governance reform, and the relationship between economic freedom and long-term stability.
A sought-after speaker, Faisal has delivered talks on global platforms, including TED, and has engaged audiences across the United States and the Middle East.
He is the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama and holds an honorary doctorate from Whittier College.
Splitting his time between New York and the Middle East, Faisal works to build institutions that transcend sectarian divisions and expand opportunity across the region.
Our Goals
Making The Inaccessible Accessible
We develop and implement international programs to empower individuals with knowledge
Encouraging Critical Thinking and Free Inquiry
We encourage people to think critically about topics ranging from civil rights to science and reason by making inaccessible topics accessible and sparking curiosity.
Funding Innovative Projects
We equip entrepreneurs and startups with the resources they need to prosper, create jobs, and positively impact their communities.
Donate today
and be part of our story
Aid doesn’t have to be costly to be effective. People in the Middle East are hungry for change. We need involved, impassioned community members and donors to help them succeed.
Our Worldwide Partners
Ideas Beyond Borders isn’t just a non-profit.
It’s a movement.
We partner with people across the region to make vital and often banned information accessible in Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Kurdish. We certify each of our translators to produce and distribute content on topics like critical thinking, civil rights, science, and pluralism. We also place trust and resources into the hands of people across MENA who are forging sustainable paths to prosperity through entrepreneurship.
This project is exactly what the Arab world needs, as unfortunately Arabic online content falls short. Thank you so much for your efforts.
Mahmoud – Syria
We need more programs like Ideas Beyond Borders. THIS is the much needed path to the future for young people in the region.
Fahim – Houston
I’m a medical student trying to understand the world and do something meaningful in it. I believe that knowledge is the fuel that ignites progress and Ideas Beyond Borders has helped me so much.
Muhammad – Egypt
Our Mission
Working to be an agent of change in the Middle East & North Africa
Our programs combine leading education and human rights initiatives to counter extremism and its violent outcomes. We make the inaccessible accessible to MENA youth globally and locally, creating curricula on global human rights and translating key literature on critical thinking, self-help, science, economics, and women’s rights. We work with partners and individuals to amplify their voices and equip MENA communities with the skills and resources to forge their own paths.
We empower youth across the region to use critical thinking skills to engage in lively, spirited discussion on controversial and often banned topics. Our theory of change relies on the fact that there is a hunger for knowledge that dictatorships and extremist, authoritarian rulers cannot stamp out.
By placing trust and resources into the hands of MENA’s people, we demonstrate the transformative power of community-led initiatives. Even in the face of adversity, these communities can thrive. Feeding this hunger with inspiring and empowering perspectives on the human spirit, perseverance, scientific thought, and our shared human values can limit extremists’ recruitment efforts and, in turn, make the world a better, brighter place for everyone.
Ideas Matter.
Professor Steven Pinker,
Ideas Change the World.
Harvard University Professor & Author of ‘Enlightenment Now’
