Congratulations to Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, the winner of our first annual Smart Bets Pitch Competition. Faisal’s team at Ideas Beyond Borders has won a $50,000 prize for its project, “Open for Business in Kurdistan,” which aims to revolutionize the startup landscape in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
The campaign will achieve three key outcomes: 1) Launching a user-friendly registration website enabling entrepreneurs to register their businesses within 24 hours; 2) Executing a one-million-view social media campaign to boost business registration; and 3) Advocating pro-business legal reforms through the region’s parliament.
In his victory speech at Liberty Forum, Faisal emphasizes his optimism for the Kurdistan region in a deeply challenging time for the Middle East.
“From the beginning," he said, "I believed that the solution lies in people, not the government. Part of our belief is that we have chosen construction over destruction.”
Congratulations once again!
