TED Talks Daily - A fresh approach to international development | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Money for international development rarely makes it to the people it intends to help, says Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, the founder of Ideas Beyond Borders. Highlighting the inefficiencies of the current system, he proposes a new model for aid that functions like business investments, empowering local entrepreneurs with money to build their communities and create jobs at a fraction of traditional costs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by Cozy. Remember the last time you moved a couch? Nightmare, right? Well, Cozy is changing the game. They're a Canadian company making modular, high-quality furniture that arrives in compact boxes that are easy to carry. And Cozy's pieces grow with you. Start with a love seat, then easily expand to a sectional as your family grows. And comfort? Their Cielo collection is like sitting on a cloud, perfect for unwinding after a long day of hosting podcasts. What really stands out is the adaptability. These pieces are built to last, designed to be disassembled and reassembled without losing stability. It's furniture that evolves with

your lifestyle. Customize your perfect piece today. Your back and your style will thank you. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit Cozy.ca spelled C-O-Z-E-Y to start customizing your furniture. Cozy. Modern living made simple for you. This episode is sponsored by Audible Canada. I'm excited to tell you about a new podcast that offers a fresh perspective on how we define success. It's called The Unusual Suspects with Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell. As a podcast host, I'm always curious about

what makes exceptional people tick. The Audible Original Podcast offers an insightful exploration into the minds of notable figures from various fields like entertainment, sports, and business. The show's hosts Kenya and Malcolm combine their unique perspectives in a casual living room style conversation with guests like Jimmy Kimmel, Ursula Burns, and Ava DuVernay. No scripts, no agendas, just raw honest chats about their journeys. In this eight episode series you'll hear unfiltered stories of perseverance, resilience, and the sometimes unconventional choices that have led to the guests' achievements. Go to audible.ca slash unusual suspects podcast and listen now.

Support for this show comes from Airbnb. Last summer, my family and I had an amazing Airbnb stay while adventuring in Playa del Carmen. It was so much fun to bounce around in ATVs, explore cool caves, and snorkel in subterranean rivers. Vacations like these are never long enough, but perhaps I could take advantage of my empty home by hosting it on Airbnb while I'm away. And then I could use the extra income to stay a few more days on my next Mexico trip.

It seems like a smart thing to do since my house sits empty while I'm away. We could zipline into even more cenotes on our next visit to Mexico. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hwu. I got to meet today's speaker, Faisal Saeed Al-Muttar, when we were both giving our talks in the same TED conference session last fall.

So I'm super excited to introduce his talk on international aid and development. He is a specialist in this area. And in this talk, he made me think about it in entirely new ways. Enjoy. My name is Faisal Saeed Al-Muttar. I was born and raised in Iraq, in the city of Babylon. I grew up in an academic family. My dad is a doctor, Saeed Al-Muttar. I was born and raised in Iraq in the city of Babylon.

I grew up in an academic family. My dad is a doctor, my mom is a lawyer, and I'm the failure. So the person who's giving a TED talk here is the failure of the family. So I grew up in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Malaysia. And I've seen firsthand the cost of talent and the fact that they were forced to leave their homes. So the subject of lifting people up and the subject of international development is not just theoretical academic subject for me, it's what I think about the whole time. As you probably know, the United States has been trillions of dollars

in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, only to replace Saddam Hussein with Iran and the Taliban with the Taliban. A great return of investment, right? So I started looking, I started asking questions, and I found that the current system of aid is filled with corruption, too many middlemen, too many gatekeepers, and the money hardly makes it to the people that intends to help.

So the intention and the big picture is good, but to really actually get help is very difficult. And according to the World Bank, it can cost up to $20,000 to create one job in international development. There is still better investment than Twitter or Theranos, but still that is a lot of money wasted. But we also found, and that's the good news, is that almost half of the people in the region

say that they intend to start a business in the next five years. That is millions of innovators, millions of entrepreneurs, millions of creatives, who would have their skills wasted if we don't invest in them. So I started thinking about what if we actually redefined the model of aid? What if we actually redefined the purpose of aid instead of just being a do-good bureaucracy, to actually remove the barriers

and define the purpose of aid as moving people towards normalcy, meaning moving people toward the world of supply and demand. And we did just that. So we made it very easy for people to actually get funds, and that's the process that we follow. And also, to think about investment, we think about that one that can stimulate economic growth and also to fight the corruption crisis and are called the corruption disease in most of the Middle East we actually make it one grant per one person so in that way

there is little system of favoritism little system of trying to choose people who are connected to the political elite and have it forward. So that being said, what we found was really amazing. We found that the moment we move people towards that, their form are accountable to their own communities, not to us. This is a story of one of the great stories that we supported, which is a founder of Hakim Hashem. Hakim is a founder of Lego. He is in the city of Mosul, which used to be what ISIS declared as Caliphate. And he founded a taxi female company. Lego. He's in the city of Mosul, which used to be what ISIS declared as caliphate. And

he founded a taxi female company. And now with the $3,000, I kid you not, he now hires more than 57 people. So think about the return of investment. And he is not alone. He is actually one of 250 projects we supported. Hani Hamada is a Syrian refugee who lives in Turkey. Hani is a self-learner and he learned Turkish. And he was, you know what? I'm going to start a business that teaches Turkish to new immigrants. And then he built up a business, and with the $3,000, he also now has 33 people of staff,

all of them are refugees teaching Turkish. So look at the new model. With $1 million, we were able to create 35,000 jobs compared to the old model, that you can only create 50 jobs. So which investment is better, okay? This is, that's life straightforward, right? And what's also amazing, I feel we actually tried that,

we saw that the variation of this model is already being filled right now in Ukraine, in some parts of India, some parts of Africa, so we're not only ones doing it. And the lesson of my talk is aid doesn't have to be costly to be effective. You might actually be wondering right now, why am I talking about aid development and innovation while the Middle East is at war right now? And the answer is the old methods and the past is actually what got us here.

By focusing on the future, by focusing on innovation entrepreneurship, And the answer is the old methods and the past is actually what got us here. By focusing on the future, by focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship, I believe we can transform the region from a region that's filled with conflict and war to a region that people decide to stay and invest in, to invest in talent other than a place that people escape. Thank you so much, Ted. Thank you. That was Faisal Sayeed Al-Matar at TED Next 2024. If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out more at ted.com slash curation guidelines.

And that's it for today's show. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, Alejandra Salazar, and Tonsika Sarmarnivon. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo. I'm Elise Huw. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. From fleet management to flexible truck rentals to technology solutions. At Enterprise Mobility,

we help businesses find the right mobility solutions so they can find new opportunities. Because if your business is on the road, we want to make sure it's on the road to success. Enterprise Mobility, moving you moves the world.