Impact Stories

“Reflecting on my childhood, I feel blessed the way my parents raised me,” says Mounir Haidar. “I owe everything – all the success that I have had – to them. They raised me and my siblings,” he explains, “on three principles: loyalty to country; education, education, education; and the values of tolerance and acceptance of others.”

Those three principles have guided Haidar throughout his life – during his childhood in Lebanon; as a student at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois; and at every step along the way of his successful career in the US and the UAE where he is currently the co-founder and managing partner at Lead Development and managing director at Jubail Island Investment Company (JIIC). Those principles have also guided his lifetime of philanthropy, including a recent gift to AUB to establish the Amina and Deeb Haidar Scholarship, which is named for his parents. Haidar credits his daughter, Nour Amina, for urging him to establish a scholarship fund at AUB. “She too believes in the importance of charity and kept pushing me to do something formal like this,” he says.

Growing up in Lebanon, Haidar knew “the struggle that bright orphan kids face to secure good quality education” and so he has structured his scholarship with a preference for students who have lost one or both parents. “I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without my parents,” he says. “Students in this situation are especially in need of help.”

Haidar’s father and mother brought their children up to have open minds – and open hearts. “Whenever we sat down for dinner,” remembers Haidar, “my mother would pick up a loaf of bread and tell us, ‘a piece of this loaf does not belong to you.’ Her words still resonate with me until now. I did not understand what she meant at first. As I grew up, I started to realize that giving back is a fundamental tenet in life and we should do what we can, when we can, to help others in need. I have never forgotten my mother’s words.”

Haidar believes strongly that education is the reason that Lebanon has survived despite all the challenges – and will be critical to its future as well. “It is especially important for the future of Lebanon that AUB’s mission continues for another 160 years,” he says.

“It is profoundly moving and inspiring to hear Mounir’s story,” says Associate Vice President for Development Walid Katergi. “We are so grateful to donors like Mounir who are generously helping our students – especially at this most difficult time.”