Naif Al-Mutawa is the award winning creator of THE 99, the world’s first superheroes born of an Islamic archetype, which received vast international media coverage and was named by Forbes as one of the “Top 20 Trends Sweeping the Globe”. At the time President Barack Obama praised Al-Mutawa and THE... Read more
Naif Al-Mutawa is the award winning creator of THE 99, the world’s first superheroes born of an Islamic archetype, which received vast international media coverage and was named by Forbes as one of the “Top 20 Trends Sweeping the Globe”. At the time President Barack Obama praised Al-Mutawa and THE 99 as perhaps the most innovative of the thousands of new entrepreneurs viewed by his Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.
Al-Mutawa is a clinical psychologist licensed in New York, Dubai, and Kuwait. He is professor at Kuwait University’s Faculty of Medicine, where he teaches clinical psychology, communication skills, cognitive behavioural therapy, and creative writing. He is also an approved Albert Ellis Institute Rational-Emotive & Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Supervisor, and the Chief Training Supervisor at Kuwait Psychiatric Hospital.
Al-Mutawa founded the Soor Center for Professional Therapy & Assessment in 2009, Kuwait’s leading source of psychological services. Since its inception, the Soor Center has played an invaluable role in helping overcome the social stigma that envelops mental health issues in Kuwait. He also launched Terkeez in 2013, a programme that helps children perform better academically and socially by developing their memory, focus, social skills, and executive functions through targeted training sessions. He went on to launch a developmental delay centre in 2015 to further augment mental health services in Kuwait.
Al-Mutawa has extensive clinical experience working with former prisoners of war in Kuwait and the Survivors of Political Torture unit of Bellevue Hospital in New York. Moved by the extent of the psychological damage brought onto society as a result of extremism and intolerance, Al-Mutawa authored and illustrated the Bouncy books, a timeless children’s tale with themes of individuality and acceptance.
In recognition of his unwavering commitment to education, he has been selected to be on Kuwait’s Supreme Education Council, and for his work in entrepreneurship, to be on the investment committee of Kuwait’s National Fund for Small and Medium Sized Businesses, a US$7 billion fund earmarked to promote entrepreneurship in Kuwait. He is also on the board of Mentor Arabia, an NGO that advocates for drug prevention and awareness among Arab children and youth.