The executive who built a platform for Muslim entrepreneurs

For nearly two decades, Faisal Masood lived two professional lives.

In one, he was the consummate corporate insider: the reliable executive at JPMorgan Chase and Ernst & Young, an adaptable problem-solver who thrived in the structured world of global finance and consulting.

But he had another life, one he had put on hold out of necessity. 

It was the life of a risk-taking entrepreneur, the man who had walked away from a safe job at General Motors, co-founded an online startup, and tasted the thrill of a successful exit. 

After a series of failures forced him back into the corporate world, that part of him went underground.

From his perch inside these powerful institutions, however, he saw something missing in the world outside. 

Faisal saw a generation of Muslim entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas but no networks and no access to capital, the very same obstacles that had once derailed his own journey.

He was a man waiting for a mission that could finally unite his two worlds. It would need the soul of a startup and the mind of a corporate veteran. 

It would have a single, powerful purpose: to build the one thing he never had — a true ecosystem for Muslim entrepreneurs.

* * *

The spark arrived in 2009, not as a flash of inspiration, but as a data point buried in a market research report.

A study by the global firm A.T. Kearney detailed the untapped potential of a $170 billion American Muslim consumer market. 

But the report was being ignored by mainstream companies. 

A small group of Muslim professionals who had worked on it knew its power was being wasted. 

They approached Faisal, aware of his past experience, and asked a simple question: Can you do something about this?

He felt a responsibility to respond. This was the mission. His strategy was to solve the problem from both ends.

“It was all about how do you create an awareness of the Muslim market, which is the demand side,” he explains, “and on the supply side, how do you bring Muslim entrepreneurs and businesses to start businesses which can address that demand?”

While climbing the corporate ladder at JPMorgan Chase by day, he began to build the American Muslim Consumer Consortium (AMCC) by night. 

The dormant entrepreneur was reawakened. 

He tracked down the very people interviewed for the report — journalists, academics, and the few successful Muslim founders of the era — and brought them together. 

The first AMCC conference was a sold-out event that proved he could convene a community that didn’t even know it was one.

He had successfully ignited a conversation. But he soon realized that for an ecosystem to truly thrive, it needed more than just talk. It needed a high-stakes arena where new ideas could be tested, funded, and launched.

* * *

Inspired by the rise of a new reality TV show, Faisal decided to build his own Shark Tank.

The AMCC pitch contest became the heart of the conference, a space where Muslim entrepreneurs could present their ideas to a room of their peers, win seed money, and gain invaluable exposure. 

The results were transformative. 

A then-unknown company called LaunchGood won the $10,000 prize in 2014. Noor Kids was a finalist in 2012. Muzmatch, the precursor to the now-dominant Muzz, was a finalist in 2016.

Faisal wasn’t just hosting an event; he was building the foundational infrastructure for an entire ecosystem, one pitch at a time.

But just as the ecosystem was hitting its stride, the world came to a halt. 

COVID-19 shut everything down. AMCC, reliant on in-person gatherings, was “almost dead.”

The long, quiet years of the pandemic could have been the end of his 25-year journey. Instead, they became a period of reflection. 

Faisal began talking to a new generation of entrepreneurs, including the team behind Muslimi Foundation. He realized it was time for AMCC to evolve.

To reach the next level, the mission needed new energy.

* * *

That evolution came in the form of Thrive, a new, rebranded conference born from a merger between AMCC and Muslimi Foundation.

The result of those conversations is Thrive, a new, rebranded conference born from a merger between AMCC and Muslimi Foundation. 

In this new chapter, Faisal is intentionally embracing a strategic, supporting role, a structure designed to empower the next generation of leaders.

“I want the younger generation to step in and take more responsibility,” he says.

Now, with the launch of the Thrive conference in Dallas, his journey has come full circle.

A highlight will be the release of a new, comprehensive Muslim market report, a direct descendant of the one that inspired him back in 2009. 

But the scale of the conversation has changed dramatically.

“When I started AMCC in 2009, we were talking about two, three, five million dollar businesses,” he says. “In 2023, a lot of these businesses are talking about billion-dollar now.”

From his vantage point, he can see the entire ecosystem — entrepreneurs, investors, nonprofit leaders — all converging. 

But he also sees a critical missing piece, a challenge he hopes Thrive will begin to solve.

* * *

“Often, entrepreneurs who become successful do not invest back in our community,” Faisal says. “We have to start investing in talent which is within our community.”

This, for him, is the next stage of the ecosystem. It is a call for successful Muslims to look beyond pure financial return and consider the “social return” of building up their own institutions.

He remembers a time when that wasn't even a consideration. 

When he arrived in America, the pinnacle of the “immigrant story” was a safe job in corporate America. 

“We never dreamed big at that time,” Faisal recalls. “We were just here trying to make a living.”

Today, he sees a new generation of second-generation immigrants who “want to think big, want to dream big.” 

His life’s work, from AMCC to Thrive, has been about building the platforms that make those big dreams possible.

His advice to this new generation is a distillation of his own 25-year journey of persistence. 

He jokes that the three most important things for success are “communication, communication, and communication.” 

But beneath that is a deeper lesson on resilience, forged in the fires of his own failed ventures. He knows the path is not easy.

“Our community will test you, test you, test you,” he says with a knowing laugh. “They will never pass you or fail you.”

In a world where you can’t rely on an external report card, he advises a different metric for success. 

It’s a lesson learned through years of balancing a corporate job with a passion project, a principle that has guided him through every setback.

“You cannot look at what outcome you are going to get,” he says. “Outcome comes from Allah. Rizq comes from Allah. We have to make an ongoing effort... and our work has to continue.”