Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO and general manager of ICD (2nd right), addresses the Global Islamic Investment Gateway (GIIG) at the Dubai International Financial Center in Dubai as Dr. Sayed Farook, the global head Islamic capital markets at Thomson Reuters (2nd left) and other officials in Dubai listen. — Reuters
DUBAI — The Global Islamic Investment Gateway (GIIG) held a seminar at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) to discuss investment opportunities in the growing Islamic markets. The event was attended by over 90 professionals from the DIFC community.
It was held ahead of the GIIG deal-making forum to be held in Bahrain next month with the launch of a new sophisticated Investment Monitor portal.
The GIIG is the premier investment event for Islamic markets that brings together investment decision makers and investment opportunities to facilitate cross border investment flows. Leveraging the resources of Thomson Reuters, the Islamic Development Bank Group, and the Economic Development Board, the event is geared toward linking investors with opportunities aligned to their preference, and providing the information and assurance required to facilitate informed investment decision making.
Dr. Sayd Farook, the global head of Islamic capital markets at Thomson Reuters highlighted the escalating interest from international investors in the Islamic markets due to the large growing young population and the growth in Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) members' economies, which has reached $6.7 trillion in GDP in 2013.
He added that Kellogg's acquisition of Egyptian cake and biscuits marker Bisco Misr, is just one of a series of transactions, which reflect the potential of this market, which is driven by factors such as the intra OIC trade and finance initiatives, the $2.1 trillion Halal lifestyle market and the $1.65 trillion assets under management in these native markets.
The seminar also included a presentation by the CEO and Managing Director of US-based DinarStandard, Rafi-uddin Shikoh, who called for a new thinking on investment in the growing Islamic economies, which needs another view beyond the headlines of falling oil prices.
Shikoh said the OIC markets has a rich set of breakthrough businesses driven by youthful populations and strong long-term dynamics of Islamic economies globally. He added that despite inter-connectedness, investments remained mostly country-or sub-region- focused as from the MENA region led merger and acquisition deals in 2014, which reached $32.3 billion with a total of 386 deals, only 8 were from non-MENA Islamic growth markets such as Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia.
Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector, said the ICD is working to develop private sector of OIC markets through providing advisory and consultancy services and providing Shariah-compliant finance to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which will result in creating more employment opportunities and economic development. ICD provided gross financing of $3 billion allocated to over 300 projects across 25 countries over its 15 years of operation.
The seminar was held ahead of the Global Islamic Investment Gateway event in Bahrain on March 2nd and 3rd which will unveil a new Investment Monitor portal aimed at helping hook up investors with opportunities.
The online portal collates opportunities and does a lot of the groundwork for investors by identifying viable projects that need capital.
Dr Farook explained: “There are great opportunities out there but reliable up to date information can be hard to access. This online portal is all about doing real business and will help to make it happen.” — SG
