Shari’a Consultation is about trying new ideas, exploring unanswered questions, experimenting and learning as you go.
I’ve long been inspired by the concept of “direct access” with experts and how it opens the doors to opportunity. These Consultative sessions provide access to knowledge to both sides and help attain commonality in light of Shari’a, no matter who you are or what business you run. For instance, it doesn’t matter if you’re a major bank in the Middle East or a fresh graduate from a rural university in Malaysia, or a new start-up at Washington in US, with interactive Consultation, you have the ability to directly explore and effectively discuss your investment ideas and their potential from a Shari’a perspective.
That’s the spirit behind our latest work with Ashmore, the London-based investment manager that specialises in global emerging markets and is expanding its range of Shari’a-compliant investments in the Middle East. Together with its world-class research, our resident scholars and Shari’a reviewers, we worked on Ashmore’s Islamic IPO investment project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The assignment is about meeting the specific demand of Islamic investors in the world of IPOs. As the number of enterprises trying to access capital markets continues to grow at a phenomenal speed in the Kingdom the demand for Islamic investments also seems to be growing exponentially. The subtle intricacies and conventional IPO complexities faced from a Shari’a point of view were exciting and daunting to us at the same time. But the exchange of information and ideas across both platforms has exceeded all expectations.
From start-ups to technological companies to large corporations and national governmental projects, institutions from around the world are embracing Shari’a compliant financing mechanism as a means of growth, expansion, sustainability, diversification and competitive advantage. It’s only through trying out and testing new ideas with experts that organizations can get somewhere. Now it’s your turn.
So, what will you try?
