KUALA LUMPUR: Islamic digital economy offers vast potential and technology entrepreneurs should tap the 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide to sell their services, according to panellists at the Future Talent Forum, organised by the Islamic Banking & Finance Institution Malaysia (IBFIM).
“One of the trends of the Industry 4.0 is that the focus is shifting from big businesses, from big corporations to the consumers. So the Islamic digital economy and Islamic consumers, the Muslim lifestyle, is becoming a very big space,’’ said Malaysia Muslim Pro App country manager Nik Emir Din.
He said Muslim Pro has over 60 million users worldwide, more than ride-sharing apps, and that showed the power of the Islamic economy.
Fellow panellist, Robin Lee of Thomson Reuters said Malaysia, which housed the regional headquarters of some of global biggest tech names including Dell, has what it takes to achieve its strategic digital objectives.
“From a technology and psychology perspective, we actually got it, we’ve had it for quite a while. Dell’s Asia Pacific headquarters is in Malaysia, all the manufacturing was done in Malaysia prior, like Western Digital has a factory here, Intel has a fab here. We actually had a headstart, in fact, on that front because of that mindset,” he said.
Previously, IBFIM chairman and Maybank Islamic Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican said the digital economy brought along the disruptions to previously-established norms, but also tremendous opportunities if we manage to harness the potential.
“Hence, the introduction of the Islamic Digital Economy framework this year by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), serves as a timely guide to strengthen Malaysia’s position as a leader in the regional and global Islamic digital marketplace,” he said.
The digital economy has been a key growth driver for Malaysia, contributing 18.2 per cent to the country's gross domestic product in 2016, according to MDEC.
This is expected to exceed the projected 20 per cent contribution by 2020.
The 2017 ICD-Reuters report put the Islamic finance industry at US$2.2 trillion of assets in 2016 and forecast that it would grow to US$3.8 trillion of assets by 2022.