The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in alignment with its Vision 2030 is working closely in various sectors to grow the digital economy, one of these avanues is crowdfunding for the private sector. Recently the KSA based Islamic Corporation for the Private Sector ICD, signed an MOU with Blockchain company Finterra. Mr. Ayman Sejiny, the CEO of The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (“ICD”) (www.ICD-ps.org) the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group, and Mr. Satesh Khemlani, the Managing Director of Finterra PTE Ltd., signed a Memorandum of Understanding to leverage on each other’s strengths to achieve sustainable business growth including crowdfunding sustainable development.
The MoU came as a result of an ongoing discussion about strategic collaboration, between ICD and Finterra in areas where both organizations have common beneficiaries and share similar social impact development goals. ICD collaboration with Finterra is based on the its highly powered blockchain solutions for Islamic social finance under the names of SadaqahChain®, WAQFChain® and ZakatChain®. The MoU was digitally signed during a virtual signing ceremony that was held between the parties’ Managments simultaneously in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Singapore, respectively.
Mr. Ayman Sejiny, the CEO of ICD commented: “ICD is focusing on 5 strategic pillars: a) Focus our core business on financial institutions; b) Implement new innovative products and channels; c) Grow the business in a financially sustainable way; d) Serve member countries based on their development needs; and e) Deepen our collaboration within IsDB Group and other IFIs and partners. Accordingly, the collaboration with Finterra, being technologically sound and operationally innovative, would allow ICD to reach out to communities and beneficiaries in emerging markets that others fail to reach. With the help of advanced technology and constant innovation, we aim at breaking barriers and enabling financial services to become more accessible to each Muslim that needs our help or support.”
The virtual MoU signing was also witnessed by Finterra’s Founder, Hamid Rashid and Finterra’s Saudi Arabia Country representative, Mr Mamoun Khanfar. According to Hamid Rashid, “this cooperation is indeed very timey as it will cultivate a culture of trust within the Islamic Social Finance stakeholders. Hamid also stressed that “this partnership will create new opportunities of investing into global waqf projects, while showcasing waqf investment opportunities to a much wider range of retail investors. He further added that “Finterra looks forward to working closely with ICD in sharing our expertise and know-how with regards to technologies such as blockchain to efficiently mobilize funds in the realm of Islamic digital economy (Fintech) in both Saudi Arabia and ICD’s member countries.
The parties will explore opportunities where they can jointly deploy the SadaqahChain®, WAQFChain® and ZakatChain® blockchain systems in OIC member countries in close collaboration with national licensed crowd-lending/crowd-funding operators. Communications are soon being broadcast to a range of private sector operators active in the Crowdfunding space, who are encouraged to urgently get in touch with ICD to explore the benefits of joining this collaboration.
Moreover, the collaboration will act towards full utilization of Finterra’s capabilities with regards to emerging FinTech application such as digital wallet for accessing blockchain economies, digital commerce, online money services as well as training and certification programs. In addition, the scope of the MoU allows the parties to exchange valuable knowledge and best practices in the space of Islamic social finance, Fintech and blockchain.
Earlier this year Finterra opened offices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it sought to expand its solutions. Previously Finterra had worked with Omarn government to launch first Waqf Blockchain platform.
