Kuala Lumpur (6th October 2022): Three change-makers in Islamic Finance, three women, three different career and life journeys. This was the focus of a panel discussion on Day 2 of the Global Islamic Finance Forum 2022.
Nadia Ismadi is the co-founder and CEO of Pod, an ethical finance platform, which enables the underserved and gig workers to access financial services. Prior to that, she was with Nomura. Her transition to ethical and Islamic finance was prompted by seeing the extortionate interest rates charged by illegal lenders in Malaysia.
“I thought, how is this possible? This is a real problem that people are facing out there. Out of curiosity, I looked at Islamic finance, where you wouldn’t be charging interest, which would be better for those individuals. From there, it was the tip of the iceberg. We started with a very simple proposition, and then, we slowly built the different pillars as the needs of customers arose.”
Professor Dr Engku Rabiah Adawiah Engku Ali became the first female scholar to be a member of the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia in 2006. Her path into Islamic finance was not a straightforward one. She went from teaching subjects such as Islamic constitutional law, to doing her PHD on criminal fraud in the context of the securities market, and this led to increased interest in Islamic finance.
“When I came back from my PHD, I was asked to teach company law. Then, friends asked me to join a number of conferences on Islamic finance. Discussions during those conferences really triggered my interest. The turning point came when I was invited to be in the Shariah Committee of Bank Muamalat,” she said.
Samina Akram, who is Managing Partner of Samak Ethical Finance Ltd, worked for investment banks, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank, before becoming an entrepreneur in the Islamic and ethical finance sector. She set up the Women in Islamic & Ethical Finance Forum (WIEFF) in 2007.
“I’m so glad I took on the entrepreneurial path. As women, we don’t have a voice. We are not seen. When I entered the Islamic finance sector, I’d go to a conference and there would be 300 men and literally, three women in the audience. Setting up the WIEFF was really about promoting women and having some kind of a forum. It started with 30 people at a kebab house in London, and today, we have 14,000 members,” she pointed out.
The session moderator, Anne Abraham, who is Chair LeadWomen and Co-Founder of the Malaysian chapter of the 30% Club, noted that one of the main challenges facing women in the finance industry is they are underrepresented in leadership roles.
“This is a field that is quite male dominated. When we talk to organisations about diversity, about inclusivity, they always say ‘we have 50 per cent women’. But when you look at where the women are, they are kind of hidden in the organisation. You do have diversity, but not represented at the very top,” she said.
About AIBIM
The Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) was established in 1995. Currently, AIBIM has 28 member banks and the association:
Promotes public awareness on Islamic Finance
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