Wikipedia
Zilzar (Arabic: زلزال) is the world's first global Muslim Lifestyle Marketplace platform for information, content, community and trade targeting the Muslim market, headquartered in Malaysia. This e-commerce platform was launched by Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Sri Muhamad Najib Tun Razak in the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum in Dubai. According to the Prime Minister, the platform will connect millions of consumers and make it easier for halal traders around the world to conduct business online ethically and efficiently.
Founded by Islamic finance expert Rushdi Siddiqui, former Global Head of Islamic Finance & OIC Countries for Thomson Reuters, established the world’s first Islamic equity index, first Sukuk index, first Islamic sustainability index, first halal food index (SAMI), and first Islamic interbank benchmark rate (IIBR). The platform handles content regarding Islamic societies and products that deals with the compliance of the Islamic Sharia Law. He also served as a Global Director for the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indices. Siddiqui is a co-founder of Shekra, the world’s first Islamic Crowd Funding and also a member of the Board of Advisors for Crescenrating, a Singapore based company and global leader in the Muslim travel market.
The business-to-business as as well as business-to-consumer platform today has eight main silos: $1.1 trillion in halal food and beverage, $1.4 trillion in Islamic Finance, $224 billion in clothing and fashion, $151 billion in media and recreation, $137 billion on travel and tourism, $70 billion in pharmaceutical, $26 billion cosmetics and $15 billion in logistics, based on 2012 capital expenditure.
Online market platform will specifically cater to Muslim consumers looking for halal products and services. Consumers on Zilzar can trade products from prayer beads and electronic Qu’rans to hijabs and films. All its sellers and products are verified by certification bodies around the world.
The e-commerce platform encompasses 57 Muslim countries with a population of two billion, plus the 100 million Muslims outside the Muslim world. Operating with over 15,777 merchants from the Muslim marketplace and 1,575 halal suppliers, which the highest number of halal suppliers to date on a platform with the top 10 countries worldwide sources naming China (4,237); Malaysia (3,668); Indonesia (1,547); Singapore (789); Thailand (562); the US (373); India (330); South Africa (311); the UK (274); and the Philippines (216).
Also a partner of several companies in various industries including MasterCard, Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad (HLIB), International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), Halal Development Corporation (HDC), Young Entrepreneur Development Partner Crescentrating.
Advisory Board
1. Mr. Saleh Lootah, MD at Al Islami Foods, UAE
2. Mr. Safdar Khan, Group Country Manager for Mastercard, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and Group Head Islamic Payment, Southeast Asia.
3. Mr. Rafik Kassim: Chairman of Expolanka Group of Companies, visionary behind Amana Takaful and Amana Bank, Sri Lanka
4. Mr. Ebrahim Patel: CEO of Magellan Investment Management and Managing Director of TransAfix Holdings Ltd, South Africa
5. Sir Iqbal Sacranie: Founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Member of the Advisory Panel of the WIEF.
6. Mr. Rahman Khan, Former Union Minister of Minority Affairs and former Deputy Chairman Raiya Sebha, India Mr. Akira Miyama has been the Chief, General Representative and Country Head of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) (formerly The Sakura Bank Limited) in Kuala Lumpur since 1998.
The company is said to face major obstacles such as a lack of consensus on what is halal, the costs of hiring scholars to difficulty in halal certification. In the case of halal, issues are more complex and inter-twined. As there is no global halal standard for food, beverage, ingredients, it’s a patchwork of regulations. The only approach is by vetting and monitoring.