Oct/Nov Edition: While developed countries are directing their attention to the turmoil in the financial sector--far less attention is being paid to the global food price crisis. We lead our Nov. Edition with an analysis of how this crisis presents the agriculturally endowed Muslim countries with unique opportunities. The analysis makes a case for investments within the largest agriculture economies of the Muslim world especially given their low productivity. Ironically, some of these largest agriculture based economies--Bangladesh, Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia--are also suffering the most in terms of poverty. Complimenting the story is our look at Egypt based SEKEM Group which has built a profitable organic products business based on a social developmental model.
Keeping with the theme of responsible business – our guest author Mr. Athar Mian reviews opportunities in Clean Energy for emerging Muslim world markets. He evaluates various sources of clean energy – solar, wind, bio-mass, hydro-electric and others, and presents what makes sense for Muslim world economies.
Much of such investments require big thinking and ability for investors and business leaders to step out of their comfort zones. For this we review a best selling business book—Blue Ocean Strategy--that presents an approach to creating new markets rather than competing in existing ones.
In Islamic Finance, guest author Nurul Islam, looks at the European Islamic Finance market. Also related to banking, we profile Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, in our Women in Management Series. She was recently awarded Central Banker of the Year/ Asia 2008 by the industry recognized The Banker magazine.
Also, showcasing best practices and innovation in the Muslim Lifestyle Market, we present the success of ‘Fulla Doll’ an alternative for Muslim girls. Finally, we present practical strategies relating to the growing practice of Search Engine optimization (getting listed higher on web Search Engine results) which is fast becoming a major marketing priority.
As always, we look forward to your feedback.
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