The private arm of the Islamic Development Bank is exploring the idea of setting up a fintech incubator that would focus on Shariah-friendly technologies.
Open to interested technopreneurs globally, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) looks to set up various challenges and award the winning start-ups with the resources and mentorship needed to bring to market their technology.
“Winners will have the opportunity with space and time and networking to build their idea into a testable product and then we will use our investee companies as a test bed for technology testing with a view of launching the product,” shared Nida Raza, the director and head of advisory of the ICD at IFN Asia Forum 2017.
The ICD has approximately 23 investee companies comprising Ijarah (leasing companies) and Islamic banks across the world. The proposed incubator would be the Saudi Arabia-based multilateral financier’s significant step in its journey to be “the first in terms of Islamic financial technology”.