Abdalhamid David Evans is playing a significant role in Dubai’s initiative to become the capital of the global Islamic economy.
Mr Evans has been fronting a series of presentations involving the news organisation Thomson Reuters, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other stakeholders in the initiative announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Three years from now, Sheikh Mohammed said last weekend, Dubai would be a global hub for Islamic business, in everything ranging from finance to food to fashion. "It would signal the beginning of a power shift away from Malaysia towards Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed's initiative has changed the terms of the conversation," said Mr Evans.
It would also be another milestone in his personal journey in Islam. Mr Evans, born in New York to parents of Welsh origins, became a Muslim in the late 1970s. Since then, he has made himself an expert in many aspects of the US$8 trillion global economy that Dubai hopes to lead.
“The first step is to create the vision, and His Highness has done that. This is the first time the Islamic economy is being looked at in depth and as a whole, rather than just as Islamic finance or halal food. It is of vital social, political and economic importance,” he said. For much of the past decade, Mr Evans has been orchestrating the rival claim of Malaysia to be the leader of the Islamic economic world.
In the course of his Koranic studies he became interested in those parts of Sharia faith that involved business and finance, and he became such a well-known authority that the former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad sought his advice when that country sought to enhance its own Islamic economy.
He helped to launch the Malaysian Halal Industry Development Corporation and the World Halal Forum, two successful organisations that have helped Malaysia achieve a leading position in the global Islamic economy.
When Sheikh Mohammed launched the Dubai initiative in February, Mr Evans’ talents were suddenly in demand in the Middle East. “I had been asking myself when is there going to be a move from the region? When are the Arabs going to get involved? Then along came the Sheikh Mohammed initiative,” Mr Evans said.
He is currently playing a leading role in organising what Dubai hopes will become the “Islamic Davos” – the Global Islamic Economy Summit to be held in the emirate at the end of next month. “It’s an exciting time. The Sharia laws on trade haven’t been much used since the end of the Ottoman empire, when western laws took over. They provide a complete ethical framework for business transactions, very much in need in the modern economy,” he said.
His speciality in Islamic economics is halal food, its production, distribution and retailing. That is one of the “seven pillars” planned by Dubai as the main strategic directions of its plans over the next three years.
“It’s an natural area. The countries of the Middle East and North African are not great food producers, so they rely largely on non-Muslim exporters like Australia, New Zealand and Brazil to produce food according to halal principles. But there is no concerted regulation or certification on a global basis. There is a role for Dubai here,” Mr Evans said.
Several big global food groups – such as Nestle,Unilever and McDonald’s, are considering backing the Dubai initiative, and their involvement could transform the halal industry from a peripheral sector of the global food industry into a mainstream business.
But Mr Evans warned: “The big corporations have to be careful how they roll out their halal offerings. There are social and political implications to their plans. Nestlé has had internal halal standards for the past 15 years, while McDonald’s and Burger King have an in-depth knowledge on the subject. For the global food industry, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ on halal food, but when and how.”
The other big sector of the global Islamic economy is finance, with billions of dollars in the international markets for sukuk (Islamic bonds) and takaful (Islamic insurance). “But food and finance remain in silos. I’ve often wondered why Islamic finance isn’t more involved in food investment, but they will be brought together by the Dubai initiative, and that’s a good thing,” Mr Evans said.
Of increasing importance, he believed, was the lifestyle element of the global economy. “Cosmetics, education, travel, tourism, media, even fashion … they can all be marketed to the next generation according to Islamic principles,” he said.
He believed Dubai had some natural advantages in its quest for global supremacy in the Islamic economy. “Dubai is not super-strict in religious matters, like some other countries, and that is part of the appeal. It is serious about religion, but it is also perceived as ‘cool’ around the Islamic world. Dubai can play that role extremely well,” Mr Evans said.
fkane@thenational.ae
Trolls World Tour
Directed by: Walt Dohrn, David Smith
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake
Rating: 4 stars
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The biog:
Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
Best food on the road: rice
Favourite colour: silver
Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
Favourite biking destination: Canada
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
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City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
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L - Tottenham, 2-1
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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