An effort is currently underway to draw more attention to Italian commercial opportunities, especially in the arena of Islamic investments, in an initiative spearheaded by the Joint Italian Arab Chamber of Commerce (JIACC).
A key collaborator to this initiative is Ebdaa Islamic Finance Consultancy Founder and CEO Mohammed Saifullah Khan, who shared with IFN Investor that potentials in Italy had often been overlooked as much of Shariah investments’ focus had been on the US and the UK plus parts of Europe.
Noting that Middle East investors tend to gravitate towards real assets, it was felt there is a need to present a compelling proposition in terms of structuring Italy-centric investments and assets in accordance with principles of Shariah.
This commercial proposition includes highlighting viable asset classes-ranging from real estate, infrastructure, warehouses, data centers and other real assets – with quality access points available in Italy for investments, especially in the ESG and sustainable investing space, said Mohammed.
Another potential would be trade financing as access to capital can be a challenge for mid-tier to low-rung enterprises. “Trade finance funds or slivers of Islamic investments into that asset class, with support of external credit agencies, can really help as most of them already interact on the commercial side.”
Mohammed said sales based on Islamic leasing constructs would fit in well with such trade-related investments and can also be suitable for private equity participation from GCC region and Malaysian private institutions, family offices and high net-worth individuals.
With Ebdaa acting as an advisory bridge, the challenge is to move away from simply using a Shariah wrapper on conventional assets. “It is part of the evolutionary process, about locating enterprises which already have a compelling case and are investment ready.”
Emphasizing that Ebdaa is not acting to structure deals or as placement agents, “we provide the knowledge rather than be the people reinventing the wheel after the commercial deals are struck. We want help create that ecosystem and knowledge awareness for these enterprises to hit the ground running in terms of being investor-ready.”
An added attraction is the famed Italian food culture. “Italy is fairly advanced in terms of coming up with agriculture-related technology. We also see sustainable business models, which is something that we can definitely align quickly with. I think that is where the USP (unique selling proposition) is.”
Conceding that the Islamic focus of Italian assets is still at the infancy stage, Mohammed said the journey forward will be a marathon rather than a sprint. “But it will be worth it.”
