reports
International Halal SME Directory : 2011 - 2012
interview
Two that I find interesting is hospitality and tourism, and I think we could probably find a niche for Halal-related tourism.
The end customer also wants to know if the whole logistics chain is also maintaining the Halal integrity of the product. If prior to this, Halal food may have travelled in freezers, together with non-Halal foods, then there is still that issue whether or not the product is still Halal. I think the Malaysian logistics companies are handling that matter very well. We now have end-to-end Halal logistics services.
a Malaysian Halal logo would fetch a certain premium as compared to others; so from that standpoint, they see the need to move their products towards Halal. For Muslim producers, of course, we have that added incentive, in the akhirat (hereafter); basically, it is non-tangible, not monetary of course, but a lot bigger than that. So, I think the Halal business is one of the very few businesses whereby someone can actually make a profit, but also earn some pahala (reward), for the Afterlife. I think if you’re that way inclined, nothing can be better than being in the Halal business. In terms of budget, how much has the federal government allocated for the development of the Halal sector in Malaysia as a whole and under MITI specifically? What are the projects that we can expect to be rolled out within the foreseeable future for the Malaysian Halal sector? MM: As you may know, HDC (Halal industry Development Corporation) is under MITI and in terms of budget under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (RMK-10), HDC has been allocated a modest budget of RM80 million, which is for development. We see that agencies within MITI have to collaborate and make use some of their allocations for similar purpose, so that way we get to share the burden and the responsibility, to help HDC meet its KPIs (key performance indicators). I think that way we get a better bang for each buck that we spend. The Entrepreneur Development Division of MITI also has undertaken steps to further enhance collaborations between the different agencies within MITI with Halal-related programmes. Projects that we have in progress… as you well know, we are involved in the World Halal Research Summit. It is in the fourth year now and it has been very successful. It is a two-day event and it is being held in conjunction with the Malaysia Halal Week. This event is interesting because it is specifically focused on research. Not many do that, and going by the response we have been getting from the past three summits that we’ve held, the quality of papers delivered and participation has been equally good and well attended.
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We also have trade missions that are specific to Halal. One is to Pakistan, and another to Guangzhou in China, focusing specifically on Halal products and services. You might ask why Guangzhou, because China also has quite a sizeable Muslim population, perhaps not specifically in Guangzhou, but in Ningxia and Xinjiang, two provinces that has a majority or a high percentage of Muslims. We chose Guangzhou because they have been producing their own Halal products, and their own demand for Halal products from the world and from Malaysia is also very high. We have a Data Warehousing project, to collate the latest data and statistics of the Halal industry. This is very important, because sometimes we don’t even know what’s going on out there; so each time we have conferences, seminars or exhibitions, we meet new people who are involved in or has just started new businesses we are not aware about. I think it is important and timely that we have this Data Warehousing project. We also have outreach programmes to enhance the knowledge and awareness on Halal. The placement of iKiosk in strategic places where people can get information about what product is Halal, and so on. We also have B2B portal, CRM Halal park website, and Halal applications on iPhone, Blackberry and Nokia. Response from these small outreach programmes has been very good. You recently mentioned that the Halal services sector is to be Malaysia’s new focus for growth. Halal hospitality and Halal logistics were the two identified. Could you elaborate on these please? MM: Two that I find interesting is hospitality and tourism, and I think we could probably find a niche for Halal-related tourism. For now, already tourists from Muslim countries travel to Malaysia because they feel comfortable, because there are no issues on food and the likes, but I think we could go even further than that. They could experience Malaysia from all things that are Halal. From a tourism aspect, there are many things that can be developed further to enhance this market and the attractiveness of Malaysia as a Halal tourism destination.
