Islamic finance
The Fund “Damu” is negotiating with a number of Islamic financial institutions for the implementation of the Shariyah lending project, - reports LS.
A new product should already be running in the I quarter of 2018. As it is reported, financial institutions are ready to invest to the Fund $100 mln.
I think that the program will work under the proven scheme of conditional financing. We already have a potential partner from abroad who is ready to provide $100 mln. for subsequent placement in banks that practice Islamic financing, - said Deputy Chairman of the Board of Damu Nurlan Akshanov.
According to his words, the launch of the new program is caused by interest of Kazakhstan entrepreneurs in Islamic financing. The Fund is currently negotiating with some Islamic Financial Institutions. It is assumed that the loans will be issued in the directions, traditional for “Damu”, which are included in the list of priority sectors of the economy. According to Akshanov, the amount of allocated funds under this program could be increased.
The size of the portfolio depends on supply. If the market sees that this kind of financing is much more attractive than conventional financing, we won’t stop for $100 mln. and we will raise funds further on. The client will decide everything, - added the speaker.
According to the interlocutor, the risk level will not be higher than at traditional loans as it is one sector of MSB.
In addition, the Fund intends to change the terms of the loan program for franchises.
We launched the program “Damu franchise” last year. We have allocated 1 billion tenge, but we have not seen a large number of projects. In my opinion, we too toughened requirements to potential borrowers. Now we are going to make the program easier and attract more entrepreneurs, - added Akshanov.
As he told, Kazakhstan citizens often choose medical franchises and projects in the sphere of public catering. It is remarkable that most of all this direction is popular in the west of Kazakhstan and the Russian brands are most often offered.
One more new direction for fund – crowdfunding.
We decided to start with social projects. Entrepreneurs, who implement certain initiatives in social entrepreneurship often come to us. We will stretch our base and expose it on the crowdfunding platform baribirge.kz and will see whether these projects will be of interest to investors. At the second stage we want those entrepreneurs, who participate in our competitions, but do not receive financing, to place on the platform and try to raise funds for them, - added expert.
He said “Damu” is not going to create their own information platform, and plans to work in symbiosis with existing projects.
Previously, LS published an article about the cost of a medical franchise for Kazakh entrepreneurs.
