Contributors

Abdulrahman Bashaikh is the Chief Operating Officer of Awqaf Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi Holding Co. , and is a member of the board of directors of Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, Saudi Arabia.

Akmal Saleem is the CEO at Rizq, a UK-based alternative Islamic Digital Banking app. Prior to this, he founded Maarij Wealth which aims to revive the tradition of value based propositions that help personal and professional wealth creation and growth.

Social Media Specialist and LinkedIn Trainer.

Aliya Patel is a Millennial coach and Empowerment life coach (ICF) & Mentor at Time for Change, based in Mumbai. She is skilled in the Western and Islamic methods of personal counseling and is currently pursuing her Certification in Islamic psychology and Associate Certified Coach (ICF).  She also works with NGOs to mentor and coach underprivileged youths in India and during the COVID-19 pandemic, she contributed to 60+ personal pro bono coaching sessions across India & globally.

Ameerah Langer is the Chief Of Staff @ Fasset in the UAE. She focuses on impact-driven Islamic finance with a diverse project portfolio in sectors that include impact investment, startup incubation, philanthropy, education, the arts, journalism, and social justice.

Anuar Hisham Zulkifli is an experienced investment professional and has worked with many reputable establishments such as  Bank Negara (Malaysian Central Bank), Khazanah Nasional Berhad and at present is attached to Permodalan Nasional Berhad. With more than a decade of experience in the financial sector, he is passionate and determined to use his knowledge to help the underprivileged and revive Waqf as tool for economic growth and social well-being.

Dalya Ayoub is a Life Matters Community founder, community leader and educator. Life Matters Community teaches personal development from an Islamic perspective and serves to inspire growth and change in the lives of its participants. She is a guest author on Halalop.

Deen Ali, who writes on his blog, Deenblog. Deenblog talks about life, spiritual fulfillment, personal mastery and holding on to one’s Islamic roots, with the goal to connect Muslim Ummah and get them talking about Islam, entrepreneurship and self-improvement.

Diana Sabrain, founder of OneAgrix, and was previously published on LinkedIn. OneAgrix is a global trading marketplace for sourcing certified  Halal ingredients and food products. She is a guest author on Halalop.

We have previously interviewed Diana Sabrain, in our article, Halal B2B

Dr. Harris Ismail, is the CEO of Ascension Technology Sdn Bhd, a technology provider in the construction industry. He is a speaker & technology advocate. He has been actively involved in developing & implementing cutting-edge technology such as MMC (IBS) & BIM in Malaysia.

Eman Ismail is an email conversion strategist & copywriter, and the founder of InkHouse.

When she’s not writing money-making, relationship-building emails for business owners and ecommerce brands, you’ll find her bouncing around at soft play (likely injured) with her not-so-baby boy.

Fateh Ali is the co-founder & CEO of CollabDeen, a smart technology platform that can mimic complex human collaboration.  He is a guest author on Halalop.

Fauzi Che Rus, CEO of Ramli Capital Holdings Sdn Bhd. Fauzi has a successful background assisting CEOs in business turnaround as well as elevating organizational performance. He is a guest author on Halalop.

Haleemah Bint Ahmad (Haleema Aderayo Mustapha) holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. She is an entrepreneur in interior design www.floraltoneinteriors.com, a wife and mother, and loves to write.

Haroon Choudery is the Executive Director at A.I. For Anyone & Data Scientist  at Komodo Health, a healthcare IT startup.  A.I. For Anyone js a nonprofit dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of AI to underserved students and service workers.

Khairul Anwar is a coach on leadership and innovation, he has consulted leaders, founders and companies looking to use innovation as a catalyst for their growth. He writes about innovation and leadership on his blog, innov8n.coach

Leilani Wolff is a professional blog writer. She is the chief content officer at Learningquran.co.uk and writes for global Islamic platforms. She is a guest author on Halalop.

Award-winning Serial Entrepreneur, Certified Coach.  CEO of Ali Huda TV, cofounder of Quran Era, a digital platform for kids to learn Quran, and host on Muslims On Fire podcast.

Maarten van Elst is the founder of MuslimFit. He is a vitality coach that helps professionals build their physical, mental, social and spiritual health so they gain autonomy in their lives to strive for their goals. Maarten discovered Islam through his search for self-improvement, he was inspired by Islam’s teachings, that amongst other, promotes spiritual, social, physical and mental health.

The researches for all these facts, checking them for the correctness and putting it all together has been solely done by Melisa Dirilish. Melisa has translated into English the popular Turkish TV series, Diriliş: Ertuğrul (Resurrection: Ertuğrul) from Seasons 3 -5. She often writes about the historical Ottoman Caliphate, and on historical facts behind hit TV dramas, Diriliş: Ertuğrul and Kuruluş Osman, on her Facebook page. For more, follow her Facebook page/

Mirza Yawar Baig is a Leadership Development expert. He is the founder & president of Yawar Baig & Associates. His leadership and success advice can be seen on his YouTube Channel, Yawar Baig & Associates.

Cofounder of 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙝 𝘿𝙚𝙁𝙞, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙’𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙄𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝘿𝙚𝙁𝙞 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 & 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙢 𝘿𝙚𝙁𝙞. Therefore experienced in raising & scaling a DeFi startup ground up and managing a complete decentralized team spread across the globe. As a certified digital transformation professional, and crazy about the idea of transparency by instilling trust via the 𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙣 technology and similar DLTs, I work to fill the gaps, currently faced by my customers in the respective domains.

Muhi Khwaja is c0-founder and Director of Development & Philanthropy of the American Muslim Fund. Founded in 2016, the American Muslim Fund is a grassroots, national community foundation in the United States focused on creating Donor Advised Funds, Giving Circles, distributing grants, and building endowments for the Muslim community. American Muslim Fund is the 2019 recipient of Outstanding Foundation by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter for National Philanthropy Day. He is a guest author on Halalop.

Muhaimin Iqbal is the Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Bioeconomy Science and Technology, Indonesia. He is also the Founder and Chairman of iGrow Resources, Indonesia –  an agriculture resource integrator and market integrator.

Murat Ülker is a Turkish billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Yıldız Holding, the largest food company in the CEEMEA Region. Yıldız owns businesses including Godiva Chocolatier, pladis, and Sok.

Murat Ulker owns 63% of Yildiz Holding, which produces a wide range of food products and non-alcoholic beverages. Yildiz spent $850 million to buy Belgian chocolatier Godiva in 2007 and $3.2 billion to buy United Biscuits of the U.K. in 2014. To establish a more global structure, he merged United Biscuit, Ulker Biscuit and DeMet’s Candy under the roof of London-based Pladis Foods.

In early 2019, Godiva announced the sale of parts of its Asia-Pacific business, along with a production facility in Belgium, to PE firm MBK Partners. Yildiz is using some of the proceeds from the sale to expand Godiva’s cafe business from 20 stores to more than 2,000 globally by 2025.

Na’eem Raza is a charity consultant, where he helps charities raise awareness about their work and grow their income so that ultimately, they can improve the lives of more people in need. Na’eem has over 20 years’ experience in the sector. 

Ruh Al-Alam is an award-winning designer and co-founder of Archetype, a London-based specialist design agency with clients such as BBC, Netflix and Google. With a focus on localisation, adaption, original branding and digital development in multiple languages across the world (including Arabic of course).

Rushdi Siddiqui the Co-Founder and CEO at Vaistra, a NY Based, Global Discovery & Transaction Platform for  Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-Linked Startups and Social Enterprises. He is a guest author on Halalop.

Dr. Sayd Farook is a Strategy and Foresight Advisor at the Executive Office of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Dr. Sayd is also an early-stage investor in more than a dozen mission-oriented startups through Falcon Network, an angel investment network he co-founded. He is a guest author on Halalop.

Dr. Stef Keris has been a lecturer and teacher for the last 25 years. Stef is a polyglot (English, German, Greek, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic) with a Master’s and a PhD in Political Science.

Dr Stef has written three books on the Islamic Heritage in Europe. He has made 3 documentaries about the Ottoman legacy in Greece, in Hungary and in Vienna (Austria) and about the three Ottoman capitals (Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul).

His recent work is the textbook The Islamic history of Europe-How Islam has become part of Europe. This textbook is taught at schools in Birmingham and (in German) in Zurich (Switzerland). He is based in the UK.

Professor Sattar Bawany is the CEO of Disruptive Leadership Institute (DLI), C-Suite Master Executive Coach, Author of Leadership in Disruptive Times (2020) and Professor of Practice for Disruptive Leadership at IPE Management School, Paris.

Shaida M Zin is a training consultant and a communications coach. She specializes in Emotional Intelligence (EQ), Mindfulness and is a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach.

Swaliha Asiya, who is a Muslim writer, poet, and content creator.  She offers her business writing, blogging and social media content services on her website. She is a guest author on Halalop.

Syireen Rose is an entrepreneur, wordsmith and BNI Executive Director. She is the founder of PeachesAndPen.com where she provides strategic communication consultancy and editing service to business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders. She is a guest author on Halalop.

Tariq Al Sada is a strategic communication and marketing professional, writer, speaker, entrepreneur & tech innovator with an extensive professional and media network in the Arab region and across the globe. He also writes on his blog in Arabic at Waraqati.

Tunku Alizakri Alias is the Chairman of the Board of Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (Mavcap). Prior to his current position, he was the CEO of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Malaysia where he managed USD250bn of retirement assets for 15 million members. He also sits on various boards of directors of several other billion-dollar Malaysian corporations.

Tushar is a Certified High Performance Coach and Leader in Islamic Time Management who specializes in helping busy Muslim professionals. to overcome overwhelm and achieve clarity, organisation and progress across all areas of life. He has featured on Islam Channel, The Muslim CEO Show, ProductiveMuslim.com and SeekersGuidance.org.  To learn more about Islamic Time Management, visit his LinkedIn profile below.

Umar Munshi is the  Co-founder of Ethis Global, an emerging group of ethical crowdfunding and fintech companies licensed in various jurisdictions. Starting in Singapore in 2014, Ethis.co is now present in Malaysia, Indonesia and Dubai where it serves small and large investors to match them to projects with healthy profits. Umar is a guest author on Halalop.

Yasmine Najja Brouwer is the Founder of SAUWT (sauwt.com), a Diversity Marketing Agency in the Netherlands which aims to help brands build an authentic relationship with the halal consumers by crafting messages that will appeal to Muslims across the globe. Yasmine is a guest author on Halalop.