“People, we created you from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should know /

recognize one another.”

- Qur’an 49:13

Global IslamicEconomy

20182030

1.7b

MuslimPopulation

(24.3%)1.8b

(27%)2.2b

(23.9%)

Credit: Gould.Sydney

1 . M U S L I M L E A D E R S H I P P L A Y S A P R O M I N E N T R O L E I N T E C H E C O S Y S T E M S A R O U N D T H E W O R L D

I S L A M O P H O B I A & M U S L I M S I N T E C H• Discrimination in hiring & general workplace discrimination

against visibly Muslim women & men

• Micro aggressions, like questioning people’s faith or asking inappropriate questions regarding terrorism, have a profound affect on the daily life of Muslims in the workplace

• These issues are so consistent for many Muslims, that Muslim women often take off the hijab when applying for tech jobs

• People often change their names or shorten them in a way that makes them not explicitly Muslims. Mohammed becomes Mo

• Many Muslims in tech are on H1-B tech visas so when there are issues of discrimination, they feel uncomfortable confronting these issues.

• “Mindfulness” in the work place versus hiding to find a place to pray

2 . C O M P A N I E S & S T A R T U P S F O C U S E D O N M U S L I M M A J O R I T Y P O P U L A T I O N S

3 . M U S L I M S T A R T U P S F O C U S E D O N M U S L I M C O N S U M E R S

4 . S O C I A L E N T E R P R I S E P R O D U C T S W I T H A S P E C T S O F M U S L I M B R A N D I N G

F A I T H A N D F U N D I N G

•Faith is rarely talked about in conversations about diversity.

•Investors don’t know what they don’t know

•Angel investing still early in Muslim communities.

•Major opportunities for Muslim funding in South East Asia, the Gulf, and some Angels in Silicon Valley, Japan and China.

I S L A M I C F I N A N C E A N D V E N T U R E C A P I T A L

N E X T S T E P S A N D R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

• We need to knock out racism & Islamophobia.

• This can take many forms ranging from blocking government requests for data that could be used to police Muslim and other vulnerable communities.

• Companies should review hiring policies with special attention paid to how interviewers are responding to job candidates who wear hijab or who are visibly Muslim.

• Tech companies must also make training on religion and multi-faith dialogue a central part of their larger diversity training and discuss issues of Islamophobia in the workplace as a major component of this.