The Muslim Market

Recently I read with awe one of AT Kearney's (a consulting firm) reports entitled "Addressing the Muslim Market, Can You Afford Not To?".

I never come across a solid and well researched report on the potentials of the 'Muslim' market as this one. Not only that it covers cliche areas like Islamic banking and finance, but it goes beyond that. It also covers areas like food products, financial services and investment. The report reveals, for instance, Nestle's $3 billions revenue annually from Muslim countries.

Muslim population as a promising market is indeed huge, by any definition.

The Middle Eastern region is hitherto the locomotive of this market, and undeniably the most lucrative with enormous spending appetites for label fashion, lavish yachts, and mega constructions. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Manama are racing among themselves to become the regions hub for everything; from Islamic financial center, to transportation, to F1 venue, and global shopping arcade.

This may be a proof of worthiness of the Muslim market, which AT Kearney estimated worth at $2 trillion and growing at the rate of 15 - 17% annually. 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide has become a new target for global manufacturers and companies, regardless of country of origins or sectors.

With this scale, it is indeed foolish to ignore this potential and not doing anything about it. The question - which we almost certainly will raise in all of these instances, when is Indonesian or Malaysian companies will benefit from this vawe of change. We, Melayu, tend to be left behind in many things. Can we afford to this time?