Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Britain’s leading voice on what Muslims want

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, a British writer and author of Love in a Headscarf (2009) and a memoir of growing up as a British Muslim woman. She is the Vice President of Ogilvy Noor, which is the world’s first multi-disciplinary Islamic branding practice.

According to Ogilvy Noor, Muslims in Britain contribute $40 billion to the economy every year, and they have spending power overall of $27 billion. Globally, in 2017 Muslims spent $2.1 trillion across the food, beverage and lifestyle sectors, says the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2018-19.

She says she sees huge untapped opportunities for the Muslim lifestyle sector, particularly in the areas of Islamic finance, media and tourism. “There are a number of problems with Islamic finance. The main one is that no one really understands what it is or why it’s Islamic and there’s a lot of uncertainty,” says Janmohamed.

While she has been championing the Muslim economy since 2010, she admits it’s still very much a ‘work in progress’. She stated that “I’m optimistic that we’ve moved forward and it feels like the marketplace has a better grasp of what’s going on. We’ve started to see some interesting communications and products in the marketplace and at least an acceptance that there is a commercial and a brand opportunity.”

“I think the next stage is to develop what those engagements are, how it fits into bigger brands and wider strategies and think about the right brand outreach for those particular businesses when talking to Muslim audiences.”

Read the full report at Arabian Busines