Heaptalk, Jakarta — The peak of the sharia exhibition, Muslim Life Fest 2022 (MLFest), has been officially opened by the Executive Director, Executive Management of the National Sharia Economic and Finance Committee (KNEKS), Taufik Hidayat, at Indonesia Convention Exhibition, Tangerang (08/26).
The opening ceremony of this biggest Muslim expo was also attended by the Head of Sharia Economy and Finance at the Bank of Indonesia, Arief Hartawan. In addition, 21 Ambassadors of other countries representatives also come to the ceremony, including Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, Sri Lanka, Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen, Malaysia, Nigeria, Somalia, and Mozambique.
Inaugurating the MLFest 2022 event opening, Taufik appreciated the implementation of the most extensive sharia exhibition initiated by KPMI. He expects the festival will be the right place to elevate the export market for halal products in Indonesia and encourage the entrepreneurs to develop a sharia economy by reinforcing good relations with other countries’ representatives.
Around 300 exhibitors from 12 halal business categories participate in the MLFest 2022. The tenants will exhibit hundreds of halal and Islamic products, start to Modest fashion, Halal travel, Thibbun Nabawi herbs, Islamic education, Islamic publisher, Communities, Beauty, and Pharmaceutical, to the Safe and Healthy Halal Culinary Zone (KHAS). With many enticing halal products at the event, organizing this event this year is targeted to attract 40,000 visitors with an undisclosed targeted transaction amount.
Exclusive zone for the Halal product and exports
Presenting a Business to Business (B2B) as the expo concept, MLFest 2022 aims to increase the Indonesian halal product scale and penetrate the export market to achieve halal producers worldwide in 2024.
As this expo initiator, Chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Entrepreneurs Community (KPMI), Rachmat Marpaung, planned to facilitate over 150 export-oriented SMEs registered with 650 prospective buyers from nine countries, including Bahrain, Pakistan, Japan, and Malaysia. As a result, He hopes they can build relations and create business transactions and investment opportunities through the hybrid Business Matching agenda.
Rachmat also elaborated that participants showed enthusiasm for Indonesia’s agricultural products, including coffee and spices yield. Perceiving the pandemic condition in Indonesia, Rachmat stated this program would be more dynamic through a hybrid implementation to facilitate the export player and build a good connection with international buyers.
Referring to the OKI Economic Outlook 2022, Indonesia has become the fifth largest exporter of 9.3% among the OKI member countries. To achieve the halal producer center goals, Indonesia has also Sharia Economic Masterplan 2019 – 2024 with four principal strategies, namely strengthening the halal value chain consisting of the halal food and beverage sector, tourism, Muslim fashion, pharmaceutical and cosmetics, and the renewable energy industry. Likewise, the reinforcement of the Sharia financial industry, acceleration of Indonesia’s MSMEs, and the digital economy implementation are also part of the primary strategy that Indonesia’s government projected.
During the speech at the ceremony, Taufik also revealed the halal market continues to perform its enhancement every year. Based on the State of Global Islamic Economic report outcome for 2020 – 2021, the consumption rate of the Muslim communities worldwide reached $2.02 trillion. The result is bolstered by multiple sectors that have become a part of the government Masterplan. He also stated that the consumption level is estimated to increase by $2.4 trillion by 2024, with an average annual growth of 3.1%.
Export Academy Grand Launching
Muslim Life Fest 2022 will conduct the Export Academy Grand Launching to amplify the halal product export activities. This program is an ecosystem devoted to expanding human resources for business export purposes, initiated by KPMI in collaboration with Nudira Learning Center, Aspenku.com, and Hibbu Creative House.
During the plan, entrepreneurs will obey mentoring sessions about the national jobs competency standards (SKKNI)-based practical export methods with an intensive hybrid scheme. As the program execution, participants will be directed to trade their products on Aspenku.com, a digital export platform that optimizes outcomes from MSMEs and plays a role as a distribution center and fulfillment partner in foreign countries.
This mentoring program will also grant export funding distributed by Shafiq, Hijra Bank, and LBS-Urun Dana as the KPMI’s STrategic partners. By joining this insightful program, participants will obtain priority to attend other expos held by KPMI in different countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, organized soon in early September.
To register for the session, participants can purchase a $67.42 registration to experience enticing lifetime learning. Also, they can obtain special discounts during the MLFest event by accomplishing registration costs worth $60.66.
Technological Agricultural development ecosystem for expansion for DEKS BI Guided Islamic Boarding Schools
In collaboration with the Bank of Indonesia, the MLFest will also conduct the agriculture technological implementation for Islamic Boarding Schools under the guidance of the BI’s Sharia Economic Department (DEKS BI). Supported by IPB University, this schedule will grant guidance and mentoring session for ten boarding schools around the West Java region on how to plant horticultural spices through Smart Farming technology.
Head of DEKS BI, Arief Hartawan, the implementation of Smart-Farming technology can help Islamic Boarding School participants to generate the agricultural product throughout the years. He also claimed that farming product supplies would contribute to the market demands, particularly domestic necessities. As for the export market, Arief revealed the schools had passed the quality check phase in Japan with its 0.01 ppm low pesticide.
