Malaysia to launch world's first Islamic venture capital fund

The plan to establish the world's first Islamic venture capital fund is now in the final stage and will be launched at the right time, said Treasury secretary-general, Tan Sri Irwan Serigar Abdullah.

He said the teams from the ministry and Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) had met twice to finalise the structure of the fund, spearheaded by Malaysia in collaboration with the IDB.

"Now it is a matter of waiting for the right time to announce, launch and go-to-market," he told reporters after a briefing on the 11th International Conference On Islamic Economics and Finance (11th ICIEF) here today.

Also present was IDB director-general Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Azmi Omar.

Irwan Serigar said Malaysia was also in talks with Indonesia to rope it to join the venture capital fund, which would have an initial fund size of US$100 million (US$1=RM4.12).

He said even without Indonesia's participation, Malaysia would still go ahead with the proposed fund with IDB and Malaysia's largest venture capital company, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd.

Irwan Serigar said the fund would be used to finance start-up companies not only in Malaysia but also in the region and other Islamic countries.

On the 11th ICIEF, Irwan Siregar said, it would bring together academicians and Islamic finance practitioners from 35 countries.

"We have a lot of waqf land and farm but it is not fully utilised. I hoped this conference can be a platform to discuss on how to take our waqf programme and innitiative to the next level," he said.

The event, themed 'Rethinking Islamic Economic and Finance: Paving the Way Forward for Inclusive and Sustainable Developement', will be held on Oct 11-13 in Kuala Lumpur. -- Bernama