A proposal for establishing a startup business in the US complying to Islamic finance guidelines

Abstract

This thesis discusses the idea of setting up a start-up business in North America (US or Canada) that complies to Islamic financial guidelines, with a view to attract funding from Muslim people around the world. These funds would be the nucleus of a conglomerate of companies investing in a diversity of projects around the globe, not the least of which would relate to infrastructure, educational and economic development of the mother countries from where these funds originate. The main premise of this proposal is that large sums of untapped financial resources exist in the Islamic world, that are not utilized, or under-utilized, on the basis of Islamic prohibition of several financial transactions prevalent in the global market, such as interest-earning debt. The result is that large sums of money are either kept in non-interest-earning bank accounts or not deposited in banks at all, by Muslim people. This thesis explores the challenges to be overcome in attempting to establish a start-up in North America that complies with Islamic jurisprudence, along with some recommendations for directing the investments of these funds.