The world's first training course on the convergence of Islamic capital and halal food and Muslim lifestyle sectors will be available in Bahrain from May.

Being offered by the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) through a partnership with New York-based growth strategy research and advisory firm Dinar Standard, it has been developed as part of the Waqf Fund's initiatives to enhance Islamic finance training in the region.

This was annnounced during a press conference at the BIBF campus in Juffair, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Central Bank of Bahrain executive director for banking supervision and Waqf Fund chairman Khalid Hamad said the kingdom was uniquely positioned to leverage its standing as a regional financial hub to support the halal food and lifestyle sectors, given their significant potential size.

Dinar Standard chief executive and managing director Rafi-Uddin Shikoh, who also addressed the press, said even as Islamic capital continued to seek new growth opportunities, there was very limited engagement with the related halal economy sectors.

“There is a growing need to develop Islamic finance professionals' understanding of the opportunity and how to best leverage it in terms of investment, operating capital, takaful, trade financing and other needs,' he added.

“Strategic investments on the part of Sharia-compliant private equity firms in halal food and lifestyle related businesses, trade financing, working capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, takaful, etc are just some of the ways Islamic finance can capitalise on these sectors.”

The halal food and Muslim lifestyle sectors is estimated to reach $2.47 trillion by 2018, based on the 'State of the Global Islamic Economy 2014' report, produced by Thomson Reuters in collaboration with Dinar Standard.

BIBF head of the centre for academics and acting head of the centre for Islamic finance Ahmed Al Rayes said the managerial level course is tailored for Islamic finance and takaful executives and managers.

“It will give participants a summary of the halal market opportunity and focus on specific areas of financing/takaful needs and gaps by the key halal economy sectors of food, pharma, personal care, media/recreation, travel and fashion,” he said. - TradeArabia News Service