Thomas Cooney

Muslim entrepreneurs need access to Sharia-friendly financial products

MUSLIM ENTREPRENEURS in Ireland need access to Sharia-compliant financial products to develop their businesses.
According to research carried out by Thomas Cooney, academic director of DIT Institute for Minority Entrepreneurship, some 76 per cent of Muslim business people in Ireland believe securing finance is their biggest challenge and 90 per cent said there is a need for Islamic law compliant financial products.
Keynote speaker Tayyibah Taylor, founder of American Muslim women’s magazine Azizah, said business was not just a mechanism for creating wealth, it was a form of worship.
Mr Cooney’s research, which he presented at the conference, also found almost half of Muslim entrepreneurs in Ireland were working in food or retailing and were primarily targeting their own communities.

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