16TH ISDB GLOBAL FORUM ON ISLAMIC FINANCE: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR SHARED PROSPERITY


2 June 2022; 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Venue: Tonino Lamborghini International Convention Center Sharm El Sheikh (Sinai Hall)



Overview:

The IsDB Global Forum on Islamic Finance was initiated in 2006 to provide a platform for strategic policy dialogue and sharing of experiences of countries and institutions toward the development of the various segments of the Islamic Financial sector. The annual forum also promotes cooperation and knowledge sharing and explores the key challenges to the sector’s development, and how to enhance its competitiveness and stability.

This year’s edition of the forum will focus on the role of social innovation and entrepreneurship in facing socioeconomic challenges and poverty in IsDB MCs. The Forum will include two interrelated sessions. The first is dedicated to the partnership between IsDB Institute (IsDBI) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The two institutions have jointly developed a Multidimensional Poverty Analysis, using the updated global MPI and its intertemporal trends in IsDB Member Countries (MCs). This analysis has become more relevant and critical in the wake of massive reversals of gains in poverty reduction driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second session focuses on the role of social innovation and entrepreneurship in addressing socioeconomic challenges and poverty. In recent dialogues, there is a growing consensus that the intractable social problems facing humanity are almost impossible to address through traditional vehicles such as government policy and/or market intervention. The situation has been exacerbated by the huge impact that the pandemic has had on the global economy. As such, novel ways to address the world’s socioeconomic challenges are tackled.



Key issues to be addressed:

  1. How have acute poverty trends changed over time in Egypt?
  2. In what ways will COVID-19 transform the fight against multidimensional poverty in IsDB MCs, such as Egypt?
  3. How does the global MPI compare to other measures of poverty in Egypt, including monetary measures, economic growth, and other national poverty metrics?
  4. What is the role of social innovation and social entrepreneurship in addressing poverty?
  5. Why is there a growing need for innovative solutions to the emerging socioeconomic challenges of IsDB MCs?
  6. How can Islamic finance promote social innovation and entrepreneurship in IsDB MCs?
  • Speakers
    • Sami Al-Suwailem

      Al-Suwailem is currently the Acting Director General of the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) and Chief Economist of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

    • Sabina Alkire, OPHI, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI)

      Sabina Alkire directs the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford. Previously, she worked at the George Washington University, Harvard University, the Human Security Commission, and the World Bank. She has a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.  

      Together with Professor James Foster, Sabina developed the Alkire-Foster (AF) method for measuring multidimensional poverty, a flexible technique that can incorporate different dimensions, or aspects of poverty, to create measures tailored to each context. With colleagues at OPHI this has been applied and implemented empirically to produce a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

    • Nisrine Ouazzani Chahdi

      Joined the pioneer incubator, Moroccan Center for Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship (MCISE), in May 2021 as Managing Director after a seven-year experience in the Moroccan Think Tank, Policy Center for the New South, where she was in charge of international policy debates, Partnerships and Research Valorization.

    • Sahba Sobhani

      is the Director of UNDP IICPSD.   Sobhani brings 19 years of experience in the private sector in Silicon Valley, Singapore, and at the UNDP as Programme Advisor, Team Leader and Programme Manager including as the technical lead for the recently endorsed UNDP private sector strategy.

    • Ayman Sabae

      is the co-founder and CEO of the Egyptian social enterprise “Shamseya", a problem solver of challenges facing healthcare that creates participatory, technology-enabled solutions, putting patients and their needs front and center.