Between The Lines
WHF: Reflections and Resolutions
By Hajj Abdalhamid Evans
Aug 3, 2006, 15:37

Events come and go, but we all had the feeling that the World Halal Forum would be different; not just ‘another conference’, but an event that would actually achieve something. Now, with WHF 2007 already in our sights, and we are getting a sense of what actually happened.

The whole team at KasehDia had a very clear intention on what we wanted from the inaugural WHF. We wanted to bring people together and to send a message: that Halal is not just an obscure niche market; that Halal has enormous potential; that Halal can be a major market force; and that Halal is BIG.

We received plenty of feedback during and immediately after the WHF, 95 per cent of it positive, from the biggest MNC’s down to the smallest SME’s.

However, it was only during a meeting in early June, at the Malaysian branch of one of the world’s leading food and cosmetic manufacturers, that we got a clear snapshot of the impact of the event. The MNC director, who had attended the WHF, told us that the event was a real eye-opener; she had no idea of how important the Halal market was and how diverse. From animal feed to logistics this particular MNC also no idea how many major-league player – and which ones – were already so well positioned in the Halal sector.

So, with an urgent sense that she was now playing catch-up, she wanted to see how to position their Malaysian branch as their ‘Centre of Halal Excellence’ (a term coined at The Halal Journal, incidentally.)

This reflects the positioning moves being made by the big corporations. With Tesco, McDonalds and Nestlé using the WHF to confirm their Halal market credibility, it left many other big guns – both corporate and also national development agencies – hoping that they had not just missed a very important boat.

We are clearly seeing the emergence of the Centres of Halal Excellence (or CHEs as I suppose we should call them now) developing as a model for the MNCs.

And if Malaysia can a) see the opportunity clearly enough to act on it; and b) clear a path through the dense bureaucratic undergrowth to allow this opportunity to bear fruit, we may well see more MNCs making their CHEs in Malaysia.

While the big players were very much in evidence at the WHF – and rightly so, given that the event was aimed to be a representational cross-section – it was the smaller companies, and especially the Muslim overseas visitors, who brought the greatest sense of enthusiasm and hope.

So while the waters of the Halal market are currently dominated by the big non-Muslim players, like big tankers slowly following their trade routes, we could recognise among the delegates that there was an as yet untapped spring of enthusiasm, concern and drive to make Halal reach its fullest potential. And these smaller players, while they do not have size on their side, have the advantage of being able to move faster, make quicker decisions and manoeuvre with more agility. They can also talk to the press without having to worry about shareholders, a point which was driven home by the refusal of one of the Big Guns to do an interview with the BBC for fear of the ‘implications’.

Talking ‘bout a resolution
When the dust has settled and the piles of business cards are sorted, we are left with the resolutions of the Forum; and in many respects, the two resolutions of WHF 2006 summed up the aspirations of the whole event.

The second resolution, which as someone rightly pointed out ought to have been the first, was that the Islamic Development Bank should create a fund to enable the developing Muslim nations and – significantly – the Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries to play a bigger role in the Halal market.

It would be unfair to say ‘and about time too’ given that the Halal market has only recently really come up on the radar as a big blip, but at the same time, we have to reflect, yet again, that the position of the Muslims as passive consumers in the Halal market arena is simply not acceptable. It might be an accurate barometer reading of the fiscal geopolitics of the age we live in, but we sincerely hope that this resolution will not end up on the same dusty table that the 400-odd OIC resolutions are currently piled up on, quietly minding their own business and chatting amongst themselves.

I imagine that it is our collective task to see that this is not the case.

As for the other resolution, to form some kind of International Halal Industry Association, I am pleased to report that this one is well underway. And further than that I am not going to comment, other than to say ‘watch this space’.

We ourselves undertook the responsibility to make this happen for our collective benefit, and we do not underestimate the importance – nor the weight – of this. Please be patient; it is on the near horizon and getting bigger.

The writer can be contacted at hamid@kasehdia.com



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