Launch Partners

Friday, March 29, 2024

Launch Partners

CIMB Islamic Bank signs partnership agreement for iTEKAD Entrepreneur program

CIMB Islamic Bank has signed a partnership agreement with Yayasan Wakaf Malaysia (YWM) and Yayasan Belia Malaysia (YBM) bringing the iTEKAD CIMB Islamic Rider Entrepreneur program into its second edition through the concept of temporary Waqf. iTEKAD is a blended social finance initiative by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) which sees Islamic banks offer seed capital, microfinancing and structured training to microentrepreneurs in collaboration with implementation partners.

The CIMB Islamic Rider Entrepreneur program aims to provide participants with job opportunities as food delivery riders with Foodpanda Malaysia, assisted by training from Taylor’s Community, the consolidated corporate social responsibility platform for Taylor’s Education Group, on entrepreneurship. YWM will act as the Waqf fundraiser while YBM will act as the program coordinator, mobilizing the procurement and distribution of motorcycles to the participants.

“We continue to see the importance of our Rider Entrepreneur program which provides economic assistance to participants from the Asnaf and B40 communities, including entrepreneurship skills that will help them improve their livelihood,” Ahmad Shahriman Mohd Shariff, CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank, said.

CIMB Islamic Bank and YWM have jointly committed to a Waqf contribution of RM300,000 (US$66,986.7) as seed funding for the program. The first year of the program kicked off with 40 participants. The program will onboard another 50 participants for the second year.

Through the concept of temporary Waqf, the Waqf funds collected will be converted into motorcycles and handed over to YBM as a temporary Waqf, which will be bonded for 12 months. Within the same Waqf period, YBM will pass the motorcycles to program participants as a loan (Ariyah). The motorcycles will be given to the participants as a gift based on the concept of Hibah once the program has been completed.

The iTEKAD program was first introduced by BNM on a pilot basis in Wilayah Persekutuan in May 2020. The program has now been expanded to the states of Selangor and Perlis. The 2022 Malaysian budget allocated RM20 million (US$4.47 million) to aid microentrepreneurs from low-income groups through the iTEKAD initiative. In addition to CIMB Islamic Bank, Bank Islam and Bank Muamalat have participated in the iTEKAD initiative via their iTEKAD Microfinancing program and iTEKAD Mawaddah programs respectively.

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here