Associate Professor Dr Magda Ismail Abdel Mohsin is currently a lecturer and a researcher at the International Center for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF). Prior to joining INCEIF in 2007, she held many senior academic positions, including as the head of the Economic Department and as the deputy chief executive academic. She has taught a wide range of subjects in Islamic economics and Islamic finance and has published many articles in the field. Dr Magda has presented a number of papers in international conferences worldwide and is the award-winning author of two books on Waqf. Besides teaching, Dr Magda has conducted many training courses on Waqf in Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore and Indonesia. She is the winner of the following two awards: Best/outstanding paper award for the paper: ‘Financing through cash Waqf: A new innovation for the 21st century’ (Emerald Group); and Best book written on Waqf in 2014: ‘Corporate Waqf: From Principle to Practice’.
Dr Aida Othman is a Partner at Zaid Ibrahim & Co (a member of ZICOlaw). Aida specializes in Islamic banking and finance, Islamic capital market instruments, and Takaful products and operations. She also advises on Shariah compliance and governance, including on the legal and regulatory framework for Islamic finance. In particular, she has advised on: structure and documentation for both Islamic corporate and retail financing; legal and regulatory framework for Islamic financial services; structuring and Shariah compliance issues for Sukuk issuance, private equity funds and unit trust funds; Shariah review and Shariah audit of Islamic financial institutions; Takaful products and operations; and Islamic wealth management and planning. Aida completed her pupilage in chambers at Messrs. Zain & Co., and was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1994. She joined Zaid Ibrahim & Co in 2007 as Senior Associate and was made partner in 2009.
Umar Munshi, 33, is the Managing Partner of EthisCrowd.com, the 1st Islamic Real Estate Crowdfunding platform. EthisCrowd is now a community of 15,000 Ethical & Islamic Investors and Donors, which has crowd-invested in projects to build more than 5,000 houses for the needy in Indonesia since early 2015. Umar recently founded EthisVentures.com which partners with Islamic Crowdfunding platforms including award-winning SME P2P platform KapitalBoost.com, and SkolaFund.com, a donation platform founded by students to crowdfund tuition fees for deserving students. Ethis Ventures also operates WaqfWorld.org (beta), the first global Waqf Platform supported by Founding Patron Tun Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia’s 5th Prime Minister. Umar is the Chairman of the newly-formed Islamic Fintech Alliance.
Munshi is also a partner in Ihram.asia, the leading Umrah-travel marketplace in Indonesia. Munshi is on the Board of the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce (smcci.org.sg) and is the Singapore Representative of TDA (tangandiatas.com), an Indonesian Community of 20,000.
