ABOUT half of Africa’s population is Muslim and businesses are gearing up to meet the needs of this growing market with Islamic finance and banking products.Just less than a decade since the market was created, the local Islamic banking sector is estimated to be worth R80.6-billion in terms of assets under management.On the African continent, the market’s assets are estimated to be more than $1.6-trillion (about R17-trillion) and are expected to surge to more than $5-trillion by 2020. These numbers may seem a stretch, but Africa is home to more than 500 million Muslims — about a quarter of the world’s Muslim population.The growth of Islamic banking has not gone unnoticed by the National Treasury. Earlier this year during the budget speech, former finance minister Pravin Gordhan revealed that South Africa will launch Islamic bonds — better known as sukuk — before the end of the year. Sukuk are normally based on property or infrastructure and are designed to pay a fixed profit rate ra...
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