The Loan Shark in ASEAN

Loan shark is a humanitarian problem faced by many countries in the world, including in Asia, even in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s countries. Loan shark activities are found not only in Myanmar and Cambodia, which has the lowest per capita income in ASEAN but also in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, and even Singapore, which are the five countries with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in ASEAN. How are loan shark practices in ASEAN countries? Can nanofinance overcome the microfinance gap to fight the loan shark? How the practice of Bank Wakaf Mikro (BWM) in Indonesia to nanofinance with qardhul hassan contract? Find the answers in this chapter.

Strengthening Islamic Finance in South-East Asia Through Innovation of Islamic FinTech in Brunei Darussalam

Fintech solutions can revolutionize Islamic financial services and leverage on the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution' which is the movement towards combining everyday aspects of our lives, such as finance, into the digital realm that will help increase speed, efficiency, and convenience. The most significant challenge for all countries pursuing Fintech is regulating the industry. Following the issuance of the Financial Sector Blueprint, the Fintech Unit was established under Autoriti Monitori Brunei Darussalam (AMBD). AMBD envisions a vibrant economy powered by ICT through ICT-Smart Citizens as well as being a connected and efficient nation. This chapter discusses the application of Fintech specifically in Islamic finance sector based on the descriptive method of research by concentrating on its regulations. At the end, the research found that though Fintech in Islamic finance sector has been done since it's emerging through Guidelines Fintech Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines Islamic financial Fintech will be strengthened and developed and more diversified.

Exploring the Entrepreneurial Motivations and Barriers of Agripreneurs in Brunei Darussalam

This study explores the motivations and institutional barriers of local agripreneurs who are involved in different branches of agriculture in Brunei. Descriptive analysis and thematic analysis were performed to analyse the data. The agripreneurs in the study consider their venture into agriculture as an act of symbolic nationalistic support whereby they envision Brunei to be a nation less reliant on food imports, in line with the country's vision or better known as Wawasan 2035. In addition, their motivation is also based on Islamic values with the intention of seeking lawful earning and a path to a blessed monetary and hereafter rewards. The main problems faced by the agripreneurs are lack of access to finance, lack of infrastructure and technology, and lack of exposure. The research on local agripreneurs in the context of Brunei is scarce, thus this chapter provides a better understanding of their motivations and constraints for Brunei to realize the potential of the agriculture sector as an important driver of the economy and thus develop the sector further.

Financial Accessibility and Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia

One of the common problems faced by worldwide SMEs including Malaysia is accessing external financial services. Given this fact, this chapter offers a sustainable model of source of financing for Malaysian SMEs in meeting their financial need, which is known as Islamic Crowdfunding-Small and Medium Enterprises (ICSMEs) model. Authors review comprehensive literature by focusing on the issues of financial accessibility faced by Malaysian SMEs, and the existing studies relating to SMEs, crowdfunding, and Islamic finance in support to construct ICSME model. Authors discuss the modus operandi of the proposed ICSME model and offer several significances of the model.

Factors That Influence Retail Equity Investors to Patronize Islamic Stockbroking in Malaysia

This study investigates factors that influence retail equity investors to patronize Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia and ranks their level of importance using Analytical Hierarchy Process. Data are collected using questionnaire via online and offline survey among clients, individuals who work in the stockbroking industry and stockbroking related industry such as fund managers, unit trust managers, and mutual funds. The results show that religiosity and product awareness significantly influence the patronizing behavior of Malaysian retail equity investors. On the other hand, economic motives, convenience, social influence, and attractiveness of stock investment ranked below religiosity and product awareness. In view of the findings, stockbroking industry players such as investment bank, stockbroking firm, or participating organization should take advantage of the religiosity and product awareness factors as a main focus to develop Islamic stockbroking service in Malaysia. Sales, marketing and business development strategies can be designed according to the said criteria.

Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media to the Islamic Banks in Indonesia

The Islamic banks in Indonesia have a serious issue of a low market share of 5%. This emerged due to the limited/unvaried product range, low literacy and inclusion level of Islamic finance, unfavorable perception for Islamic banking, and limited distribution networks and outreach. All of these causes could be resolved by using social media, which will bring several opportunities such as transparency and openness, effective marketing channels, stakeholders' relationship, social media content, brand image and reputation, shariah compliance activity, learning and knowledge, and greater personalization. Meanwhile, in using social media, the Islamic banks face few challenges such as network infrastructure, negative comments, information risk management, privacy, and deception. This chapter can be a reference to any institutions, particularly the Islamic banks which associated with digital interfaces and interactions in their daily businesses. Thus expectedly, the Islamic banks could enhance the public trust and establish a good Islamic identity.

Halal Industry in ASEAN

Amongst three Muslim majority countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei) of ASEAN, Malaysia leads the halal industry globally and considered to be the global halal hub. Simultaneously, the market is growing tremendously in other member countries as well. It has been realized that a number of driving forces are responsible for boosting the expansion of Halal industry globally as well as in ASEAN. While there are a number of factors accelerating the growth of the Halal industry, there are many limitations and challenges that are hindering the market expansion. Therefore, this chapter introduces the overview of Halal industry globally as well as in ASEAN counties. The chapter explores the opportunities of the Halal industry for ASEAN counties followed by identifying the issues and challenges confronted by industry players. Finally, it concludes by providing some recommendations in the ASEAN context based on the current global situation and findings of the Halal industry. The chapter adopts methodology of analyzing secondary data.

Spatial Dynamic Modeling for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small Medium Enterprises

The Role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in supporting Indonesian economic activity are significant. SMEs face many obstacles in their business development. Empowerment of SMEs in Bogor by local governments carried out in conjunction with the Department of Cooperatives and SMEs. This study establishes the spatial model design of SMEs in Bogor area to improve the competitiveness of products in Bogor city. The analysis shows that SMEs in Bogor city is still in the phase of development, market penetration, and also product development. The model shows the average performance index of SMEs in Bogor is only 62.29, 19 among 41 have index values about 50. From the competitiveness analysis, authors could see that among 41 SMEs can be categorized in 4 quadrants. Strategic program could be developed based on the position in the quadrant. It can be concluded that in general SMEs in Bogor city have not been ready for internationally competition. Government should develop specific strategy for each SMEs based on the quadrant position defined by the model

Organizational Factors and the Success of Technology Transfer

This chapter discusses the relationship between organizational culture, structure, complexity of technology, and the success of technology transfer. Technology is one of the key competitive advantages of any organization and plays an important role in the success of both international and domestic firms. Technology can be transferred within the boundaries of an organization, outside of organizational boundaries with strategic partners and also across national boundaries. As it transcends national borders, difficulties in transferring technology are likely to increase. To overcome the difficulties, certain organizational culture could play an important role in the efficient transfer of technology in an organization. Besides culture, organizational structure could also play a major role to achieve technology transfer success. Furthermore, the complexity of technology can also affect the success of technology transfer.

Ethnicity and Household Savings in Indonesia

Household saving is very important, not only for securing the future spending of the family but also for the country's economy. Using the logit analysis on data of The Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) wave three, four, and five, this chapter analyzes factors influencing, especially the role of ethnicity, upon the household savings in Indonesia. The result indicates that gender, location, and level of education are the consistent variables affecting the household saving behaviour in Indonesia across the three wave surveys. Meanwhile, as for the ethnic group variable, there are only Sunda, Batak, and Bima-Dompu that can significantly influence the people's saving behavior across the three wave surveys.