Dr Tunku Alina delivering her talk.
Her lecture on ‘A Social Enterprise Models for Waqf Funds’ discussed proposals to introduce philanthropic financial intermediaries by way of an Enterprise Waqf Fund based on the cash Waqf structure, connecting donor investors with non-profit organisations to provide the organisations with enterprise level equity financing.
In her lecture, Dr Alina said non-profit organisations deal with societal issues and needs, therefore they require scale in order to have impact. Most non-profit organisations are small or medium-sized as they do not have access to financing in order to grow their institutions into sustainable entities.
“By adopting business techniques in order to achieve social purposes, an Enterprise Waqf Fund would be able to nurture the non-profit organisation’s growth to a new level within a specific time frame with a defined exit for the donor investor thus eliminating a dependency relationship.
“The type of expertise required to bring non-profits to this new level will require experience on the part of the Waqf fund managers in venture capitalist processes and venture philanthropy purposes,” she added.
Dr Alina also discussed how the Waqf structure is combined with business principles, resulting in the model for the Enterprise Waqf Fund. This model is replicable and scalable for purposes of other types of public benefit funding such as the provision of microfinance or seed capital for small entrepreneurs.
Dr Alina specialises in philanthropy and her particular area of interest is the Waqf. She was among the first 3 PhD graduates of INCEIF during INCEIF 3rd Convocation last year. Her PhD thesis “Unleashing the Potential of the Waqf as an Economic Institution in Malaysia: Policy, Legal and Economic Reforms” discusses the historical development of Waqf laws in Malaysian states, and more importantly the potential and strategies for the institution to contribute to the economy in terms of growth and development. She is an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya by profession, having been in active practice in Kuala Lumpur for more than 20 years whereby she concentrates on investments and wealth management by her corporate clients. She is also a mediator associated with both the Malaysian Bar Council and the Singapore Mediation Council.
