Open Letter : Lets Boost the Muslim Economy

 Asalamo Alykum,

We hope this letter finds you in the best of your health, wealth and Faith.

Some of our politicians believe that we are on the ventilator and America, or the West, or the IMF, hold the lifeline to our survival. Do you believe that ? We hope not, because the truth of the matter is that we, the East and particularly the Muslims, hold the survival lifeline of the foreign world. Surprised ? We can prove it. Walk into any superstore and you will find 90% of the shelves filled with foreign products. We, the Muslims, are ourselves paying out of our pockets to feed and strengthen the foreign economy and then complain of being of a weak economy ourselves.

PM Imran Khan speaks of wealth creation. As a businessman, you must be having an understanding of this phenomenon very well. To achieve it, a state needs to increase exports. But even before that, we need to promote the local consumption of our own products. Can you imagine the local products unwanted by the local public as well as by the foreign public ? What a sad heap of economy. This has to change. And it is not impossible. If our local food brands like Cheezious can beat the foreign pizza brands like Dominoes and the local clothing brands like Minnie Minors can beat the foreign status symbol like Mothercare, why cannot we be competitive in all product brands ?

Please let it be noted here that as Muslims, we should consider ourselves one nation and think and talk about the Muslim economy collectively.

To achieve this, we need to do the following,

1. Government : Our government needs to introduce a trade policy which promotes trade with the Muslim states, for example, by exempting import taxes. Other Muslim states should follow suit.

2. Entrepreneurs : Muslim entrepreneurs need to jack up their products’ quality and make A-Grade products available for the local consumers as well and not just the foreigners.

3. Marketers : Muslim brands need to be marketed well among Muslim countries. People do not even know about the existence of numerous Muslim brands.

4. Distributors : Muslim distributors need to be more active and improve their supply chain management. Shopkeepers complain of non-responsive and lethargic suppliers of Muslim brands. 

5. Advertizers : The Muslim population needs a good brainwashing and renewed outlook towards Muslim brands. A great many Muslims suffer from an inferiority complex of using local or Muslim brands. Using Muslim brands needs to be patronized, made patriotic and glamorized !

6. Shopkeepers : The shopkeepers need to be engaged. Even if there is no government policy, the shopkeepers need to be motivated to prefer and shelf Muslim brands over foreign brands for the welfare of the Muslim nation. 

7. Consumers : The consumers also need to be motivated to prefer purchasing Muslim brands over foreign brands to overcome foreign enslavement due to foreign economic superiority.

The greatest example in recent times of our great inferiority complex is the failure of the fantastic Oye Hoye chips brand that came into the local market but failed to survive due to the presence of Lays chips. Let it be noted here that Lays chips belong to the Pepsi company which is a foreign company. Our local industry does have Gourmet’s soft drinks but we are mentally wired to buy Pepsi and Lays rather than Gourmet and Oye Hoye. With this mentality, how can we ever hope to rise and shine and become independent of IMF one day ?

Wsalam,

Sincerely,

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