Shafiq and His Optimism Offer MSMEs an Alternative to SCF Funding with the Sharia Flag

Having been in the financial world for a long time, Kevin Syahrizal realizes that so far the practice of business financing in the field is not in accordance with what he learned from the fatwa compiled by the MUI National Sharia Council (DSN). The issuance of POJK 57 of 2020 regarding activities crowdfunding securities (SCF), initiated himself to pioneering Shafiq in 2021.

The foundation of this POJK has established itself that the SCF funding product can be an alternative and solution for business actors who need funding or parties who have more funds to work together without violating the Shari'a. Not only Kevin, he was assisted by two college friends, namely Gema Megantara (technology) and Muhammad Syafii Antonio (sharia). The blend of diverse disciplines is represented by the three co-founder this completes the presence of Shafiq.

Shafiq himself is SCF player the first sharia law that has been licensed by OJK and supervised by DSN-MUI in August 2021. As of June 2022, OJK has granted operating licenses to 10 SCF companies, one of which is Shafiq (PT Shafiq Digital Indonesia).

Broadly speaking, Shafiq as the organizer carried out several stages of mitigation before the publisher could make an offer. Namely, aspects of sharia compliance and business aspects. In the first part, referring to the DSN fatwa No. 40 Regarding the Capital Market, the sharia criteria for sharia share issuers also apply to sharia sukuk issuers.

Among other things, business activities are not allowed to engage in gambling, conventional financial institutions (ribawi), producers, distributors and traders of food-beverage or services that are unlawful/harmful, and invest in publishers whose debt to financial institutions is more dominant than their capital. .

As for the business aspect, there are four requirements that must be met. Namely, profitable, accountable, sustainableand valuation.

More differentiation

In a joint interview DailySocial.id, Co-founder & CEO of Shafiq Kevin Syahrizal explained, under the sharia flag there are a number of differentiators compared to conventional players. In handling the due diligence process, Shafiq has a Risk Acceptance Criteria (RAC) whose concept is the same as that of banks or financial institutions in general, so that they can mitigate related businesses to be implemented.listing- right. However, what is different lies in the speed in processing the funding application.

"Shafiq has a scheme related to the sharia compliance process of a business and is handled by a separate unit that hopes to be more independent, but does not increase the processing time. due diligence because it continues to synergize with business units, so that when asked for an opinion from the DPS to determine a product/effect, it will be shorter,” said Kevin.

In addition, the company implements a policy zero tolerance to debts/receivables from conventional banks for the offered business. This policy, according to Kevin, is much stricter than the criteria in the OJK Sharia Securities List (DES), which still allows debt/receivables from conventional banks.

In addition, in terms of business operations, the issuer (business actor) will not be charged with a fine when canceling the funding process that has been initiated.listing on the platform and the funding application process after the documents are complete until the funds are received a maximum of 10 working days.

"As for investors (investors), there is no charge from Shafiq and they will get Monthly Investor Market Watch, information related to things that can be the basis for investors in carrying out investment activities or matters related to it."

Shafiq did not explain in detail the MSME segment targeted by Shafiq. However, in its portfolio, so far the funding that has been successfully channeled is in the telecommunications, supply chain, manufacturing, and hospital businesses.

Shafiq . Performance

Kevin continued, in order to educate the market, every week the company held activities involving an influencer, communities, religious teachers, and business practitioners. The goal is for the public to understand that sharia investment is fair, in the sense that no one party will definitely profit and the other party will lose. "As long as there is no default, the gains or losses from a cooperation will be shared."

As of July 2022, the company has helped channel funding of Rp56 billion in the form of sukuk and shares. It is targeted that Rp100 billion of disbursement funds can be disbursed by the end of this year. "For pipeline Next, there will be around seven new issuers/companies that will issue 15 sharia securities, it is hoped that the set targets can be achieved.”

In nine months of operation, Kevin admits that so far the company still relies on its own funds (bootstrapped). However, his party is open to getting funding from external parties who have the same vision of advancing the Islamic finance industry.

"Considering that operational activities have only been running for 9 months, with additional funds, it is hoped that they will be obtained soon product market fit to achieve this goal," he concluded.

According to OJK data, of the 10 SCF companies that have received operational permits, they have managed to collect Rp507,20 billion from the beginning of the year until June 3, 2022. This figure is an increase of 22,75% from the total funds raised throughout 2021.

The number of publishers or MSME actors who utilize SCF also experienced a growth of 89,60% on a (year-to-date/ytd) to 237 publishers. Meanwhile, the total investors who invest in SCF recorded as many as 111.351 investors so far this year.