Relying on Halal Certification System, Singapore Startup WhatsHalal Ready to Enter Indonesia

The prospect of halal product business in Indonesia is getting brighter. This business not only promises domestic players, but also attracts players from abroad.

WhatsHalal is one of the enthusiasts of the halal product business from abroad. Originating from Singapore, WhatsHalal will soon enter Indonesia with services that focus on halal certification services for food and beverage products.

The government's decision to require all halal-certified products October 2019 Based on Law Number 33 of 2014 concerning Guaranteed Halal Products, WhatsHalal is a great opportunity to focus its services in Indonesia.

Rely on blockchain

WhatsHalal has a platform that simplifies the halal certification process from upstream to downstream through blockchain technology. With this platform, WhatsHalal claims to be able to shorten the time required for merchants to certify products and cut costs during the process.

Simply put, the blockchain on the WhatsHalal platform allows a product to be tracked and recorded for its halal content starting from the harvest of farmers, manufacturing processes, restaurants and retailers, to the hands of consumers. In other words, energy, cost, and time to test the halal content of a product can be cut because everything has been aggregated into the blockchain.

"The current halal certification process consumes a lot of energy and time and also requires a lot of documents. Starting from registering for halal certification, testing, inspection and auditing of products and processes, to approval and granting the halal certificate," said the Founder and CEO WhatsHalal Azman Ivan Tan.

The use of blockchain for halal certification is based on the amount of data collected, stored, and processed in the certification process. In addition, the use of blockchain is aimed at encouraging the transparency and security aspects of their services.

"We believe the use and implementation of blockchain is still at an early stage. As more and more applications of this technology in other industries in the future, the use of blockchain will become the main standard in terms of security and supply chain where trust is very important in it," added Azman.

To Indonesia

Keep in mind that Indonesia is the largest consuming country for halal food in the world. With the status of the largest Muslim population, the circulation of money for halal food in Indonesia per year reaches US $ 173 billion.

The obligation to hold a halal certificate for all producers, including SMEs, is one way for the government to boost the growth of halal products in the country. No wonder WhatsHalal, which currently only operates in Singapore, will soon be selling its services in Indonesia after the second quarter of 2020.

"Our platform can also help merchants measure the halal content of their products for export needs, thereby helping business decision making and providing added value in terms of production and sales of halal products," Azman wrote to DailySocial.

Before officially broadcasting in Indonesia, WhatsHalal made its first step by joining Plug and Play Indonesia's acceleration program. In addition, they also just announced their success in obtaining initial funding with an undisclosed nominal.

Furthermore, Azman admitted that his party is trying to open communication to cooperate with the competent authorities in Indonesia such as the Indonesian Ulema Council, the Halal Product Assurance Agency (BPJH), and several other stakeholders to smooth their path.

"We have a number of good partners and contacts consisting of companies and local organizations in the halal product network. This will help implement our platform to big players and SMEs in Indonesia," he added.

The Significance of SMEs

The mention of SMEs by Azman is not surprising because the number is so large in Indonesia. The JPH Law does indeed oblige MSME actors, as well as corporations, to comply with the implementation of this halal certification. This actually raises its own problems for MSME actors because: the process is time consuming and costly.

WhatsHalal sees this as an opportunity. This is because the number of MSMEs in Indonesia has almost reached 60 million and only 8 percent have gone online. With the all-digital WhatsHalal platform and the government's encouragement to require this halal certification, Azman is confident that he can be successful in Indonesia.

"Indonesia's halal industry has great untapped potential for local and domestic players. And we think the increased implementation and mandatory halal certification will be the driving force that Indonesia needs to become a global giant of halal products and support the development of the entire industry," concluded Azman.

The arrival of WhatsHalal will enrich the digital ecosystem that focuses on the sharia economy and halal products in Indonesia. In addition to sharia financial products, halal food and beverages and the Umrah marketplace are the most potential sectors to work on in the country. With increasing business intensity Based on the sharia economy and halal products, the presence of WhatsHalal at least managed to get the right momentum.