The Why:

Siraj Finance PJSC (SF) has all the amenities to grow the business portfolio to a leading finance company in the region. This growth prospect has been sighted, with the onboarding of new strategic oversight and business propositions that were rolled out in April 2016. Since then, SF has exponentially grown with incremental values been reflected in the subsequent financials. While the growth rate has taken a continuous leap, the results of the first quarter 2018 has overridden the previous performance numbers and we see the momentum to continue for higher accrual results. This technology savvy has helped to provide an edge over other players, both technically and geographically, thereby attracting more referrals and new customers base alongside the sustenance of the existing customers. SF collaborates with its strategic alliances to provide quality service to its customers backed up by competitive pricing strategy, multitude of products on cart, reliable service with the least turnaround time and one step forward on emerging market diversifications and innovation. With the extenuating approach towards the existing Islamic products on the cart, we have created a niche of value-added propositions to our customer base that could lead us to new heights in the Islamic Finance Arena. We are confident on growing SF from its existing customer base that would help us re-classify on the competency levels in the UAE market.

The How:

While we openly transcend into cross selling opportunities that potentially diversifies and exemplifies the uproot in terms of product differentiation and market niche occupancy, SF has embarked upon products that meet the visionary focus of the current and prospective customer base that drills down from Baby Boomers (1946 to 64) visionary sustenance, Generation X to Y’s (1965 to 1994) progressive methodology, while instilling an auto-mode mechanism with the Gen Z (1995 to 2012) for a confidence motion that drives immediate results on the prospects of Gen Alpha (2013 to 2025). This insight on our product positioning has led to a competitive edge on the market demands and has favoured SF to take ownership of the liability positioning bearing the intricacies of a collateralized risk based approach. In its scalable and quantifiable approach towards measuring the risk appetite of a prospective customer, an eminent customer portfolio has shed the light towards achieving multiple recognitions within a short time span. Some of the recognitions included the “Best Upcoming Islamic Finance Institution 2018” by the Global Islamic Finance Awards in Sept 2018, the“ Critics Choice – Best Non-Bank Islamic Retail

Finance Institution 2018” in Nov 2018, the “Best Labour Guarantee” Award by the “Internal Finance Awards” in Jan 2019 and more to the pipeline enlisted. SF has continuously improved its product offerings to the best outcome of meeting the demanding financial stature in a secured and timely manner. Product diversification has been the essence of maximizing coverage for relevant SME’s and Corporate portfolios that has certainly intensified the financial literacy program to a closer outreach within the UAE community.

The Modus Operandi on a three prone approach:- 

• Resource viability and experienced hands from key industry exponents

SF is managed by a team of highly experienced and qualified individuals in the finance and banking industry. The team individually brings in 15-25 years of industry experience, that is spread across the banking and financial institutions representing various industry disciplines including Risk, Operations, Strategy, Systems, Finance, Audit, Product, Marketing & Communications, Card Associations, Anti Money Laundering and Compliance.

• Accessibility based on the outreach capability

The collaborative approach with its strategic alliances in providing quality service to its customers backed up by competitive pricing strategy, multitude of products on cart, reliable service with the least turnaround time and one step forward on emerging market diversifications and innovation.

• Growing portfolio of customer base and product positioning

With a focus on existing customer-base, SF risk-based classification, categorization and inter-operability of in-house systems and solutions for promoting cross sell prospects were leveraged and thereby building a stronger portfolio of the customer and customers customer.

The What:

Ahmed Bin Khalaf Al-Otaiba,Chairman, SIRAJ PJSC

Back in April 2016, a range of products were released in the market of which Labour Guarantee has taken precedence in terms of cash margin utilization and in extending built-up facility for new innovative projects and diversification of fund management. SF has embarked upon products that drive corporate customer initiates and projects that were either stalled or being revamped subsequent to a revised business approach that are qualitatively screened and relatively quantified with a practicable roll out plan. Based on the market appetite and the readiness of the industry players to circumvent emerging challenges, SF has maintained a level playing field in penetrating to different specs of market vibes that are competitively priced and strategically positioned. Products that range from Corporate portfolio to SME sectors was then focused as a driving mechanism towards promoting UAE’s smart initiative and SME outreach. Upon successfully rolling out the SME project initiatives, the customer uptake has taken a mounting leap towards diversified engagements and progressive implementations that was duly measured and earmarked.

Our strategic focus was to emerge in a phased manner, while depending on the customer’s confidence in promulgating the product differentiation and service levels. Our Sales team was fully equipped with necessary market entrenching leads that was convened based on an in- house survey that captured the demands of the customers and regional developments. While we sight every challenge to be a potential business prospect, our zero-liability risk tolerance appetite on E-KYC (Electronic- Know Your Customer), CDD (Customer Due Diligence), EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence) was embedded within each product categorization and onboarding methodology. Secondly, we had also leveraged social media outreach through professional, personal and closed loop community platforms to sense the vibes on SF product feasibility and compatibility. On a separate note, we were very receptive on our partners and associates support in promoting customers through various sales channels and loyalty programs. With this concentrated approach, we’ve been accepted on a favorable stand in terms of securing a growing customer base within a limited time-period.