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EU: Poland – Kosher slaughter alive and well

salama — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:22:01 +0000

Poland’s minister of agriculture said he will not bow to activists and ban ritual slaughter in the country.

Polish Agricultural Minister Marek Sawicki said May 16 that banning ritual slaughter would be contrary to the Polish Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

“Under European Union law, ritual slaughter is acceptable and there is no reason to prohibit it,” Sawicki also said.

The Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported over the weekend that one of the Polish slaughterhouses where ritual slaughter is conducted belongs to a colleague of the minister.

Polish animal rights organizations have been protesting against shechitah, or ritual slaughter, saying that animals slaughtered according to Jewish and Islamic law suffer much more than those killed in the traditional way.

The Polish Ministry of Agriculture authorized the use of ritual slaughter several years ago, but animal rights activists say that a Polish animal protection law does not allow it. Earlier this month activists asked the country’s prosecutor to investigate whether the ministry is violating the law by allowing ritual slaughter.

Under Polish law, animals must be stunned before slaughter; the only exception is ritual slaughter.

Animal rights activists also believe that allowing ritual slaughter in Poland is illegal because it is not regulated by government act but by authorization of the minister of agriculture.

Polish slaughterhouses produce meat that is sent to Israel and to Muslim countries.

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EU: Avoid Misuse of Religious Exemptions to Stunning

salama — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:44:30 +0000

EU – At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council this week, the Swedish delegation briefed the Council on the enforcement of the general requirement to stun animals before slaughter.

Some member states supported the Swedish delegation mentioning a possible overuse of the possibility to slaughter animals without preliminary stunning in certain member states. The Commission recalled the existing EU framework and pointed out that its implementation rely on subsidiarity. Recommendations on ritual slaughtering have been published in 2011 and a study is ongoing to evaluate the opportunity for informing the consumer on this type of slaughtering.

According to directive 93/119, animals should be stunned before slaughter. However, in the case of animals subject to particular methods of slaughter requested by certain religious rites this requirement does not apply. Certain member states seem to use largely this possibility of slaughter without stunning although this is not foreseen by the legislator.

Considering that there is an increasing interest among consumers for animal welfare, Sweden therefore incitated other member states to take appropriate action to avoid misuse of religious exemptions to stunning. The Commission could initiate for example targeted controls performed by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), prepare an harmonised procedure for approval and control of operators performing unstunned slaughter. Furthermore, Sweden suggests that specific labelling may be a tool.

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EU: Eurofragrance – Scenting Success in Halal

salama — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:48:48 +0000

Since 1990, Eurofragrance has specialized in the design and production of fragrances and flavors for the food, perfumery and personal hygiene industries.

Having enjoyed sustained growth, the Spanish company has ambitious plans for expansion, especially after Banco Sabadell acquired a 25 percent stake in the company in 2010.

Eighty percent of the company’s products are exported, with 70 percent sold in markets outside the European Union, including in the growing markets of the Muslim world.

An IESE case study on Eurofragrance considers how organizations can profitably navigate the lucrative market for halal goods, and the challenges that this may present, particularly in relation to obtaining halal certification. The case considers the role played by transnational private regulatory agencies in addressing these issues.

What Is Halal?
Islamic teaching lays out explicit rules regarding food production and the slaughtering of animals.

However, the interpretation of what is permissible, or halal, according to Islamic law is getting more complex by the day. As the pace of innovation grows exponentially, it becomes harder for Islamic authorities to determine what is halal, and forbidden ingredients can sometimes find their way into products.

This situation is not helped by the fact that there is no one certifying body for halal products, and different branches of Islam make different proclamations.

Consider the experience of Eurofragrance: Its first foray into the halal market was in Egypt, where the company simply had to declare that its products contained no alcohol or pork derivatives.

However, the Indonesian and Malaysian markets were another story. The certification requirements there were much more complicated and fragmented, with no clear guidelines for producers to follow.

To deal with this minefield, Eurofragrance contacted the Halal Feed and Food Inspection Authority (HFFIA), a not-for-profit certifier established in Holland under the guidance of a council of Islamic scholars and recognized for its demanding standards in providing the accreditation.

Created to address the issues faced by Muslims living in non-Muslim countries, the HFFIA provides a rigorous inspection of the whole product — from the supply of raw materials to the processing and distribution. HFFIA audits are also recognized in Malaysia and Indonesia, which are considered to be among the strictest countries when it comes to halal regulations.

The thoroughness of HFFIA illustrates just how seriously this issue is being taken worldwide.

Three Main Obstacles
Given the sheer size and steady expansion of Muslim populations around the world, the market for halal-certified goods is predicted to grow by up to 25 percent a year over the next decade — signaling profitable opportunities for a market already worth an estimated $2.3 trillion in 2010.

For international firms looking to expand into these markets, there are several considerations that need to be borne in mind. Eurofragrance, for example, encountered three main obstacles.

Certification Complexities. Every individual flavor needed to be documented. This meant that suppliers had to provide much more detailed product information. Doing so slowed down the entire production process and conditioned the speed with which the company could adapt its products to consumer demand.

This can be a source of frustration, especially if competitors opt for less stringent halal certifications and succeed in growing faster as a result.

Local Competition and Barriers. Some Muslim countries apply extremely strict halal codes to foreign goods, while homegrown producers seem to get off more lightly, in what can almost be perceived as a “religious trade barrier.”

It may be that consumers in Muslim countries are more likely to trust in halal products made by local, Muslim companies, as opposed to foreign, non-Muslim competitors.

Cost. Having a recognized certifier does increase process, handling and raw material costs — and it remains to be seen whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for genuine halal products.

A Market Set to Grow
Although Eurofragrance initially only turned to HFFIA as a way to satisfy the stringent requirements of the Indonesian market, it has since come to realize that having a respected certificate can give leverage in certain key Muslim contexts. This has opened up significant market opportunities.

Moreover, the close working relationship between Eurofragrance and HFFIA has led toward the welcome promotion of a global halal standard.

However, the relationship has also raised doubts among Eurofragrance executives. There are many other certifiers that operate on a purely commercial basis and are less demanding in providing the halal accreditation. This presents a real dilemma between quick sales growth and high quality standards.

With the Muslim population growing fast in non-Muslim countries, it is only a matter of time before other companies follow suit. Indeed, major players such as Haribo and Nestlé are already launching halal products in Europe with considerable success.

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European Union Calls on Packaging Industry to Help Limit Food Waste

salama — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:50:45 +0000

By Arielle Golden

Ninety million tons of food is wasted each year in the European Union, and food waste is expected to grow by 40 percent by 2020.

A mound of food waste. (Photo credit: EcoWatch)

The European Union has declared 2014 the European year against food waste and in the lead up, is examining the effects on food waste from food packaging. Within the industry, using fewer and more efficient materials for packaging has a positive impact on the costs of getting food packaged and into the grocery store. In the EU, new innovations in packaging are being developed to ensure that foods reach the store shelf long before the expiration date, which will prevent food being thrown away before consumers have a chance to purchase it. Organic material, including vegetables, fruit, and other foods naturally emit ethylene gas, which helps them mature but also facilitates the decomposition process. A special coating for corrugated cardboard can protect food from gases that trigger decomposition, minimizing losses when food is packaged, transported to grocery stores, and purchased by consumers. Another set of innovations includes smart packaging materials, such as a type of foil that can test the microbiology of what is contained in a package. This would indicate the freshness of the contents to the consumer more clearly by displaying important information about how ripe or fresh a product really is.

But 42 percent of food waste occurs in households, according to a 2011 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Consumers typically consider food waste as a supply chain problem – they tend to think that the majority of food waste occurs between the time it is grown until it reaches the shelves of the grocery store. But packaging can be part of the solution for minimizing household food waste. Packaging sizes for single or fewer portions, for example, or re-sealable and compartmentalized packages, can limit unnecessary waste by allowing consumers to keep the products for longer as they use only the portions that are necessary, and seal away the rest for later. To increase public understanding of the various best-before date labels, there must be an increase in education and marketing to make them easier to follow.

The European Parliament passed a January 2012 resolution, “How to avoid food wastage: strategies for a more efficient food chain in the EU” which in addition to measures to improve packaging, discussed a way to utilize products that go to waste at the retail level. The resolution proposed taking foods that are damaged or close to their expiration dates and selling them at discounted prices, to make them more accessible to people in need. They also discussed incentives for hospitality and catering businesses to buy local produce and donate leftover food to food banks free-of-charge.

The United Kingdom is already taking steps to decrease food waste, with a successful food waste initiative boasting a three-pronged integrated approach: communication with consumers, working with the food industry, and working with the packaging industry. The U.K.-based Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) is working with major food packaging companies to develop new pack technologies that increase shelf life, and packages that bring the consumer’s attention to a product once its expiration date is near. They introduced produce bags for the grocery store that have printed labels describing how to best store different items. As the EU and other regions begin to tackle the challenge, we can put more of our food on our tables instead of into the landfill.

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

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EU: Some Germans Intolerant of Islamic Animal Slaughter

salama — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:10:55 +0000

By David Hecht

Animal rights are a big issue in Germany. It is currently the fifth largest producer of meat in the world, butchering the world’s third highest number of pigs, more than 55 million a year.

How Germans slaughter the animals they eat is strictly regulated, more than in most EU countries. But Germans’ concern for animals also has a dark side.

The Nazis vilified the Jewish method of slaughtering animals. And today Germans are intolerant of the tradition of its four million Muslims.

The methods of slaughtering animals are pretty much the same for Jews and Muslims: Both forbid animals from being stunned or knocked unconscious before their throats are slit and both use the same sort of knife.

Reuven Yaacobov is a rabbi in Berlin and a shochet, someone trained to slaughter animals according to Jewish law.

“The knife does not have a point,” he said. “Its shape is rectangular so it cannot be used to stab only to cut. And it must be as sharp as a razorblade.”

Yaacobov says the kosher or halal ways of slaughter are more humane and respectful to animals. Not like the industrial methods common in Germany, which do not acknowledge the sacrifice an animal makes with its life. But historically it’s the Germans who consider Jewish butchering cruel and bloodthirsty.

The notorious Nazi propaganda film “The Eternal Jew” shows gory scenes of Jews slaughtering animals.

“These images reveal the character of a race of people who conceal their crude brutality in the guise of religious piety. … Immediately after taking power the Füher, passed a law ensuring the all warm blooded animals would be stunned before they are slaughtered. And so Jewish blood can never again contaminate the German people.”

Kosher butchers were put out of business over night.

But after World War Two – and having slaughtered 6 million Jews – it could be said that Germans lost the moral authority to tell anyone what kind of killing was humane.

Today Germany has a small but vibrant Jewish community and kosher slaughtering is allowed. But Germany also has a huge Muslim population now, mostly from Turkey.

German authorities have become less tolerant of their practice. Its federal administrative court, one of the highest courts in the land, decided in 1995 that Muslims had to stun animals before killing them while Jews didn’t.

Every Muslim butcher in Germany either agreed to stun or pretended to. Every Muslim butcher except one: Rüstem Altinküpe, a Fleischermeister, the highest qualification a butcher in Germany can attain.

Since 1988 he has lived in the center of a medieval village called Werdorf, in the state of Hessen where most of the 3,100 inhabitants are German. Downstairs is a butcher shop and a little slaughterhouse. He and his family live above.

For seven years Altinküpe’s butchery went well and he invested in the latest technology. But then in 1995 came the ban. He saw it as an attack on a basic right

“The Jews can practice the same form of animal slaughter as Muslim but I, as a Muslim cannot,” Altinküpe said.

Altinküpe found a lawyer who agreed that this was an injustice.

“Because people living in Germany of the Muslim faith who want to obey by stricter rules with regard to food, they cannot be told to become vegetarians, they cannot be told to buy imported food,” said Rainer Nickel, who specializes in the German constitution.

Nickel represented Altinküpe all the way to Germany’s equivalent of the Supreme Court. It issued its judgment in 2002.

“The constitutional court decided in our favor and in the decision expressly said we have found a violation of fundamental rights and the case was sent back to the administrative court,” Nickel said.

End of story… or so it would seem.

“On the one hand we won everything, but on the other hand we won the battle but we lost the war,” Nickel said.

And Nickel and Altinküpe have been going round and round in German bureaucratic circles ever since.

“It’s very complex and very complicated. I can’t even count the times we have been to court,” Nickel said.

They’ve been in federal and state courts, courts of appeal and the constitutional court – twice. And they’ve won every time. But the problem is that courts don’t issue licenses. That job goes to a district administrator named Reinhard Strack-Schmalor.

“We have an extra filing cabinet just for Altinküpe,” Strack-Schmalor said. “For me personally the case is a huge burden and I get pressure from animal rights activists, and I can tell you right here I am also egged on by the extreme right.”

That’s to say Neo-Nazis, whose traditional hatred of Jews is now mostly directed against Muslims. A couple of years ago Altinküpe’s house was set on fire. Strack-Schmalor certainly didn’t approve, and he insists he has nothing against Muslims.

But despite the rulings of so many of Germany’s courts he still thinks Muslims should not be allowed to slaughter without stunning because in Islam there are ways around it.

Needless to say, Altinküpe doesn’t think Strack-Schmalor knows what he’s talking about. You don’t have to go to a Muslim country, he says. In the US, France, the UK, Muslims butchers are all licensed to slaughter without stunning.

But what really galls Altinküpe is that a local German bureaucrat can impose his interpretation of Islam. Even after Germany’s highest court overturned the ban on halal slaughter, Strack-Schmalor found all sorts of technicalities to delay or hinder giving Altinküpe a license.

“So we were again in the situation where we would have to go to court and challenge all these conditions individually.” Nickel said.

Last year Altinküpe got a license, but only to slaughter 30 sheep and 2 cows a week. But this year Strack-Schmalor said he was reviewing the license, and so far the slaughterhouse has remained idle.

Still Altinküpe is hopeful that in modern day Germany justice will ultimately prevail.

Jews in Germany are not yet speaking out on his behalf. Some say it’s not their business and worry that they could also lose their right to slaughter.

Others contend that if anyone should be speaking up about religious freedoms it should be Germany’s Jewish population.

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EU: Officially Opened, WHFC Secretariat for Europe Regional

salama — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:13:51 +0000

The president of the World Halal Food Council (WHFC) Ir. Lukmanul Hakim, M.Si with the General Secretary of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) Drs. H. Mohammad Ichwan Syam, officially opened the WHFC Office for Europe Regional, and Executive Committee for Europe that located in The Netherlands on March, 17th, 2012. The Opening of the new office also attended by the ambassador Republic of Indonesia for The Netherland and also Ambassador from Malaysia.

“The establishment and the opening of executive committee or the Head of Representative for this continent are intended to strengthen the works in fields that related to Halal, and to facilitate coordination and observing in implementation of halal standards that have been stipulated together with MUI and WHFC”, said Ichwan Syam.

Ichwan Syam also explained that for the Europe Regional, The Chairman of Executive Committee is Dr. Abdul Munim Al-Chaman, The President of Halal Quality Control and also a leading Muslim figure in Holland. Besides that, the executive Committee of WHFC is also formed for Asia continent in Taiwan, it is led by Isa s. Chao who also led Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association (THIDA). For the region of Australia, led by Esad Alagic the leader of The Islamic Coordinating Council of Victoria (ICCV). As for the United States, led by Dr. Mohammed Munir Chaudry from The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA).

In series ceremony of inauguration of the Secretariat office and Halal coordination in Europe, the Chairman of MUI and LPPOM MUI also followed the Halal Conference and became the speaker in the conference that was held on March 22, 2012 by Halal Food Council of Europe in Brussels.

At the Conference, the general secretary explained, Halal Market is a very prospective and potential opportunities which is grown significantly. It is proved from the increasing of Halal certification demand in Indonesia, and other area members of WHFC. In Fact, in some countries, the Supermarket that spesifically sell Halal products.has already opened and operated.

The conference was attended not only by the chairman of MUI and LPPOM MUI but also followed by more than 120 participants from among the leading industry’s and Halal Certification agencies in Europe, filled with speakers from the Executive Committee for Europe, Malaysia, JAKIM and Ambassador RI to Belgium.

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Brunei: Belgium eyes tie-up in halal certification

salama — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:01:49 +0000

Belgium eyes tie-up in halal certification

Philippe Suinen, CEO of Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), delivering his speech. Picture: BT/Saifulizam

Some of the invited guests attending the AWEX introduction presentation, held at the Business centre of The Empire Hotel and Country Club. Picture: BT/Saifulizam

Fung Siew Mun
BRUNEI-MUARA

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

A BUSINESS delegation from Belgium that is keen to partner with Brunei on potential bilateral collaboration would need to meet a stringent requirement in terms of halal certification, says the Director of Administration at the State Mufti’s Office.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, Dato Paduka Ahmad Bukhari Pehin Siraja Khatib Hj Abu Hanifah said yesterday there were interesting and brilliant ideas brought forward by the Belgium delegation. The group was led by Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX).

However, the foreign investors would need to come up with a formal proposal, particularly in terms of technology in halal certification, if Brunei were to open up to the ideas.

“Come to us with the technology, such as in education and information technology. We are serious about it (on halal certification),” said Dato Paduka Ahmad Bukhari.

In terms of halal certification, foreign investors are welcome to propose technology that Brunei can use for halal branding but the certification must come from Brunei itself.

“We cannot certify halal things from non-Muslims…You come to us with your ‘knife’, and this is a good ‘knife’, and Brunei can slaughter with the ‘knife’,” said Dato Paduka Ahmad Bukhari, associating the ‘knife’ as technology.

He further stressed that it is necessary to be stringent when it comes to partnership on halal certification as “in any kind of consumer good, whether meat, cosmetics or clothing, it must be 100 per cent halal”.

In return, Brunei can also offer expertise to foreign investors such as in terms of syariah (Islamic Law), as Dato Paduka Ahmad Bukhari highlighted a publication containing compiled fatwas (Islamic religious rulings) on Islamic monetary issues in Brunei demonstrating Brunei’s infrastructure in Islamic finance.

In his opening remarks at a plenary session attended by various government agencies yesterday, Philippe Suinen, the administrator-general of AWEX, highlighted that the two countries are centres in its own right. “Brunei as one of the centres in the ASEAN region and Belgium as the centre of the European Union,” he said.

Further explaining the interest of partnering with Brunei, Suinen stated that both countries placed priority on innovation in technology, as well as innovation in management, marketing, social research and human reseach.

At the same time, Suinen introduced to the Brunei counterparts the “Welcome Offices and Incubators”, an incubation service allowing companies coming from the ASEAN region to test the European market for viable investment opportunities, for a period of three to six months at a low cost.

As Brunei has a strong position as a halal capital country, AWEX presented its strong base in specific development in Muslim economy.

In this regard, Suinen brought forward a PICCTRA — Point of Information, Contact, Coaching and Training on Muslim economy and culture. He also informed of a network of Halal Clubs that was created in October 2010 with 70 exporting companies as members sharing experience, information and action in relation to halal economy.

The delegation also introduced an idea about an Islamic Bridge Fund in an effort to develop a financial gateway between Muslim countries and the heart of Eupope.

With AWEX acting as a facilitator, there were three companies in the delegation that presented projects to the Brunei counterpart.

Of the three companies, Progenus that offers global DNA innovative solution, seeks to offer its services to Brunei by becoming a strategic partner for the certification development and the quality Halal control in the country, and to be the partner in locally developing a kit production network among others.

Another company, Ion Beam Application (IBA), introduced the concept of molecular imaging, a personalised diagnosis and therapy through a more patient-centric healthcare.

During the session that was held at The Empire Hotel and Country Club, the Brunei delegation was represented by officials from various government and non-government agencies, including from the State Mufti’s Office, Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of Health as well as the Brunei Economic Development Board.

Brunei – Centre for Halal certification in region?

Bandar Seri Begawan – With its strategic location in Asean and known high quality ‘halal’ certification, Brunei – through collaboration with Belgian firms – has the potential to be the centre for halal certification for the region and a gateway for the halal market.

This observation was made by Philippe Suinen, the Administrator General of Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency; and Marc Deschamps, a Special Advisor to the CEO of Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency, during a press conference at The Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday, following a series of meetings with the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Mr Deschamps said in an interview, “Brunei’s reputation and approach to the Brunei Halal brand are very interesting to international firms.

“It is very important for international and European firms to pick the right partner when they enter the halal economy. The right partner is one who has both a scientific base to adapt to products, and also religious credibility. Brunei has both, so it makes sense for us to be here.”

Mr Deschamps further said, “We have had meetings with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Religious Affairs and also the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources. We want to establish the basis of compliance before entering into negotiation on what types of activities to enter into Brunei.

“Our mission here is also to support Belgium companies through joint venture and partnership to support each other.

Together with the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX) group in Brunei are Robert Renavil, CEO of Progenus – which offers DNA halal test laboratory technology; Alain Partoens, partner of Vesalius Bio Capital – a company that supports the development of groundbreaking medical treatment; and Peter Leitner of IBA – a company that boasts the latest molecular imaging as well as radiation therapy with proton particulars for cancer prevention.

Robert Renavil said, “We are here to look at the halal certification by Brunei authorities, to create partnership and to make Brunei a gateway to other Asean counties.

“The first step is to establish relationship with the authority and then look at partnership,” he added.

“We feel there is high-quality halal certification in Brunei and aim to develop clinical halal certification.”

Touching on the state-of-the-art halal DNA test laboratory, Mr Deschamps said, “With a very efficient test on certification and Brunei’s strategic location, the benefit of a halal industry will not only be for locals but also exportation market.

“We believe that it will be an interesting approach for us to establish partnership with Brunei for all markets in the region,” he added.

“It is important to be the first country to go through the certification process, which has two parts. The clinical part – whereby scientists will discuss and come up with the best technology and the second part is on the technology of process in certification, whereby once the test is done by one of the countries, the result of the test is available for the whole region.”

He further said, “How can we move from the technical and scientific proof to the point of trust, where a procedure is in place to say the lab will perform the certification recognised by everyone? This is why we need collaboration with various authorities, not only at the national, but also regional level.

“At the preparation meeting with Brunei’s Ambassador to Belgium Dato Paduka Serbini Ali, we were made to understand that there are working groups in Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia that come up with a joint halal certification or compliance. We really welcome efforts made by authorities in the region in coming up with the first system of joint certification or compliance,” said Mr Deschamps.

Mr Suinen, meanwhile, said, “This does not mean that we are closing doors to other countries in the region, but it shows that Brunei is an obvious reference for a win-win situation.”

–Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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Muxlim Debate A Great Reminder – Startups Far From Mainstream

hamid — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 10:48:11 +0000

By Antti Vilpponen, March 20, 2012

Much of the Finnish startup scene has been debating the aftermaths of an article Helsingin Sanomat (largest Finnish daily) published on Sunday about the CEO and founder of Muxlim Inc, Mohamed El-Fatatry. The title of the article, directly translated, is Mohamed’s Bubble. We’ve covered Muxlim in the past as well. In the article, Helsingin Sanomat journalist Esa Mäkinen, paints quite a dim picture of the entrepreneur and how he received hundreds of thousands of euro in government support and then shut down the site.
Having this kind of an article published does not improve the public’s perception of growth entrepreneurs, of who are in dire need to save the Finnish economy. However, it has to be said that the article itself is factually quite correct (even though the figures differ slightly from El-Fatatry’s corrections, shown below) – one statement is completely off, and this is where Esa Mäkinen states Mohamed El-Fatatry donated over €40 000 to Eva Biaudet’s presidential campaign. There was a correction regarding that in today’s paper – El-Fatatry did not donate any money to the campaign, even though he supported her presidency.

The article paints a picture of El-Fatatry as a resemblance to an American business man that talks a lot with his hands and is good with words. In doing so, it also makes a point in saying El-Fatatry’s company Muxlim Inc. received more than €400 000 in government support, meaning of course tax payer money, before it shut down. Mäkinen is also careful to note that in 2010 El-Fatatry’s income was around €6000 a month.

The article continues to paint the picture that the company was overly hyped in global media as El-Fatatry also received the Finnish President’s Internationalisation Award as well as other awards.

The journalist seems to state that all of these people have somehow been cheated, since the company is now shutting down and failing on its original idea.

This is a great reminder to all of us that the general public at large, still does not share the same amount of appreciation nor understanding towards growth companies and how they are built, if this kind of an article is able to generate so much debate.

Failure is part of creating high growth businesses and it’s a lot more common than success.

So how did El-Fatatry and Muxlim actually do then? El-Fatatry put out a fact sheet yesterday on his site where he tackles some of the figures represented in the Helsingin Sanomat article. With permission from El-Fatatry, we have posted this below.

Even though we have not had the chance to fact check this, it is inline with our own calculations. The company raised €1.425 million in foreign investments to Finland. From this and the Tekes money (€385k), it paid tax-like expenses back to government €470k. In doing this the company also created jobs worth 34 employee years in Finland.

The only big contradiction I caught from this are the traffic figures and those cited in public. The media has cited Muxlim reaches 25 million people around the world. To get this sorted out, we interviewed Mohamed El-Fatatry himself. Below are his answers.

ArcticStartup: Do you feel like you’ve been creating a bubble around Muxlim?

Mohamed El-Fatatry: Every startup entrepreneur creates a kind of hype to get their startup noticed. Some do it better than others, and in our case, most of the attention seemed to come from mainstream publications that are not specialized in tech-news as most other startups. This meant that while we tried to communicate and explain all the intricate details of our metrics, etc. it was sometimes inevitable that they misquoted or misrepresented the numbers. This never happened when we talked to specialized publications such as ArcticStartup or Techcrunch.

AS: One of the biggest items people seem to complain about is the misled figures of the site. You say Muxlim reaches more than 25 million in 190 countries, but today in a post on the Disruption Manifesto you say the site had around 580k uniques and the ad network some 2.3 million. Where does the 25 million come from?

MEF: As the factsheet states:

Muxlim.com: 0.58M uniques/month
Muxlim ad network: 2.38M uniques/month

However, for the whole advertising network which includes Muxlim + IKOO + other partners (we have an exclusive representation agreement in Europe and North America) the only metric we could find to highlight how many total people are reachable by advertising with us was the aggregated total of all the people on all the sites combined over a 12 month period which amounted to approx. 25 million. The main purpose of this metric was to show that the Muxlim ad network amounts to approx. 10% of the total Muslim online population (250 million people per year; reference: Handbook of Islamic Marketing), a fact that is important for large advertisers who want to cover a large segment in one shot. The statement was obviously promotional and meant for advertisers, but we did explain how we came up with that number whenever someone asked.

Also as an example, Unanimis in the UK uses a similar metric: http://www.unanimis.co.uk/about/

“With a reach of over 73%* in to the UK online population, Unanimis creates value from online audiences for both advertisers and website publishers.”

“The company is not over.”
AS: What do you think led to the failure of the company?

MEF: The company is not over. A re-launch with a new strategy is currently on the table, and I don’t think we should be celebrating the demise of any startup company prematurely when we all know that for example, Google changed it’s business model 3 times before finding the right one. It happens in startup world. Muxlim Oy and Muxlim.com are two separate entities. The site was shutdown to search for a better business model, but the company is still around.

***

El-Fatatry also states that he finds it odd that people are celebrating the failure of a Finnish company to this extent in media and in conversations.

He also got back to us with another follow-up comment regarding the interview:
“As much as people like to look back and rationalize a reason for a failure, the fact is our traffic numbers had nothing to do with the difficulties we faced as a company in generating revenue (the traffic numbers are not bad, and have delivered value to many advertisers over the years). The main reason for the difficulties was the inability to scale our sales/business development operations abroad which required a lot more money and time than we had (and we were constantly running out of both). When the book comes out, you will see in detail how we actually got disrupted mid-way through product development by the financial crisis, and were never able to raise the amount of money we needed.

Our plan was to raise €5M as a first round, and we ended up raising a total of €2.5M over 5 years so we were either in survival mode, or bootstrapping mode (never really in growth mode apart from the first few months and before the financial crisis). In some cases, we were not able to capitalize on a good pipeline or partnership because of the inability to scale abroad. Let’s not forget that the company was founded in December 2006 (during the myspace days) and the advertising industry has changed a couple of times since. Once after the financial crisis, and once after Facebook became an advertising giant. The name of the game was stamina, and we just couldn’t get more of it no matter how hard we tried with our old business model. So we decided to shut down the site for the time being, search for a better business model and re-launch on more solid grounds.

I think it’s important to note that whatever the outcome of our new strategy, we believe the existence of the company had a net positive effect on Finland and the ecosystem. The people who have worked for Muxlim have gone to join startups or start startups, and the tax-type payments made by the company exceeded the government support we have received. Our Finnish company will always be credited to have written the digital chapter of the 1st industry guide to a huge global market, and many institutions are better of for understanding this community in a better way because Muxlim existed. Finally, all the valuable lessons we have learnt over the last 5 years across three countries (Finland, UK & US) are being shared in my upcoming book Mohamed 2.0: Disruption Manifesto, for the benefit of everyone in Finland who is thinking big. Napster didn’t make any money, but it changed the world.”

***

But this whole case and discussion is a great reminder to all the people working in the startup community that we’re still very much in our own bubble. Startups are not mainstream, nor is growth entrepreneurship. Once they are mainstream, failure is tolerated and those affiliated with the venture won’t feel cheated – they had a good run at it.

It is a completely different question though, how much an early stage entrepreneur should take out in salaries from their company or how much they should pay to consultants. Market forces and an able board of executives ought to help out there.

But looking back at this over the past few days, the only bubble that has been created – is the bubble all startups are involved with and that’s called over optimistic supporting of entrepreneurship and the thought that the general public, including the media at large, shares that notion.

Update: changed 0.58K to 0.58M to reflect the correct figure.

Source: http://www.arcticstartup.com/2012/03/20/muxlim-debate-a-great-reminder-startups-far-from-mainstream

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UK: ‘Cruel’ halal slaughter methods under attack in the UK

salama — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:11:09 +0000

By EMAN EL-SHENAWI
AL ARABIYA

British ministers are seeking to change a law to ensure that meat slaughtered using Islamic, or halal, methods cannot be sold without proper labeling.

According to the Daily Mail on Sunday, “unwitting members of the public” are being served halal meat “secretly” in schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues, claiming that many in Britain deem the traditional Islamic way of preparing meat as “cruel,” including animal rights campaigners.

Like Jewish kosher slaughter, the halal method requires the butcher to kill the animal by slitting its throat, ensuring the animal is not stunned first to lessen its ordeal.

Muslims are adamant that the halal method ensures the least amount of pain possible for an animal, and is in accordance to animal welfare measures.

According to the British newspaper, the UK government is now drawing up plans to prevent the supply of halal meat to people that are none the wiser about the method their meat has been slaughtered in.

The move mimics a recent suggestion from France’s prime minister who urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their halal and kosher slaughter laws.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon made the suggestion after President Nicolas Sarkozy called this month for butchers to clearly label meat slaughtered according to religious laws, while his allies warned immigrants might impose halal meat on French schoolchildren.

This received criticism from the international press. In an opinion piece titled “The lands of foie gras and puppy mills are suddenly horrified by animal slaughter,” Emma Teitel of Canada-based Maclean’s news weekly wrote:

“The ritual method through which halal meat is slaughtered … is just as legal in France as the secular alternative (‘captive bolt stunning,’ in which the animal is sedated via stun gun before it’s killed), but Le Pen maintains that halal’s ‘horrible cruelty’ warrants special condemnation,” in reference to Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate of France’s right-wing National Front party.

Le Pen had claimed, falsely as would later transpire, that all meat sold in Paris shops is halal, stirring up suspicions in France’s longstanding and sometimes bitter debate about cultural immigration.

While the debate is typical of a country that has for years debated how far it is willing to accommodate Islam, in Britain the new controversy over the halal slaughter methods may perhaps come as a surprise to Muslim communities in the country.

One worshipper at the Central London Mosque told BBC Radio 4: “Everything about the Islamic way of life is under attack so it makes you wonder if this is actually about humanity to animals.”

The Muslim Council of Britain, meanwhile, has maintained that animals are not distressed when they are slaughtered

“It’s a sudden and quick hemorrhage. A quick loss of blood pressure and the brain is instantaneously starved of blood and there is no time to start feeling any pain,” spokesman Dr. Majid Katme told the BBC.

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EU: 5th Int’l Halal Food Conference opens in Belgium

salama — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:19:24 +0000

Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Indonesian Ambassador to Brussels Arif Havas Oegroseno has opened the 5th International Halal Food Conference at Sheraton Hotel in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday.

Government, business, private and public representatives discussed global halal (lawful according to Islam) standards, Information, Social, Cultural and Diplomatic Coordinator of the Indonesian Embassy in Brussels Palupi Sukiyantini Mustajab said on Saturday.

She said the ambassador in his addressed dwelled on business opportunities and challenges in the Halal market and related matters Indonesia has and is being done.

She said Halal products are very promising to the 1.7 billion Muslims in the world since one fifth of the food trade in the world are halal food, and this segment is growing by 500 billion US dollars each year with an economy worth 1.2 trillion US dollars in 2010.

This figure continued to increase with the growing number of Islamic countries or countries with a Muslim majority becoming world economic powers.

The ambassador said the many challenges in the trading of halal products including high competition between suppliers and business players, for instance Australia and New Zealand, have made Indonesia a main livestock product export destination.

Other matters posing an obstacle are the different views on halal.

In these cases Indonesia adopted several laws while the Law on Halal products is in the making.

The ambassador also said that the creation of global Halal standards are very important. Indonesia will continue playing a neutral role in the internationalization of Halal standards.

Also taking part in the 5th International Halal Food Conference is chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) who has been asked by the organizers to make an explanation.

The MUI chairman dwelled on the application of halal certificates in Indonesia and provide information on MUI networks in other countries.
(ZG)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/80852/ri-envoy-opens-halal-food-confab-in-brussels

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