Brunei Wafirah UK Ltd appoints CEO

In an effort to globally expand and create awareness of the Brunei Halal Brand, the establishment of the office and warehouse in the UK under Brunei Wafirah UK Ltd is well under way. The aim of Brunei Wafirah UK Ltd is to provide a sales and distribution platform to the UK and European markets as these markets have been identified as potential growth regions for Brunei Halal.

Pursuant to the establishment of the subsidiary office, the Board of Directors of Brunei Wafirah Holdings Sdn Bhd has appointed Dr. Mohammad Nazir (see photo below), OBE as CEO of Brunei Wafirah UK Ltd with effect from 1st August 2011.

“We had considered many candidates during the search for the UK office’s CEO,” said Noel Shield, CEO of Brunei Wafirah Holdings Sdn Bhd. Dr. Nazir has been chosen for his experience and extensive work in the food production, retail and wholesale sector internationally.  He has established many successful business ventures including the first venture capital investment fund (non-interest) for micro businesses in 2003.

He has extensive knowledge in Halal and Islamic Finance sector. In 2000, he led a research project in the food manufacturing sector to identify the need to adopt intelligent manufacturing techniques (IMT). These findings led to ongoing research on the UK and international Halal markets with a focus around development of Halal Standards. The outcome of the work and consequent developments resulted in UK’s policy change in supporting the Halal Meat and Food sector both in the home market as well as the export market. In Islamic Finance, he has advised the cabinet office which led to the opening up of UK to Islamic Banking a decade ago.

Dr. Nazir has advised UK government on major reviews of enterprise support, UK Trade and Investment strategy and initiatives nationally and regional. He has served on boards overseeing major regeneration infrastructure development projects in conjunction with public-private sector partnerships in the UK to bring land back into commercial use with the aim of attracting inward investment and to create employment working with Universities, colleges, local councils, enterprise agencies and entrepreneurs. He serves on and chairs a number of regional and national enterprise policy and strategy development boards.

“He shares our passion for issues surrounding the Halal industry particularly in the UK. Dr. Nazir is the right CEO to lead the strategies we have in place,” added Noel Shield.

Dr. Nazir brings 20 years of experience in top management positions in the public, private and social enterprise sector and has earned a reputation as a trusted and respected business and community leader.

Upon taking up the CEO position, Dr. Nazir said, “I am delighted to be part of an organisation that has in its core the objective of bringing complete Halal assurance to the Muslim consumer in UK and Europe, where the Halal market is currently fragmented.” He will be leading a team that aims to develop one of the widest range of Halal products ever.