In a landmark collaboration between two leading business schools from the East and West, the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School and the University of Chicago Booth School of Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA, on the 17th February 2015 Zilzar Tech Sdn Bhd (Zilzar) announced the appointment of Mr. Akira Miyama to its Advisory Board.
Dato Vaseehar Hassan Abdul Razack, Chairman of Zilzar, commented, “We welcome Miyama-San to the advisory board of Zilzar. Miyama-San brings with him a wealth of networking both in Japan and Malaysia, which will benefit Zilzar greatly. Japan with its declared strategy to focus on Muslim lifestyle offers a great opportunity for Zilzar. He added, “We look forward to his contribution and guidance about the Muslim lifestyle market in Japan.”
Mr. Akira Miyama joins six other international members; consist of leading figures in the Muslim world:
1. Mr. Saleh Lootah, MD at Al Islami Foods, UAE
2. Mr. Safdar Khan, Group Country Manager for Mastercard, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and Group Head Islamic Payment, Southeast Asia.
3. Mr. Rafik Kassim: Chairman of Expolanka Group of Companies, visionary behind Amana Takaful and Amana Bank, Sri Lanka
4. Mr. Ebrahim Patel: CEO of Magellan Investment Management and Managing Director of TransAfix Holdings Ltd, South Africa
5. Sir Iqbal Sacranie: Founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Member of the Advisory Panel of the WIEF.
6. Mr. Rahman Khan, Former Union Minister of Minority Affairs and former Deputy Chairman Raiya Sebha, India Mr. Akira Miyama has been the Chief, General Representative and Country Head of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) (formerly The Sakura Bank Limited) in Kuala Lumpur since 1998.
Mr. Miyama recently retired as Executive Director of RHB Bank. He also served as Director of RHB Investment Bank, Director of RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers Berhad and Non-Independent Non- Executive Director of RHB Capital Berhad.
During his tenor, Miyama-San was primarily responsible for building the Japanese desk in RHB Bank. Under his stewardship, RHB Bank had gained the biggest share of Japanese Business among the Malaysian banks Mr. Miyama started his career in London as Senior Vice President of the Syndicated Loan Division of The Sakura Bank and thereafter as a Board Member of Central European International Bank in Budapest, Hungary.
He held various positions including Chief Dealer of Capital Market, Head of International Financial Institutions Division and Secretary to Chairman of SMBC, Tokyo. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Keio University, Tokyo. Mr Miyama said, “I’m honored to join the Advisory Board of Zilzar Tech, an e- commerce company for the Muslim lifestyle space launched by the honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib b Tun Abd. Razak, at the prestigious WIEF event in Dubai.”
“The addition of the highly respected Miyama-San to our advisory board shows our global understanding, commitment, development and empowering SMEs in the Muslim lifestyle marketplace to find new customers and new markets.’ said Rushdi Siddiqui Co-Founder and CEO of Zilzar.
About Zilzar
Zilzar.com, the world’s first social trading network providing e-commerce, content and community platforms for the Muslim lifestyle Marketplace, was launched during the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Dubai by the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri MohdNajib b Tun Abd. Razak.
Zilzar is a B2B and B2C global information, content, community, and trade platform for the Muslim Lifestyle Marketplace consisting of eight silos: $1.1 trillion halal food/beverage, $1.4 trillion Islamic Finance, $224 billion clothing/fashion, $151 billion media/recreation, $137 billion travel/tourism, $70 billion pharmaceutical, $26 billion cosmetics and $15 billion logistics, based on 2012 capital expenditure.
