Five years of EFICA: How has the award benefited Islamic, ethical financial institutions?

Photo: Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former UK Conservative Party chair and the first Muslim woman to serve in the UK cabinet, gave the keynote address at the EFICA on October 26, 2016 in Dubai, UAE

The world of Islamic finance industry competitions for innovation or solutions is really quite small. The two newest ones are focused on financial technology: the Islamic Development Bank’s FinTech Islamic Finance Challenge was launched only last year and the Responsible Finance & Investment Foundation’s Support Disruption for Good challenge goes to its second outing next month. The Ethical Finance Innovation Challenge and Awards (EFICA), co-organised by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Thomson Reuters, has been around longer and offers the biggest cash prize.

Since its launch in 2013, applications for EFICA have been increasing year-on-year, according to Thomson Reuters. “EFICA has grown from an average of 33 applications per category to over 100 applications per category covering over 34 countries,” Mazen Al Saleh, Strategic Execution Manager at Thomson Reuters told Salaam Gateway.

The combination of the absence of similar initiatives seeking ethical and Islamic finance solutions and the hefty cash prize may have something to do with it. EFICA runs the annual Ethical Finance Initiative Award whose cash prize was bumped up to $100,000 in 2016 from $50,000. It also simultaneously run the $100,000 cash-prized Islamic Finance Industry Development Challenge in 2013 and 2015.