#affinis labs

Social media was abuzz this week with two new entrants in the meal kit delivery industry: Halal Plates and Halal Chef, both startups catering to a Muslim audience that observes the dietary restrictions of eating halal. Halal is the Arabic term for what is permissible for Muslims according to traditional Islamic law, frequently applied to permissible food and drinks.

According to Shahed Amanullah, Co-Founder of Affinis Labs which helps mentor and fund startups in the global Islamic economy, “We have reached a tipping point where Muslim markets in the West are economically viable in certain areas, such as halal food and fashion, allowing dynamic startups to succeed.”

Shahed Amanullah, cofondateur d'Affinis Labs, explique l'importance de l'émergence d'un écosystème de start-up musulmanes.

Using technology to overcome political and geographic obstacles is more important now than ever.

That's the idea fueling Shahed Amanullah, a serial entrepreneur and a Muslim American who has been vocal about Trump's immigration policies.

When President Trump issued the refugee and travel ban last month, Amanullah and his cofounders at Affinis Labs felt a new sense of urgency to scale Minbar. Minbar is a platform aimed at helping entrepreneurs in underserved markets with everything from formulating startup ideas to raising capital.

Affinis Labs, based in Washington, D.C., launched Minbar in Tunisia in December. And so far, it has been a success, with more than 1,200 users. They're also able to connect with entrepreneurs in the U.S. who speak Arabic or French for feedback and advice.

Extremism’s allure, says entrepreneur and ex-White House advisor Shahed Amanullah, is a lot like the pull a flashy start-up has on potential talent.

“ISIS has been really effective at branding itself. Not simply with respect to disaffected Muslims, but with respect to the West,” said Amanullah, who has likened falling in with the organization to joining Google in 1995. “They capture the attention of the media and they won’t let go.”

Last year, in Abu Dhabi, a group of young coders participated in an event its organizers called a Haqqathon. “Haqq” is the Arabic word for truth, an appropriate term for a gathering aimed at mobilizing Muslim programmers to fight Islamic extremism. The winner: a mobile app allowing young people to receive answers to questions from authoritative Muslim scholars in millennial-friendly, 60-second video clips, a far cry from the hour-long treatises typically presented by the experts. 

“This is a way for their teachings to get through to the Twitter generation," says Shahed Amanullah, co-founder of Affinis Labs, a Falls Church, Va.–based startup accelerator and organizer of the event. Amanullah is one of a growing number of people world-wide, working in a fledgling field called peacetech. 

"In many ways, said Amanullah, the most lasting and effective way to fight IS online is if other Muslims can build platforms to combat extremism. 

In collaboration with DinarStandard, the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) and Thomson Reuters (with support from the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre) last month released the ‘Digital Islamic Economy Report’ for 2015. The report estimates that Muslim consumers contribute $107 billion to the global digital economy and highlights the role of Affinis Labs--a start-up incubator founded by Quintan Wiktorowicz and Shahed Amanullah in Washington DC--as “a key force behind developing the Digital Islamic Economy.”