1. Could you briefly introduce yourself and share your professional journey in economics, Islamic finance, and data science?
Thank you for the opportunity. I am Dr. Nashipu Thalut, a Cameroonian economist, Islamic-finance specialist and certified data scientist with more than fifteen years of progressive experience across university teaching, applied research, international consultancy and institutional leadership in Africa, South-East Asia and the Middle East. My academic journey runs from a Bachelor of Science in Economics at the University of Yaoundé II, to a Master of Science in Financial Economics, Trade and Development at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), to a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Bamenda, where I was privileged to graduate as the best doctoral candidate in Economics. I am currently a post-doctoral researcher at IIUM, focusing on regional economic integration among the countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). While as I students in IIUM, I was privilege to serve as an Administrator for the Centre of Islamic Economics and Finance.
These three strands, economics, Islamic finance and data science reinforce one another in everything I do. My grounding in Islamic finance at IIUM has been deepened through sustained specialist study: certificates in Islamic Economics and in Fiqh al-Mu’āmalāt (Islamic commercial jurisprudence) from the IIT-IIUM short-course programmes, a Professional Diploma in Zakat and Waqf Management from ZAWOUNI Online University, and, in November 2024, intensive training at the 2nd AAOIFI-IsDBI Capacity Building Week in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where I completed eight workshops covering Islamic banking product structuring, Islamic trade finance, Islamic microfinance and agricultural finance, risk management in line with IFSB standards, fiduciary risk and rating, the maintenance of Shari’ah compliance in legal documentation and core-banking systems, and strategic risk and governance for boards and C-suite executives all aligned with AAOIFI standards.
In data science I am a certified analyst working in Python, R, STATA, EViews, Matlab, Dynare and Octave for dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling, Hadoop, CPLEX for Operation research modeling, SmartPLS and AMOS, applying advanced econometric and structural-equation modelling to real development questions. Today I coordinate training at the Department of modeling and financial engineering of national advanced school of Engineering of Yaounde (Classified as the best Engineering Institution in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa Countries), University of Yaounde 1. I currently serve as Head of Finance of the Cameroon Muslim Community Development Association, sit on Shari’ah committees, and advise institutions in Cameroon, West Africa and beyond. Most recently I designed and delivered, on behalf of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) through LEORON Institute, a three-day executive programme on Islamic Banking and Trade Finance at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) in Yaounde. Uniting all of this is a single conviction: rigorous, data-driven analysis, married to ethical and Shari’ah-compliant finance, can measurably improve people’s lives.
2. With your expertise in Islamic finance and economics, what opportunities do you see for Islamic finance in Africa?
Africa is, in my assessment, the most compelling frontier for Islamic finance in the world today even through African share of the cake is the least compared to other regions. However, the opportunity is at the peak because of the size of demographic, level of development and structural. Demographically, the continent has a large, young and rapidly growing population (80 percent) much of it Muslim and still under-served by conventional banking, alongside a wider market that increasingly values ethical, transparent and asset-backed finance. Developmentally, the industry is uniquely suited to Africa’s needs: because Islamic finance ties every transaction to real economic activity and to genuine risk-sharing, it is an ideal instrument for financing agriculture, SMEs, trade and infrastructure. Sukuk can mobilise both domestic savings and Gulf capital for roads, energy and water without the crushing debt-service burdens of conventional borrowing, while Takaful can extend affordable protection to households and farmers who have never had insurance.
The appetite is real. I have seen it directly as an International Islamic finance consultant to many financial institutions in CEMAC, Nigeria and when I delivered the ITFC programme at the BEAC in July 2026, it drew thirty-three delegates from sixteen institutions, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Economy, the regional central bank (BEAC), the Caisse Autonome d’Amortissement, state enterprises such as SONARA and SODECOTON, commercial banks including Afriland First Bank, BICEC, Ecobank and Crédit du Sahel, a commercial bank already operating an Islamic window, a microfinance institution, and the Islamic Development Bank. That a single training could convene such a cross-section of Cameroon’s public, regulatory, banking and development-finance community speaks volumes about the momentum building across the CEMAC region. Structurally, penetration remains in the low single digits outside a few markets, which means the sector is building from a small base with enormous headroom. The essential opportunity is to position Islamic finance not as a niche product for a minority, but as a mainstream engine of inclusive, real-sector development for the whole continent.
3. How can data science and advanced econometric modelling improve decision-making in Islamic banking and finance?
Data science transforms Islamic banking from an intuition-led practice into an evidence-led discipline, and this matters profoundly because the principles of the industry demand precision. Because Islamic banks share risk with their clients rather than simply transferring it, they need far more sophisticated tools to identify, price, monitor and provision for that risk. This was a central theme of the AAOIFI-IsDBI workshops I completed on risk management under IFSB standards, on fiduciary risk and rating, and on strategic risk and governance for decision-makers: sound Islamic finance rests on the ability to measure exposures accurately and to govern them well. Machine-learning credit scoring, portfolio optimisation and early-warning models allow institutions to assess the true viability of Mudarabah and Musharakah partnerships, to detect distress before it crystallises, and to allocate capital efficiently while remaining fully Shari’ah-compliant. Inclusivity of Islamic finance sit at the physical junction of bancarisation, entrepreneurship and fast decision making through data science.
Beyond risk, these methods sharpen product design and strategy. Techniques such as structural-equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis, which I use extensively, let us measure the latent factors such as trust, religiosity, perceived fairness, service quality. These features actually drive the adoption of Islamic financial products. Panel-data methods let us test, across many countries and years, what genuinely improves financial inclusion and institutional performance; my published panel study of economic cooperation and environmental sustainability in the OIC region, in the Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development, is one example of findings that are directly actionable for boards and policymakers. The broader
4. You have researched economic cooperation among OIC countries. What are the key opportunities for stronger economic integration among these countries?
My post-doctoral research and my published panel-data work on economic cooperation and environmental sustainability in the OIC region point to four concrete opportunities. The first is intra-OIC trade, which remains well below its potential given the size and complementarity of these economies. Reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, harmonising standards and deepening trade-finance capacity — much of it deliverable through Shari’ah-compliant instruments — would unlock substantial gains. Institutions such as the ITFC already demonstrate what is possible; indeed, the very training I delivered under the ITFC’s mandate was designed to strengthen Shari’ah-compliant trade and finance capabilities across OIC member countries, beginning in the CEMAC zone.
The second opportunity is financial and monetary integration: developing cross-border Sukuk markets, shared Islamic liquidity-management platforms, and greater regulatory convergence around AAOIFI and IFSB standards to reduce fragmentation and deepen capital markets. The third — an area especially close to my heart — is knowledge and human-capital integration, through joint research, harmonised curricula and the mobility of scholars and skilled professionals. I am proud to be one of the representatives of my own institution, the University of Yaoundé 1, who is a party to a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Russian African Network University consortium, precisely the kind of cross-regional academic partnership that builds shared expertise.
The fourth is aligning integration with shared development goals — particularly food security and environmental sustainability — so that cooperation delivers visible benefits to citizens. Integration among OIC countries need not imitate other regional blocs; its distinctive strength is that it can be built on shared values of risk-sharing, mutual guarantee and social solidarity, which give it a moral as well as an economic foundation. The issue of financial development and its heterogenous effect on income inequality in the OIC region can be underestimated, watch for my forthcoming paper under Web of Science and Scopus indexed journal undergoing review.
5. How can Islamic social finance, including Zakat and Waqf, contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development in African countries?
Islamic social finance is one of the most under-utilised development resources on the African continent. Zakat, as an obligatory annual transfer from the wealthy to defined categories of the needy, is a permanent, self-renewing anti-poverty mechanism already embedded in the faith of hundreds of millions of Africans. Collected transparently and disbursed through well-governed institutions, and, critically, with its impact measured rigorously. Zakat can provide reliable social protection, working capital for micro-enterprises, and support for education and health, precisely the areas in which poverty otherwise becomes intergenerational. Waqf, the endowment, is even more transformative for sustainable development because it is designed to be perpetual: a well-structured Waqf can fund schools, clinics, water systems and productive assets whose returns serve communities indefinitely.
This is not theory for me but active work, and it rests on formal grounding. I hold a Professional Diploma in Zakat and Waqf Management from ZAWOUNI Online University. As Head of Finance of the Cameroon Muslim Community Development Association, I am developing the first Cash Waqf model for Cameroon and designing Islamic development trust funds for Muslim communities in Bamenda, and my paper under review on the integration of Islamic social finance with sustainable agriculture in a Muslim-minority country addresses this potential directly. The instruments to scale it now exist: at the AAOIFI-IsDBI workshop on Islamic microfinance and agricultural finance, and again in the ITFC programme I delivered, we worked through Waqf-linked Sukuk — endowment-based capital-market instruments — and through Qard Hassan, the benevolent loan, as vehicles for inclusive finance. The key to unlocking Zakat and Waqf is threefold: strong governance and transparency to earn donor confidence; modern financial engineering such as cash Waqf and Waqf-linked Sukuk to scale the capital base; and data-driven impact measurement so that every franc reaches its intended purpose and its effect can be demonstrated. Handled this way, Zakat and Waqf become not passive charity but a structured, sustainable engine of poverty reduction.
6. Given your expertise in environmental economics, how can Islamic finance support climate resilience and sustainable development?
This is where my two principal fields converge most naturally. My doctoral and ongoing research in environmental economics — including work on financial inclusion and pro-wildlife conservation behaviour around the Dja Biosphere Reserve in eastern Cameroon — has shown me that poverty and environmental degradation are deeply intertwined, and that finance is very often the missing link between good intentions and durable outcomes. Islamic finance is philosophically well aligned with sustainability: the ideas of stewardship (khilafah), of avoiding waste and harm, and of intergenerational equity mirror the very logic of climate resilience and, indeed, the higher objectives of the Shari’ah.
Practically, this alignment can be operationalised in several ways. Green Sukuk can channel capital into renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, reforestation and resilient infrastructure while offering investors an ethical, asset-backed instrument. Takaful, or Islamic cooperative insurance, can protect smallholder farmers and vulnerable communities against drought, flood and crop failure through a mutually guaranteed structure that is both affordable and faith-consistent. Salam and Qard Hassan — forward-sale financing and the benevolent loan, both of which we examined in the ITFC programme — can put working capital directly into the hands of small producers, while Zakat and Waqf can finance adaptation in the poorest communities, where commercial capital will not go. In my own consultancy and conservation work I have
7. What are the key challenges in developing Shariah-compliant financial products and services in emerging African markets?
The challenges are real, but each is surmountable, and I would group them into four. The first is the regulatory and legal environment. Many African jurisdictions still lack a dedicated legal framework for Islamic finance, which creates uncertainty around taxation, the treatment of asset-based transactions and dispute resolution; the ITFC training itself was a response to the “diverse regulatory and institutional contexts across the CEMAC zone.” This is why I completed the AAOIFI-IsDBI workshop on maintaining Shari’ah compliance in legal documentation, and why I have worked with the Ministry of Finance toward establishing a Shari’ah regulatory board without enabling regulation, even well-designed products struggle to reach the market. The second challenge is the shortage of qualified human capital — professionals fluent in both the technical mechanics of finance and the Shari’ah principles that govern them. This is precisely the gap my training work addresses: in the ITFC programme, participants’ assessed understanding rose from a pre-workshop average of 78.8% to 92.6% in just three days, and I have built Islamic banking and finance curricula aligned with AAOIFI standards at the University of Bamenda.
The third challenge is awareness and trust. Many potential customers, and even many bankers, hold misconceptions — doubting the authenticity of Islamic products or assuming they must be more expensive. Clear communication, credible Shari’ah governance and demonstrable fairness are essential to overcoming this. The fourth is scale and operational infrastructure: thin secondary markets for Sukuk, limited liquidity-management instruments, higher structuring costs, and the need for genuine Islamic core-banking systems rather than conventional software with cosmetic adjustments — a subject I studied specifically in the workshop on implementing AAOIFI standards through Islamic core-banking solutions, and in the workshop on Islamic banking product structuring. Addressing these requires patient capital, regional cooperation to pool liquidity, and standardisation around AAOIFI and IFSB norms. None of these obstacles is unique to Islamic finance or insurmountable; they are the ordinary growing pains of a young industry, and they call for coordinated action among regulators, practitioners, scholars and educators — which is exactly where I try to contribute.
8. What is your outlook for the future of Islamic banking and finance in Cameroon, Africa, and the wider OIC region?
My outlook is one of optimism. In Cameroon we are at an early but genuinely promising stage. The building blocks are being assembled: curricula aligned with international standards, commercial banks are already running an Islamic window, growing engagement from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy and Planification and the BEAC. Both of which sent delegates to the ITFC training and a rising cohort of trained professionals. That programme in fact closed with a capstone working session on a proposed Islamic-finance model for Cameroon, developed together with those very institutions. I expect the coming years to bring the country’s first fully-fledged Islamic banking not just windows and dedicated institutions, supported by a clearer regulatory framework, and I am committed to helping lay that foundation — including through the Cash Waqf and Islamic-microfinance models we are developing.
Across Africa more broadly, I believe Islamic finance will move steadily from the margins toward the mainstream, driven by demographics, by a rising appetite for ethical finance, and by the continent’s vast need for real-sector and infrastructure investment that Islamic instruments are well suited to services to tackle inequality in the region. For the wider OIC region the trajectory is toward deeper integration, cross-border Sukuk markets, harmonised standards, shared liquidity platforms, and the increasing use of data science and financial technology to widen access and sharpen governance. Regional scholarship, fellowship and sponsor research will be a game changer because these deliberate actions can drive more engagement in Islamic Finance. The defining opportunity of the next decade is to fuse the three forces I have spent my career working with ethical Islamic finance, rigorous data-driven analysis, and a genuine development mandate, so that the sector is judged not only by its assets under management but by the poverty it reduces, the resilience it builds and the dignity it restores. If we succeed in that, and I believe we can, Islamic finance will be remembered as one of the great development stories of our time.