Renowned for his over 25 years of excellence in the Islamic finance industry, Associate Professor Ziyaad Mahomed has been named the Global Islamic Finance Person of the Year #MNAwards2024/2025, a prestigious award organised by Muslim News Nigeria, the country’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper.
The Publisher of the newspaper and Convener of the award, Alhaji Rasheed Abubakar, while announcing the winner on Thursday, December 4, 2025, in Lagos, Southwest, Nigeria, said Prof. Mahomed has played a pivotal role in advancing ethical finance practices, shaping institutions, and mentoring professionals around the world.
Now in its fifth edition, #MNAwards spotlights Muslim achievers across various strata of the society, including politics and good governance, health, education, law, advocacy, among others.
Previous global honourees include renowned Malaysian Shari’ah scholar and former President of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Dr. Mohammed Daud Bakar, as well as Hammad Hassan, the Chief Executive Officer of Bahrain-based Bank ABC Islamic.
Alhaji Abubakar said Associate Professor Mahomed is one of the leading lights in the Islamic finance industry across the world and has played prominent roles in providing leadership for both public and private institutions on Islamic finance in many countries of the world, including Nigeria.
Associate Professor Mahomed currently serves as Lead Researcher (Sharia) at the Centre of Excellence in Islamic Social Finance. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, UK, as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Asia School of Business (in collaboration with MIT Sloan and Bank Negara Malaysia).
The Islamic finance expert sits on the boards of several financial institutions, which include but not limited to HSBC Amanah and Munich Re in Malaysia; TajBank (Nig), FBN Quest, and One17 Capital in Nigeria; Ayady Takaful and BML Islamic in Maldives; iConsult Africa in South Africa; EduPro in the United Kingdom; and IMAN in Uzbekistan.
“His advisory roles in the capital market has supported the certification of some of the largest sovereign and corporate Sukuk issuances in Malaysia and Nigeria,” the Muslim News Nigeria Publisher noted.
“Associate Professor Mahomed has also led numerous consulting projects on policy and strategy for large financial institutions and governmental organisations, focusing on Islamic banking, takaful, sukuk, sustainability, fintech, and social finance. His expertise, experience and leadership have been instrumental in the development of frameworks for Islamic banking and takaful systems in the UK, Maldives, Nigeria, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan,” he added.
Associate Professor Mahomed serves as a Senior Consultant with the World Bank, providing strategies and frameworks for the advancement of Islamic finance in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Abubakar noted that Associate Professor Mahomed’s work does not end with policy design and implementation alone, it also extends to capacity building and academics.
The scholar is the Head of Online Programs at INCEIF University in Malaysia. He is credited for establishing the Social Finance Unit at INCEIF in 2017. His training programs and capacity building sessions on various aspects of Islamic finance has been attended by more than 12,000 participants from around the world.
He is also notable for developing the Micra short course during his tenure as Associate Dean of eLearning and spearheading the development of a master’s online degree employing advances eLearning methodologies.
As an academic, Associate Professor Mahomed teaches Islamic Jurisprudence, Law of Contract, Sustainability, and Social Finance. He has nearly 100 academic and professional publications to his name. His research has been cited by 278 scholars, focusing on Sukuk, Islamic social finance, Shariah, and fintech.
One of Associate Professor Mahomed’s phenomenal contributions to Islamic finance was his development of a unique Shariah screening criteria for stocks that integrate SRI and ESG principles with the Maqasid (Objectives of Islamic Law). His multifaceted contributions include active involvement in the creation of both VBI (Value-Based Intermediation) and VBiT (Value-Based Takaful) in Malaysia, underscoring his pivotal role in advancing ethical financial practices.
Associate Professor Mahomed parades very rich academic credentials. He holds a Master’s and PhD in Islamic Finance from Malaysia, an MBA from South Africa, a BA (Hons) in Business (Finance) from the UK, and certifications in the Islamic sciences from South Africa and Jordan.
Associate Professor Mahomed’s exceptional contributions across Shariah governance, social finance innovation, policy advisory, capacity building, and academic leadership in over 20 countries make him deserving of the recognition as Global Finance Person of the Year.
“On behalf of the Muslim News Nigeria team, I congratulate Associate Associate Professor Mahomed and hope that this recognition will spur him to do more in his field of Islamic finance and for the growth of Islam and the entire Muslim community,” Alhaji Abubakar stated.
The formal presentation of the award will take place at a yet‑to‑be‑announced date during the newspaper’s 7th anniversary lecture.
Finalists for Nigerian Muslim Personalities of the Year (#MNAwards20242025)
Sponsored
Sponsored
