Islam and Business Finance

Image courtesy of suphakit73 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net This article can add value to government officials for the purpose of attracting foreign investments, however, I will be focusing on entrepreneurs. The Porter's Diamond model will be used to let you know what factors to consider when you want to open a branch of your business in another country. According to this model, there are four factors which are: -The Factor Conditions - Firm Strategy, Structure and Rilvary - Related and Supporting Industries - The Demand Conditions The Factor Conditions This relates to the nature of the country, as such you must consider the natural resources of the country, the availability of cheaper labour, the availability of lowly skilled staff as well as a well educated work force. That way you can be sure that a percentage of the population possess the skills required to execute the tasks needed for the achievement of your business goals. The weather condition, the secu...

Image courtesy of ahmet guler at FreeDigitalPhotos.net The way you lay your bed is the way you lie on it. Those words are popular. Today, I will be talking about your financial bed. So how do you lay your financial bed so you are able to lie on it comfortably? I will give you some tips to abide by - Always give out zakat when its due. It is obligatory. - Always give out regular charity. This is because Allah loves charity and He multiplies it in reward for you. Its called  sadaqa (its not obligatory but its really good for you) - Always save 30% of your income (halal account). - Always save first and spend after. - Always have more than one source of income. -  Make sure you build or buy a house  - Have a well diversified investment portfolio - Make sure you tackle a challenge immediately it occurs, the longer you take to react the longer it takes you to effectively overcome the challenge. - You should spend and invest your ...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net While money is a necessary tool that can help you achieve your goals and help you survive as a human. It should not define who you are, as such your self worth should not be embedded in money. How the way a rich man is treated is the same way a poor man should be treated. I say treat everyone with respect just because they are humans. We humans are all equal in front of Allah but we were created in ranks, as such we have leaders. Allah is the only God. There is absolutely no one like Him and He has no partner. Your self worth should be built on the love of God. The money is a blessing  from Allah that you might have worked hard for or might have  be given to you by a human (which is still from Allah) but it could also be taken away from you by Allah. What will you do then if that happens since all you are about is the money in your pocket. The source(s) of your income should be halal. I have not said do ...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net *First of all, make sure you do not deal with interest, it is bad for you. Allah hates interest. Some debtors are difficult, they will not make any attempt to talk to their creditors, some will do whatever they can to avoid creditors. When you have a debtor, for example when a payment is due and the debtor has not made payments.  * Call him/her politely to remind him/her about the payment cause it might have skipped their mind. *After few days if the payment is not made call the person during condusive hours, that is after 8am and before 9pm. Ask for your money clearly, politely and firmly.  *Do not abuse or threaten your debtor, just make sure you are firm.  * If no payment is made, ask your debtor  why they have not paid and be sympathetic with their reason(s). Showing that you understand their reason(s) will motivate them to pay up if you offer them a less stringent way of paying...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Everyone should diversify their investments this is because investing in only one type of asset and market could make your investments highly risky. Diversifying your investments could minimize your risk to the lowest, thus the losses made from one investment could be eliminated by the profit from another. There are various types of assets you can invest in; First of all, save in your halal bank account, shares (halal), properties (halal), gold (halal) and others (halal). The money you save in a halal bank account should cover you for one year of your living expenses. A halal bank account should not pay interest or give you profit if you are not assuming any type of risk of loss of money. However, an account whereby you have a risk of losing money or making profit is also halal but I prefer the former an account that pays nothing. The bank must use your money for halal investments.  " O you who have believed...

Image courtesy of dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net It involves minimal risk saving your money. I always say first save your money in an halal account, once it has reached a particular threshold start investing. The saverholic only saves and saves and saves and cannot afford to take well calculated risks. Because, all you do is to save money. Invest in other markets, the higher the risk the higher the return, diversify your investment portfolio.  All individuals that have achieved financial growth of great heights are risk takers, and they know that some risk might turn out negative but they know is all part of the process. They learn from it and apply it to the next risk they take and eventually they become experts at the risk they take (risk taken should not be excessive(too much uncertainty)). Then they end up having 80% success rates which I think is good enough. Make sure your business is halal.  Give charity regularly from your income, Allah loves charity an...

I wrote about packaging in a previous article, it is not just about your products, it is also about you. I am going to talk about the way you look affects your finances. For example, two guys have been invited for an interview, they are both qualified for the job. One arrives in a gorgeous bathroom slippers (smiles). Another guy comes in a nice shirt, all tucked in, wearing gorgeously polished shoes. They both had wonderful things to say during the interview, so they both have equal chances. Of course, the way the former was dressed might make them pick the latter over him, thus improving the financial status of the latter. The way you look has an impact on the opportunities that will come your way.  I know that individuals financial capabilities vary, so it is not really about the most expensive clothes. I personally think buying very expensive clothes is a waste of money. However, I won't say go for cheap clothes, just go for quality.  If its cheap clothes go for it...

Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Setting up a new restaurant could be a challenging tasks, cause there are numerous restaurants that already exists. As such, a marketing strategy that will help you achieve success must be developed. To attract customers the following must be taken into consideration.    * The food sold should be of good quality, it should taste good and the way it is be delivered should also be of high quality. The menu list must also be attractive. * The prices of the food should reflect the value of the products (food and service) provided in the restaurant. Thus, a restaurant that sells expensive food should leave customers feeling very very good. The quality of their food and their services should be better than those of restaurants that sell cheaper food. *The staff whose roles are to deliver or serve food, wait tables or cook meals must be nicely dressed and they must treat customers nicely. Selling the...

Hello readers, I decided to write about businesses that require little capital to start. today they are: Grocery Shops A grocery shop could be opened with minimal capital, it depends on the scale you are willing to take it to. Start out litte and start to grow the business Web Designing Some individuals attend courses to develop skills on designing a website. However, you could develop skills by practising online. A huge amount of money is made from designing websites. Dry Cleaning This is another business that could yield a lot of money. You only have to purchase laundry and dry cleaning equipments. You should start out small and then grow bigger. Event Planning This also require little capital to start. You do not neccessarily have to attend a course to develop your skills on event planning, if you are organised and you pay attention to details then you can easily start planning events. It could range from planning a big business meeting to nikkah. Make sure y...

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net You could gain a competitive edge in business by always reacting to changes quickly, by being innovative. For your business to be able to react to changes quickly, you have to be able to anticipate the change and secondly you have to be very fast at responding to changes. Forecast of how changes might occur in the market in which your business operates in could be gotten by studying past information, however market forecasts are less effective. Information from customers and suppliers are most effective. The way your business responds to changes (such as changes in taste of your customers, changes in the financial capability of your customers and others) has a great impact on your market share. If it takes your company 4 weeks to respond to a change in the market and it takes the next company 3 months or more you could gain a competitive edge cause customers might come to you first and their loyalty could ...

Networking is important to the development of any business. It is great for expanding your knowledge as well as creating business opportunities for your business via your products. Today I am going to be sharing tips on developing such skill. The first step is to find your individuals that might be interested in your products. You will have to make a list of everyone you can think of. This list will include your family, your friends, your acquaintances. The friends of your family members or your friends.  You will always need to expand your list. You can attend events to meet new people. After the list has been composed, then you will have to invite them so that they can understand your products. While trying to get people to understand your products you must remember that not everyone will be interested in your products. Always be yourself when promoting your products. You should be enthusiastic when promoting your products. You could tell individuals about your produ...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Products are goods or services provided by a business in exchange for money. A business can either apply a low cost strategy or a differentiation strategy. However, some other companies apply both strategy. I am going to write about the differentiation strategy today. The question is how do you differentiate your products successfully. Differentiating a product is all about making it unique, as such some attributes of your products might not be obtained anywhere else. A product can be differentiated by providing complementary services for example a business that sells make up products (halal make-up products) can offer to give their customers free facials once or twice. A business that sells technological products can also offer free repair services as a form of differentiation. The performance and features can also be used to differentiate the products, the location of your business can also be a form of differentiation...

Pride which is arrogance comes before the destruction of man, this is having a feeling that you are better than everyone else. You might possess some excellent skills but it does not make you better than everyone else. All of those skills are blessings from Allah. Everyone needs help. Make sure you ask Allah for help everytime. Allah can help you using anyone. Be willing to give charity to others if it is within your capacity as Allah loves charity and multiplies it if He wills. The charity has to be from an halal income. You should stay away from anything that is not halal. Pride only brings about discomfort. Be always thankful to Allah for the things you have got, thankfulness do open the door for more blessings. Do not be rigid, be flexible!  Halal means anything lawful Islamically. Keep checking my blog regularly. Cheers!

For a challenge to not become so difficult to tackle you must deal with it as it arises. When faced with an unexpected bill, if you find it overwhelming then go and read my article on emotional health. The first step is to write out a realistic plan on how you are going to raise the money. Probably look for another source of income. Make sure you stick to the plan. A financial challenge could be an inability to pay bills, this could be prevented by living below your means. Make sure you create a monthly budget so you know how you will spend your money so that you do not end up spending the money for your bills on something else. For some sticking to a budget comes naturally and for some they find it hard to stick to a budget. For those that find it hard to stick to a budget, my advise to you will be to have a daily budget and once you are able to stick to the budget for seven days reward yourself, change the target to a month and then reward yourself, researchers say that once you...

I mage courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net In business you must always identify the main success factors in the industry you operate in, of-course, by identifying them and taking them into consideration it will help your business succeed insha Allah (if Allah wills). Various industries have different success factors, however, in order for any business to survive, owners must determine what customers want and determine what the business needs to do to stay competitive. So how do you determine what your customers want?  You first have to know who your customers are. For example are they students or working class individuals. You will have to make an enquiry about their needs and then you make enquiries about how they make a choice between similar products. This could be achieved via a focus group or questionnaires. Once the preferences of your potential customers have been identified, then the factors that could help your business stay profitable could be...

 courtesy of AKARAKINGDOMS at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Your business or career shouldn't be your life, you can balance it all. Have time for your family, friends and business. Make sure you always have time for your family and then your friends before your business. But remember, Allah comes first all the time. A successful business could bring you fulfillment no doubt but obviously you will want to share the success with your loved ones wouldn't you. While you must treat everyone with respect whether younger or older you must pick your friends wisely, you should associate yourself with people that promotes positivity. Some women fight for equal rights in their homes, a woman was telling her husband you do not know how to lay the bed again. While a man can willingly help in the house, out of love, its not your right to demand it. You should not disobey your husband as long as its what Allah loves. You should only advise him, however whatever decision he makes you s...

Image courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Hello! It is common knowledge that some industries are declining, if your business happens to be in a declining industry, this are the strategies you could apply * You can go after a market segment (niche) in the industry. A niche that you know will offer stability  and you know other firms will not invade.  *To be a leader in the industry, this can be achieved by acquiring competitors and motivating them to exit the industry. Once a leading role is achieved , greater profit could be enjoyed. * When it really seems like the industry is not going to take another turn, then the best advise will be to divest before the industry reaches a dead end.  Your business should be for the sake of Allah. Everything happens according to the will of Allah. Whatever Allah wills to prevent no one can make it happen and whatever He does not prevent no one cannot make it happen.

Today, I decided to write up something for United Kingdom(international) students. Some students are usually broke, so how can they avoid that. I can remember when I arrived as a student, I had priced a cab and he said £60, I had a somewhat intention of taking the cab when someone said to me always convert your money to the Nigerian currency first before spending so it could help you with your judgement so I applied that logic all through as a student, you get to save money that way cause you will be buying things similar to prices in your country. Do not buy branded products, tesco, sainsbury, asda and the likes make products of good quality at cheaper prices buy theirs. Cook your food, eat out once in a while, you can try the cafeteria's food in your university just to have the experience maybe their toast, eggs (make sure the food is halal) but the food they have available is not really what you are used to and its a waste of money. That way you don't end up run...

Image courtesy of zirconicusso at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Today I am going to describe how you should be spending as a family. This artlcle for a married couple or married couple with kids. Before couples decide to have children they should have the financial capacity to take care of their children. So you are not only responsible for your mouth only but you are responsible for the mouth of others. Men have be given the role of the leader of the house by God, they are normally responsible for the major part of the household bills, however, the women should still help as such how you decide to split the bills will be agreed upon by both parties. Some couples do have quarrels over money, a woman should obey her husband as long as its not against God's Law. However, a woman should give her advise with reasons to her husband, he should consider her advise and then make the decision for both of them. All major financial decisions must be made together cause any wrong d...

Budgets are like smoothies (smiles) I can remember I said I was going to let you know what your monthly budget should look like in a previous post, so yup! you are getting it today. Some individuals make a reasonable amount of money on a monthly basis but yet still end being broke before their next pay date and they all put the blame on the bills. I have always said cut your clothes according to your size, you can always manage your money very well and still have fun, yes have fun. I know individuals do not earn the same amount of money, as a result of that I am going to be working with percentages today. I alsoknow that individuals do have different responsibilities so I am going to classify the budgets into two. One for singles and one for a family. Today I am going to focus on the one for singles. You are single, you are only responsible for feeding your mouth normally it could be different , so this is how you should be spending your income. Pay zakat if its due, then save...

Motivation is what inspire individuals (employees) to achieve a goal or an objective without force. Every business requires employees, they are important because they will be carrying the day to day activities of a business. Direction, intensity and persistence are the three components of behaviour that has an impact on performance. Direction of behaviour relates to what an individual wishes to do, intensity relates to how much effort an individual  put into achieving a goal and persistence relates to how determined an individual is in achieving a goal in spite of challenges encountered. Insha Allah (if Allah wills) . Motivated employees could contribute to the success of a business . I am going to write about two motivational techniques  The first one I am going to write about is the herzberg two factor theory. It was proposed by Late Fredrick Herzberg. He placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of the job content and job enrichments. He said people are motiv...

Having 2 to 4 children is not only good for you financially, it is also good for the general well being of the family. Any family planning expert would advise you to leave at least 2 years gap between your children. This will not only let you give them the adequate attention they require at that tender age, researchers say anything less than 2 years will increase the risk of having a baby prematurely and underweight. However, it is also good for you financially cause you will have at 2 additional years to save money for university for your second child. Some people might read this and say why don't I leave 10 years between them instead, okay I just exaggerated no one might think that way but I will suggests a maximum of 4 years ,you do not want to be paying school fees when you are 80. Having 2 or more children in the university at the same time could be expensive so you get to reduce the financial requirement placed on you by leaving adequate gaps between your children.  ...

It has been observed that individuals/corporations in the oil industry make a lot of money. But some people get discouraged from entering the industry because of the capital required to start the business because they believe the oil business is basically about drilling or refining oil. They believe they need machinery, oil rigs or they need to build fuel stations. While this is true, the good news I have for you is it is only an aspect of the industry. Have you heard of oil broking before? People in that line of business make a lot of money from it. Oil brokers serve as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of oil, basically you are going to be marketing oil. You do not need to have any previous background in oil and gas to become a successful broker. Most firms that employ oil brokers do not take the type of degree you have into consideration. l am not here today to write about you getting an oil broking job, I am to here to write about you becoming an oil broker as an indi...

Vacation trips could cost you money, but researchers say that it is good for the overall well being of an individual. So once in a year taking a trip is actually not bad. I have always said cut your clothes according to your size, you can remain within your country but travel to other states/counties or you can travel to other countries it all depends on your pocket. Before going on any trip, ask yourself first, can you afford the trip? If no, please do not travel cause it will do you harm than good. However, I have great tips on saving the overall costs on vacations without compromising your experience. Here they are. 1. Make a monthly contribution towards your vacation. 2. Buy your airline ticket like 6 months before your travel date, that way they are cheaper. It is still the same airline, the same journey but at a cheaper price. 3. Reduce your baggage, leave uneccessary items at home. It's a vacation not a relocation. That way you do not get charged by airli...