Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi, Islamic Coin CBO: On Financial Inclusion Through Blockchain

Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi is a graduate of the University Of Aden, Computer Science & Engineering, and has more than ten years of work experience in this field, focusing on industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, machine learning, industrial automation, and IoT.

He is an entrepreneur with a series of cutting-edge tech initiatives like MCPM Automation in the MENA region, a partner and board member of CYNAX labs and Kaptive, which could bring value to the community. Mohammed AlHashmi is also a partner and a board member of the Quant7 fund: a project that invests in research and development within the medical and healthcare sector and finds opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.

Mohammed Alkaff AlHashmi launched Islamic Coin, a currency dedicated to empowering an ethics-first Shariah-compliant financial ecosystem. Its mission is to give the world's Muslim community a financial instrument for the Digital Age that would enable seamless transactions and interaction while supporting innovation and philanthropy.

Today, Mohammed Alkaff is dedicated to the Islamic Coin project development as the main way to help the global Muslim community to overcome successive challenges of the new blockchain technologies. This new type of technology helps to build applications far beyond the finance realm: social platforms, games, educational projects, and much more.

Where did your path begin? What was your childhood like, and when did you realize you wanted to become what you are now?

Since early childhood, I have been passionate about numbers, math, quizzes, and gaming, and this passion increased as I grew up. At first, it was only a hobby, but later on, when I started to learn more about how people make money (finance is also about numbers, right?), my interest developed into a profession. In primary school, I had a part-time job in a games wholesale shop, and that’s when I realized that my path would always be related to maths, analysis, and numbers.

You started your career in Computer Science & Engineering and have an impressive background in the field. Can you tell us more about this stage in your life? What were the most exciting things you got to build?

I decided to go for Computer science and Engineering because it's also related to numbers, maths, and analysis, which I greatly enjoy. When I was in my third year of college, I started a part-time job as a computer programming trainer, and then, as I graduated, I joined Huawei as an Intelligence Network Engineer.

Huawei became my personal school of life: it gave me skills and knowledge. It taught me to work smart and hard, as we had to accurately deliver complicated tasks and ensure our customers were satisfied. Once my manager told me that I have good business and marketing skills and should start my own business someday. That was a turning point that changed my mindset and drove me to create the roadmap for the entrepreneurial journey instead of staying a good — yet, ordinary — employee for the rest of my life.

How did you first go into entrepreneurship? Can you share more about the companies you founded and the challenges you encountered along the way?

As I mentioned, I had the ambition to run my own business. I started by learning how business owners manage and develop their companies. So I joined a tech company as a Deputy CEO.

Later, I joined another tech company struggling to survive after a significant loss as a Managing Partner and took the challenge to bring it back to the market. I helped it recover and become profitable, raised the team from 3 to 42 employees, and successfully fundraised 3 million USD.

Those days I met my old friend Stefan, who always encouraged me to look towards the industrial automation market. Even though I was skeptical about it, I decided to give it a chance. A bit of research showed me that it’s pretty interesting. I discovered it’s connected to AI, which I have a big passion for, so we started MCPM MENA. It got a quick success and grew fast, covering many countries in MENA with numerous branches serving the industrial sector with various pockets of advanced technologies, from PLC/SCADA to AI and cyber security. Soon after, I became a shareholder of Quant Seven Fund, which invests in AI health tech companies.

When did you decide to focus on projects that bring real value to the community?

My professional journey wasn't without mistakes, but I learned a lot from them. Also, I listened to my mentor, who always told me, "Focus on bringing value to people, and money will follow." He had a point: following this advice brought excellent and quick positive results. I realized there is immense joy and happiness in bringing value to people, especially seeing how their lives improve. By then, I realized that money is not a target but a tool to serve the community and make the world a better place. One day we will die, and none of us will take collected money to the grave; all we can leave is a positive fingerprint on people's life.

Tell us more about Islamic Coin and the project you are currently working on. What kind of value does it create?

It’s evident that the financial market transits from traditional to decentralized. More careful research shows that Shariah finance lacks a fully Shariah-compliant ecosystem in the decentralized world. Meanwhile, it serves a community of over 1.8 billion people, with a market cap of more than 3 trillion USD and potential growth of up to 3.69 trillion in 2023. Besides, the ethics and values of Shariah finance can benefit the whole decentralized world.

So we decided to empower the community by building an ethics-first Shariah-compliant financial technology that enables seamless daily transactions while supporting innovation and philanthropy, as 10% of every minted coin goes to evergreen DAO.

Talking about inclusion, how can we do a better job at boosting it globally? Is blockchain one of the solutions?

First, we should add a purpose to serve the community to any project we do, as no economic sustainability can be achieved without that. A blockchain is an excellent reliable, traceable tool, making it a good booster of all solutions.

What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to create sustainable, socially significant projects?

I must repeat, money is only a tool, not the final aim. So let's all focus on adding value and making the world a better place to live.

Remember that the modern world is facing a higher inflation rate than ever, and people are hungry for sustainability.

Don't focus on quick results: sustainability requires patience and consistency.