History

History
2005

2005

  • The 1st World Islamic Economic Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur. This was an important shift that allowed the WIEF to fully focus on promoting business collaborations, building bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, and steering the world towards peace and prosperity.
  • WIEF Businesswomen Network (WBN), a pillar of the Foundation that supports women entrepreneurs, was established.
2006

2006

  • WIEF Foundation was established on 6 March to institutionalise the WIEF. A permanent secretariat, led by the Hon. Tun Musa Hitam, the Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, was set up in Kuala Lumpur.
  • The 2nd WIEF was held in Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • Two pillars, WIEF Education Trust (WET) and WIEF Young Leaders Network (WYN), were launched.
2008

2008

  • The Foundation marked its first WIEF in the Middle East. The 4th WIEF was held in Kuwait.
2011

2011

  • WIEF Roundtable Series (WRT) was established as an extension of the annual WIEF and held in between the annual forum to help markets address their unique economic challenges as well as explore new opportunities. The first WIEF Roundtable was held in Bahrain.
  • Three more WIEF Roundtables were held in three more cities of Istanbul, Moscow and Johannesburg.
  • WIEF marked its first forum in Central Asia. The 7th WIEF was held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
2013

2013

  • WIEF marked its first forum outside of the Muslim world. The 9th WIEF was held in London, the United Kingdom.
2014

2014

  • The 10th WIEF was held in Dubai with new additions to the Forum such as IdeaPad, and Business Exchange. Both remain to be platforms where startups pitch to potential investors and for business networking, respectively.
2016

2016

  • The 12th WIEF returned to Jakarta for the second time since 2009, due to popular demand within the region.
2018

2018

  • Adapting to the economic volatility as well as political changes happening in the international and domestic arenas, the WIEF Foundation concentrated on developing its pillars’ initiatives. Thus, this year came to be known as the year of initiatives for the Foundation.
  • For the first time, WIEF’s boutique startup conference, Idealab, was held outside Malaysia.
2019

2019

  • WBN launched its inaugural initiative #iEmPOWER in December, that aims to boost a holistic entrepreneurial spirit in readiness for a new decade.
2020

2020

  • After 9 years in 13 countries, WIEF Roundtable Series (WRT) was held in Malaysia for the first time.
  • WIEF POWERTALK, a series designed to spreading inspiring thoughts and ideas based on updates and trends of the current economic global condition, was launched during the Roundtable in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
2021

2021

  • Tun Musa Hitam, the first Chairman of WIEF Foundation stepped down after assuming the role in 2006 and Tan Sri Dr Syed Hamid Albar took over. Tun Musa became Chairman of the Foundation’s International Advisory Board.
  • Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak resigned as the Foundation’s Secretary General to assume the role of Governor of Penang and was replaced by Tan Sri Mohd Radzi Abdul Rahman.
  • Digitalisation: Pathways for Innovative Transformation. An annual theme is being used for the first time as a comprehensive way to tie together the Foundation’s programmes highlighting very current issue affecting and influencing the global economy.