Our Ref: AFED/PR/001/2025 Date: 20th June 2025
In a world where financial innovation often chases profit, a bold initiative emerging from the Indian Ocean coastline in East Africa is reimagining capital through the lens of compassion, equity, and faith. At the 29th Conference of the Africa Federation (AFED) in Mombasa, Kenya, a visionary coalition of like-minded global philanthropists and community leaders announced the launch of the SHINE Endowment Fund — a $5 million shariah-compliant endowment with the potential to redefine how Muslim philanthropy is structured, sustained, and scaled on the night of Eid e Ghadeer.
SHINE, which stands for Supporting Hope, Innovation, and Nurturing Empowerment, captures an ethos. It is a call to shift from temporary relief to permanent solutions, from charitable dependency to community-driven capacity building. It is rooted in the deep moral obligations of Islam — but designed with the modern strategic rigor of ethical finance.
A Different Kind of Capital
The SHINE Fund emerges as a partnership between the Africa Federation and the Global Ambassador Endowment Fund (GAEF) — a collective of philanthropic trusts who have a long track record of working together from North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East, each contributing $1 million. But this is no one-time donation, these investments enable access to a four-year, sharia-compliant revolving financing facility managed by AFED — a mechanism that blends financial sustainability with ethical responsibility.
“This initiative transcends traditional charity by melding faith-based values with strategic investments for social justice,” commented Sadique Jaffer, a founding trustee of the Jaffer Family Foundation from North America in launching the strategy for this groundbreaking initiative. “The SHINE Endowment Fund embodies our commitment to fostering measurable, spiritually grounded change for future generations.”
By maintaining the principal corpus of financial growth designed to finance high-impact projects through structured returns, SHINE is engineered to fund, replenish, and grow the community. The model itself is a response to a long-standing problem in faith-based giving: too often, funds are disbursed with goodwill but little strategy, evaporating once the first round of enthusiasm wanes and no impact measurement after the intervention or vision before.
Faith in Action
What makes this fund exceptional is its deep moral orientation. The SHINE Fund is explicitly rooted in Qur’anic injunctions on excellence (ihsaan), justice (ʿadl), and trust (amāna). It seeks to operationalize these principles through investments in education, vocational training, entrepreneurship, good nutrition and strengthening community infrastructure.
These sectors have been selected as they are levers of transformation. Investing in education doesn't just teach — it liberates. Supporting entrepreneurship doesn’t just create income — it restores dignity. Strengthening healthcare isn’t limited to more equipment for doctors – its about improving the quality of life for humanity from childbirth to the chronic diseases. Each dollar invested is anchored in a belief: that our communities have the talent, the resilience, and the potential — they simply need the tools and mentoring to perfect the use of them.
“This is how we future-proof our community,” said Amine Nassor, Chairman of AFED. “We’re designing solutions that reflect who we are — spiritually, culturally, and economically.”
In many ways, SHINE reflects a post-charity philosophy into social entrepreneurship. It refuses to see the needy as passive recipients. It sees them as rights holders who can be partners in transformation. And in doing so, it flips the traditional donor-beneficiary dynamic on its head.
A Global Model in the Making
This isn’t just an African story — it’s a global Muslim finance case study in the making.
The SHINE Endowment Agreement was negotiated and signed in June 2025 during the conference’s plenary session. Trustees emphasized not just unity across continents, but across philosophies — merging the spiritual aspirations of zakat and waqf with the operational clarity of financial engineering.
Dr. Mohamed Jaffer, CEO of the Jaffer Foundation applauded SHINE’s ability to walk the tightrope between ambition and accountability. “We’ve long known that giving without strategy is just sentiment,” he said. “SHINE shows that we can scale compassion. We can deliver results. And we can do it with integrity.”
Adding to this, Mohamed Taki Jaffer, Chairman of the Jaffer Family Foundation of NY, reflected on the deeper vision behind the commitment:
“As stewards of the blessings we've been given by the Almighty, we have a duty not just to give — but to build ecosystems of opportunity. SHINE does exactly that. It’s not charity for today, it’s equity for generations.”
Mukhtar Karim, CEO of the Lady Fatemah Trust, articulated the collective vision of the ambassadors:
“Utilizing proven and sustainable development models enables us to enhance access to quality education, entrepreneurship, and healthcare, achieving far more collectively than any entity could alone.”
Why It Matters Now
At a time when donor fatigue, economic uncertainty, and social polarization challenge even the best-funded NGOs, SHINE offers something refreshingly durable: a value-driven investment in human potential. It’s not reactive aid. It’s proactive architecture — for a future where no one is left behind simply because they were born into struggle.
It also fills a critical gap in Islamic philanthropy: a bridge between faith and financial literacy, between theological obligation and impact measurement.
As conversations around ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and ethical investing dominate boardrooms and conferences worldwide, SHINE stands as a Khoja response to these global movements — proudly rooted in divine principles, yet fluent in the language of modern finance.
About the Institutions
Africa Federation (AFED), established in 1946, is the regional umbrella organization for Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaats across the African continent. AFED has long been a leader in community development, faith-based service, and intergenerational empowerment.
Jaffer Family Foundation (NY) is a global philanthropic force focused on long-term investments in education, health, and social equity. Under the leadership of Mohammed Taki Jaffer, the Foundation is committed to responsible giving that cultivates dignity, impact, and institutional legacy.
Lady Fatemah Charitable Trust (LFT) is a UK-based humanitarian organization operating in more than 15 countries. With a reputation for innovation, transparency, and measurable outcomes, LFT empowers vulnerable families through education, maternal care, and sustainable livelihood development.
The Jaffer Foundation, founded by Dr. Mohamed H. Jaffer, to enshrine philanthropic and business endeavors originating in East Africa in the 1860s is dedicated to serving humanity through a wide range of charitable activities. Their activities encompass the provision of safe drinking water, strengthen access to nutrition, build on healthcare and educational facilities to drive excellent care giving and the empowerment of youth and women in the community through scaling the entrepreneurial activities they can be trained and mentored to access.
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