To do so, PHI places a strong emphasis in the capacity building of Halal entrepreneurs in order to prepare them to serve wider markets, beginning with an expansion within the country, followed by penetration into regional markets such as ASEAN and finally into international markets such as MENA, EU, North America, Africa and LATAM. Capacity building takes the form of training in a myriad of areas such as Halal certification, the Halal Assurance System, financial management, supply chain management, digital marketing and many more. Thus PHI provides Halal entrepreneurs with a year-long training calendar to help them get up to speed with critical skills and expertise for them to venture into markets beyond.

The next phase in the entrepreneurs journey is market connectivity. Through PHI’s organised events such as the Penang International Halal Expo & Conference (PIHEC) dedicated mainly for B2B and export ready players, and the Penang International Halal Food & Heritage Festival (PIH2F) focused mainly on micro SMEs and restaurateurs, entrepreneurs get the chance to ply their trade in wider markets, promote their products to a diverse group of customers from retailers, wholesalers and investors in domestic and international markets. This is in addition to several other trade events that PHI participates in such as MIHAS, SIBS, Halal Expo and many more.

To further promote Halal food in Penang, PHI established the Halal Penang channel on social media to map all the Halal certified restaurants and eateries in Penang. Halal Penang consists of food vlogs containing food reviews, star rankings, and average budget of meals. This helps facilitate tourists looking for Halal food in Penang, and also helps to promote Halal restaurants and eateries to a wider market.

In our pursuit to nurture the next generation of Halal entrepreneurs who embrace Halal as part of the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) framework, the latest cutting-edge technology for the Halal sector and best practices in corporate governance and financial management, PHI has in store an entrepreneurial leadership program called Global Leadership Program (GLP), in which we invite budding entrepreneurs interested in venturing into the Halal sector for a week-long immersive leadership course that focuses on entrepreneurial leadership, ESG, Halal certification, latest digital technology and best practices in business management. It is our hope that graduates from GLP will become impactful figures in the Halal sector and form an alumni community that continue to strengthen the partnerships between various communities around the world within the Halal sector.