Bank of Indonesia outlines three priorities to connect women-led halal businesses with global markets

Bank of Indonesia published a conference update positioning women’s empowerment as an economic development strategy and setting out a cross-sector collaboration agenda to strengthen Indonesia’s halal ecosystem and expand access to global halal markets. The remarks were delivered at the Indonesia Conference on Women and Sharia Community Empowerment (ICWSCE) x International Halal Lifestyle Conference (INHALIFE) 2025 in Jakarta. The programme, run in synergy with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and the Indonesia Halal Lifestyle Centre, prioritises halal food and beverages, modest Muslim fashion and halal cosmetics. Bank Indonesia set three goals with its partners: build national and global collaborative networks of female Muslimpreneurs, increase women’s business capacity and literacy with emphasis on access to finance, halal certification and business digitalisation, and develop women-led community-based halal business ecosystems to support job creation and halal market expansion. The release highlighted that women manage more than 64% of Indonesia’s micro, small and medium enterprises, which employ more than 117 million workers (about 97% of the labour market), and cited the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2024/25 estimate of global halal consumption at USD2.5tn, projected to reach USD3.36tn by 2028.