A Bank to Serve the Ummah: an IDB Story

From a 19-storey tower in Jeddah, the offices of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) overlook the Red Sea toward over half of all countries in the world where the multilateral development financing institution aspires to continue transforming the landscape of human development through “providing resources, fighting poverty, restoring human dignity”.

The location of the ‘beloved’ supranational Islamic finance entity is no accident. The visionary founders deliberately chose this geographical area to build the office tower.

From that land, which holds the holiest sites, Islam was spread all over the globe. Touching people’s lives all over 56 member countries and nearly 70 non-member countries’ communities, the IDB keeps on fostering the economic development and social progress as well as bridging the inequality between rich and poor nations.

The world has come across many wars since the establishment of the IDB in the 1970s. In spite of wars and the change of governments in our Islamic world, the IDB remains neutral, unifying its member countries by stimulating economic and social progress in the Islamic communities. The IDB is a catalyst for human development in these communities, regardless of any transformation in the political spectrum and will always be true to the people of these nations as they realize that the multilateral institution will safeguard their interest against commercially-driven banks.

Over the decades, the IDB has fostered growth and employment through infrastructure projects “connecting travel links, providing safe water and generating power”.

This intricate corporate culture weaved in elements of peace and development prosperity oozes throughout the whole organization.
What an organizational culture the IDB Group has, where professionals from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds are mandated to work together in order to “serve the Ummah” as they like to motivate themselves.