The launch event for the services of the Maldives Zakat House on oneGov has been held at the Islamic Centre. This event marks the launch of the services of the Zakat House on the oneGov platform.

The event took place in the Conference Hall of the Islamic Centre, featuring the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, as the Chief Guest. 

Also in attendance were the Managing Director of Tradenet, Ms. Saeeda Umar; the Director General of Zakat House, Izzudeen Adnan; members of the Tradenet and Zakat House teams; as well as representatives from the Islamic Ministry.

The first service of the Maldives Zakat House to be launched on oneGov is Medical Assistance through Zakat Fund; a service that provides additional financial aid to those in need for medical purposes. 

Below are the key points of discussion at the event.

The Managing Director’s Speech

The Managing Director of Tradenet, Ms. Saeeda Umar began her speech at the event by noting that this marked the onboarding of yet another new government entity onto oneGov, making it even more comprehensive and useful to the citizens who use it.

More Citizen-Centric Services

Ms. Umar went on to state that this event marked a special milestone for her and the Tradenet team as we were celebrating the onboarding of a wholly citizen-centric service onto the oneGov platform.

She elaborated that from its inception to today, oneGov has seen more business-focused services be brought onboard. However, she stated that this is a very welcome change.

Ms. Umar also expressed her hope that onboarding the Zakat House services onto oneGov will make these services more accessible, simple, and efficient for citizens from all parts of the Maldives. She added that she was pleased to see oneGov’s ongoing development into a platform that is more and more capable of meeting the needs of the average citizen.

She then thanked the hard work done by the Zakat House and Tradenet teams in onboarding the Zakat House services onto oneGov.

MOU with the Islamic Ministry

The Managing Director also spoke about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the Islamic Ministry earlier this year. This MOU was signed with the agreement that more of the Ministry's services needed to be digitalised and made available through oneGov.

Ms. Umar voiced her hopes that additional services from the Ministry would be integrated onto the platform. She expressed confidence that our teams can collaborate to integrate these services into oneGov, allowing us to include the Islamic Ministry among the government entities offering services on the platform.

She then mentioned her hope that services from approximately 17 government entities will be available on oneGov by the end of the year.

Ms. Umar concluded her speech by thanking the Islamic Minister for his support, along with the government for their support for digitalisation initiatives.

The Islamic Minister’s Comments

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed also spoke at the event. He began his speech by stating that this was an important day in the history of the Maldives Zakat House. He then thanked the Tradenet team and assured us that he and his Ministry would work with us to further develop our working relationship and onboard even more services onto oneGov.

Looking Ahead for the Maldives Zakat House

The Minister then stated that the Maldives Zakat House, which was created this year by His Excellency, President Dr. Mohammed Muizzu, as part of his manifesto, is expected to be very productive in the coming year of 2025.

He announced that a physical building for the Zakat House will be built in Hulhumale’, adding that a plot of land has already been selected. The Minister went on to state that work is currently underway to go through the procedures of securing ownership of the land so that construction can begin. 

The eventual goal is to have a dedicated building which can serve as both a physical touchpoint for the services of the Zakat House, along with a modern office space for the staff working for the entity.

Vital Social Lifeline

The Minister also stated that Zakat is the largest social support system in Islam that exists to aid those in need. 

He added that it is the goal of the Ministry to ensure that the recipients of aid from Zakat can receive this aid in the easiest, most direct, and convenient way possible. Digitalising the services offered by the Zakat House will play a key role in making these services more accessible to the citizens who need them the most.

The Minister concluded his statement by thanking the Tradenet team for our cooperation during the onboarding process, our counsel regarding digitalisation, and our capability.

The Director General’s Speech

The final speech of the event was given by the Director General of the Maldives Zakat House, Mr. Izzudeen Adnan. He began by highlighting that the launch of this service on oneGov was the culmination of a lot of hard work, many meetings, collaborative efforts, and exchange of ideas between the Zakat House and Tradenet teams.

Word of Thanks

The Director General then went on to thank the Islamic Minister for his foresight and initiative in deciding to work with Tradenet to digitalise the services of the Zakat House. 

He also thanked the hardworking and diligent teams of Tradenet and the Zakat House, adding that the work done by the focal points on both teams was instrumental in the success of this digitalisation process.

Mr. Adnan also thanked the team from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs for their aid and support during the process.

New Era for the Zakat House

The Director General then expressed hope that the service launch on oneGov is the dawn of a new era for the Zakat House. He elaborated that digitalising the services and making them available to the public via digital tools will greatly enhance the utility of these services for those that need them the most.

He added that he wished to see more Zakat House services come to oneGov and become more accessible to the citizens of the Maldives. 

Mr. Adnan also stated that he hoped to see the Zakat House become even more widely accepted in the Maldives as it works hard to meet international best practice standards.

We want to take this opportunity to welcome the Maldivian Zakat House to the platform. We hope that both applicants and service providers at the Zakat House will greatly benefit from this transition to our unified digital platform.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the Zakat House team for their ongoing communication and collaboration throughout the service study and redesign processes.

The Medical Assistance through Zakat Fund service is now available on oneGov.