East Africa International Islamic Finance Conference
Tokenisation & Financial Inclusion
How Shariah-compliant tokenised markets open real ownership to women and youth, with ShareMatch, the world’s first Shariah-compliant sports investment market, as a live case study.
Dr Aya Eissa
Shariah Board Director, ShareMatch
1.5bn
Addressable users worldwide
US$4tn+
Global Islamic finance industry
146m
Monthly fans via FootballCo
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation represents ownership of a real-world asset as a digital token on a public blockchain. The certificate, the registry and the settlement system collapse into a single programmable record.
Fractional
A whole asset can be divided into affordable units. Ownership starts at the price of a cup of coffee, not at a brokerage minimum.
Liquid
Tokens transfer and settle in seconds, around the clock, without layers of intermediaries reconciling separate ledgers.
Transparent
Every issuance, holding and transaction is recorded on a public ledger that anyone can audit, at any time.
Programmable
Governance and compliance rules are embedded in the asset itself, enforced by code rather than by paperwork.
Mobile money digitised payments. Tokenisation digitises ownership.
The financial inclusion gap
Access to markets has traditionally required wealth, paperwork and proximity to institutions. Each barrier compounds for women and for young people.
1.4bn
Adults worldwide remain unbanked
World Bank Global Findex
Majority
Of the world's unbanked are women
World Bank Global Findex
~19
Africa's median age, the world's youngest
UN population data
1.5bn
People seek finance consistent with Islamic principles
ShareMatch addressable market
The barriers are structural
- Minimum balances and fees designed for the wealthy
- Paperwork and proximity requirements that exclude the informal economy
- Products built around conventional finance, incompatible with faith principles
- Complexity and jargon that punish first-time participants
The gap is not a lack of demand. It is a lack of products built for the people the system was never designed to reach.
Tokenisation is inclusion infrastructure
Access by phone, not by wealth
Fractional units and mobile-first design mean the entry ticket is a smartphone. The same rails that banked a generation through mobile money can now carry ownership.
Trust that is structural
On a public ledger, trust does not depend on an institution's reputation. Anyone can verify holdings and transactions. That matters most where trust in intermediaries is lowest.
Faith-compatible by design
Shariah governance can be embedded from inception rather than retrofitted. Markets can welcome people on their own terms, from the first line of code.
The East African precedent
Access to M-PESA lifted an estimated 194,000 Kenyan households out of extreme poverty, with the strongest gains for women (Suri & Jack, Science, 2016). Tokenisation extends that rail from payments to ownership.
Why women and youth gain most
Women
Women make up the majority of the world’s unbanked, and mobile-first finance consistently shows its largest gains for women. Products that remove branch visits, minimum balances and gatekeepers remove the barriers women face most often.
Youth
Digital natives with small starting capital. Fractional assets match a first pay-cheque, and familiar passions like sport are a natural on-ramp to first-time ownership and financial literacy.
Inclusion is not a discount product. It is the same market, made reachable.
ShareMatch: the world’s first Shariah-compliant sports investment market
Users build portfolios of tokenised assets across global sports indices, from domestic football leagues to international tournaments. A fair market for everyone, Shariah Compliant.
Live on Solana
Real users, building real portfolios, today. Every transaction settles and is recorded on-chain.
Prices set by the market
Prices are discovered by supply and demand among participants, with continuous two-way liquidity.
HAL AI
A built-in analyst that explains markets and portfolios in plain language, education at the point of use.
No crypto complexity
Custodial wallets mean no seed phrases and no jargon. Users sign up the way they would for any modern app.
Inclusion by design
Every barrier in the inclusion gap has a deliberate answer in the product.
Low minimums
Fractional entry designed for first-time investors, not just established ones. A first position can match a first pay-cheque.
Mobile-first
The full market runs in the browser and on mobile, with native apps next. No branch, no broker, no gatekeeper.
Plain-language guidance
HAL AI answers “what am I holding?” without jargon. Financial education is embedded where decisions are made.
Local payment rails
The payments roadmap spans cards, stablecoins and regional rails, including East Africa's mobile-money ecosystem, meeting users on rails they already trust.
Distribution through the world’s game
ShareMatch has signed a launch partnership with FootballCo, the world’s largest football media company, anchored by Kooora, MENA’s leading Arabic football platform.
146m
Monthly football fans reached across MENA
12
Markets, from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Egypt and Morocco
No.1
Kooora, the leading Arabic football platform
Financial inclusion fails when products wait for people to find them. Football is where the region’s youth already are, so the market meets them there.
From live market to global infrastructure
Live now
- Platform live and trading on Solana
- Formal Fatwa and standing Shariah governance
- HAL AI analysis across markets and portfolios
Next
- Mobile apps and general availability
- FootballCo activation across MENA
- Wider local payment rails
Beyond
- GCC and global market expansion
- New tokenised asset classes
- Deeper regional partnerships, including Africa
A fair market for everyone, Shariah Compliant
Tokenisation will not close the inclusion gap on its own. Governance decides who it serves. Built with Shariah governance from inception, it becomes ownership infrastructure for everyone.
Explore the live market · sharematch.me
Prepared for EAIIFC 2026 · East Africa International Islamic Finance Conference · Zanzibar · © ShareMatch 2026