Here is a number that changes the conversation quickly: In JAKIM data covering 2021 to April 2023, nearly 72% of halal-certified products in Malaysia belonged to non-Muslim-owned companies. Of 229,204 certified products, 165,026 were owned by non-Muslim companies.
That tends to surprise people.
Because even as the halal industry expands across Malaysia, Indonesia, the GCC and other major markets, some of the assumptions around it have barely moved.
So it is worth separating what the halal industry actually requires from what people assume it requires.
Start with the 72%.
Malaysia is one of the world’s most developed halal markets, yet JAKIM’s published ownership figures showed non-Muslim companies behind the majority of halal-certified products in the dataset.
That is not a loophole. It is how the system works.
A halal certificate is not a certificate of who owns the business. The certification process looks at the product, ingredients, manufacturing process, documentation and halal-management requirements.
JAKIM’s procedure for international manufacturers, for example, allows applications through branches, subsidiaries, importers, distributors, traders and Malaysian agents. The requirements focus on the company, factory, raw materials, Halal Assurance System and required halal personnel.
The owner’s religion is not the product test.
So if a Japanese manufacturer, Chinese supplier or non-Muslim Malaysian founder meets the relevant requirements, being non-Muslim does not automatically keep that company outside the halal market.
The better question is not: “Who owns this business?”
It is: “Can this business meet the standard?”
If halal were a small niche, the numbers would look very different.
DinarStandard’s State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26 estimates Muslim spending on halal food alone at US$1.53 trillion in 2024, with spending projected to reach US$2.06 trillion by 2029.
But food is only one part of the picture.
The wider Islamic economy stretches across:
For businesses, the important part is not simply that Muslim consumers spend money across these categories.
It is what has developed around that demand: certification systems, ingredient requirements, manufacturers, distributors, logistics networks, trade events, regulators and sourcing relationships.
Halal is not just a consumer category. It has become commercial infrastructure.
That is why organisations such as JAKIM appear so frequently in conversations around halal growth.
The market is not simply asking, “Will Muslim consumers buy this?”
Businesses are also asking:
Can I manufacture it compliantly?
Can I source the right ingredients?
Can I export it?
Will my certification be recognised?
Can I find the right distributor?
That is a much bigger conversation than a niche product category.
A manufacturer spends months preparing.
Documents are organised. Ingredients are checked. Internal processes are adjusted. The facility is audited.
Then the certificate arrives.
That is an achievement.
But it is not a sales pipeline.
A halal certificate proves compliance. It does not automatically create visibility, distribution or demand.
What certification can do:
What it cannot do:
This is where GoHalal comes in.
GoHalal takes the next problem seriously: connecting companies after the certification question has been solved.
Through HaNa and GoHalal’s lead generation support, businesses can search for relevant halal companies, identify suppliers, buyers, distributors and partners, and narrow a large market down to companies that actually match what they are looking for.
Instead of saying, “We are certified. Now what?”
The business can start asking:
Who buys this category?
Which distributors already operate in this market?
Which suppliers match this product requirement?
Which companies are actually relevant enough to contact?
Certification can get you through one door.
GoHalal’s lead generation work is about helping you identify who is on the other side of it.
Walk into almost any conversation about halal and food appears first.
There is a reason for that. It is the largest sector.
But “largest” and “only” are not the same thing.
JAKIM’s international manufacturing procedure currently covers five certification schemes:
Food products. Cosmetics. Pharmaceuticals. Consumer goods. Medical devices.
That alone changes the picture.
A skincare manufacturer may need to think about ingredients and formulation.
A pharmaceutical company may need to examine raw materials and manufacturing processes.
A medical-device company can face halal requirements that have nothing to do with what appears on a restaurant menu.
And the commercial scale is growing beyond food too. DinarStandard’s State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26 estimates Muslim spending on pharmaceuticals at US$112 billion in 2024 and cosmetics at US$92 billion.
Food may be the largest part of the halal industry. It is not a useful definition of the entire industry.
For businesses, that distinction matters.
If you work in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods or medical devices, assuming halal is somebody else’s F&B issue can mean overlooking certification, sourcing or market requirements that apply directly to your own category.
The better question is: “Does halal matter to the product, supply chain and market we are operating in?”
This is where businesses sometimes misunderstand what certification is for.
Halal certification is not a badge that can be added to anything simply because a company wants to appeal to Muslim customers. It exists for products, premises and services that fall within recognised certification scopes and where halal compliance can actually be assessed. JAKIM’s Halal Malaysia system certifies defined categories of products, premises and services rather than every type of business activity.
Think about the difference:
Not every product has a halal version and a non-halal version.
So if you sell laptops, software or another product where halal status has no meaningful connection to what the product contains or how the relevant certification standard applies, the answer is not automatically, “We should get halal certified.”
There may simply be no relevant halal certification case for that product in the first place.
This one is not complicated.
The gender of the person who owns the company has nothing to do with whether the business can get halal certified.
The assessment is about the business and the product: what goes into it, how it is produced, how ingredients and materials are handled, whether the required processes are followed, and whether the company meets the relevant certification standard.
Whether the founder is a man or a woman does not change any of that.
A woman can own a food manufacturer. She can build a cosmetics brand. She can run a pharmaceutical company.
She can apply for halal certification when her product falls within the relevant certification scope.
Halal certification assesses compliance, not the gender of the person signing the company documents.
So if a woman-owned business is considering certification, the useful questions are the same ones any other business should be asking:
“Is the owner a woman?” is simply not one of them.
Picture the business most people associate with halal certification.
Large factory.
Compliance department.
Export division.
Several people who can spend their week handling documentation.
Now picture a small Malaysian producer with eight employees.
The second company may have fewer resources.
That does not automatically make it ineligible.
JAKIM’s certification structure itself recognises different business sizes, including:
That distinction matters.
Small companies are not trying to squeeze themselves into a system designed only for multinationals. They are already recognised inside the certification structure.
The challenge is different.
For the multinational, one missing supplier document may become another item for the compliance department.
For the small business, the founder might be the compliance department.
The same person may be dealing with suppliers, sales, production, payroll and certification at the same time.
That makes the process feel heavier. But “harder to resource” and “not allowed” are two completely different things.
Put these assumptions next to each other and they start contradicting themselves.
Halal is supposedly only for Muslim-owned businesses, yet non-Muslim companies hold huge numbers of certified products.
It is supposedly only for large companies, yet certification structures explicitly recognise small and medium businesses.
It is supposedly only about food, while cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and medical devices sit inside the conversation too.
Every company supposedly needs certification to sell into Muslim markets.
Yet many do not.
And once a company finally becomes certified, the market is supposedly waiting.
It usually is not.
The biggest myth may be that “halal” is one simple business category with one simple set of rules.
It is a network of standards, regulators, product categories, suppliers, manufacturers, buyers, distributors and markets.
And businesses can get stuck at different points inside that network.
One company needs certification.
Another needs the right halal-certified ingredient.
Another already has the certificate but cannot find relevant distributors.
Another is trying to enter Malaysia and does not know which companies actually buy its category.
That is the gap GoHalal is built around.
GoHalal combines halal-industry data, HaNa’s search and matchmaking capabilities, Halal Consultation, and direct lead generation to help businesses move from a broad market to a more useful list of companies.
A supplier can look for buyers.
A buyer can search for relevant halal-certified suppliers.
A brand entering a new market can identify distributors or partners.
And a company that already knows exactly what it needs can use GoHalal’s lead generation support to turn that requirement into a more targeted business search.
Because certification and connectivity solve different problems.
The certificate tells the market you meet the standard. The next challenge is making sure the right part of that market can actually find you.
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