Brimstone's Mustaq Brey announced business person of the year at the Islamic Finance Business Awards

Mustaq Brey, founder and CEO of JSE listed Brimstone Investment Corporation was announced as the Business Person of the Year at the prestigious IslamicFinance Business Awards at a function held at the Wanderers Country Club in Johannesburg on Friday 2nd November. The awards recognise excellence, and the contribution by the Muslim community to both the economy and broader South African society. 
 
“I am elated and humbled at receiving this prestigious award and I hope that it will at act as a stimulus for other young and emerging entrepreneurs to strive and achieve their goals,” says Brey.
 
Besides his role as CEO of Brimstone, Brey also serves on the boards of Life Healthcare, Nedbank, Oceana Fishing Group, Sea Harvest Corporation, Lion of Africa Insurance Company Limited, and Imperial Bank, amongst others.  He serves on the audit committee of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and was a director of the Post Office, chairing their Audit Committee.
 
Brey’s approach in business has never seen him sacrifice his firm religious beliefs. He is a devout Muslim and is actively involved in the community. He is Chairman of the Imam Abdullah Haroon Educational Trust and also served on the Yusufiah Mosque Committee, the Douglas Road Primary School PTA, and the Constantia Muslim Cemetary Board. He has been integral in the startup and management of many NGO’s including League of Friends of the Blind (LOFOB) and Beit-ul-Amaan (a home for the aged and destitute). Brey is chairman of the audit committee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
 
Brey regularly acts as convenor to spiritual camps aimed at uplifting the spiritual foundation of society. He initiated a thikr (spiritual) group which meets regularly at his home, and has successfully managed to encourage younger members to be part thereof.
 
While Brey walked away with the coveted award to an individual, the winner of the Business Entity of The Year Award went to Willowton Oil & Cake Mills, a company which has achieved significant financial success as well as sustainable growth.  The final award of the evening went to the South African National Zakah Fund, which took home the Community Corporate Social Investment Award. The fund is an organisation founded in 1974 in Rustenburg for poverty alleviation and community development.
 
Ebrahim Patel, CEO of IslamicFinance, which is part of the FirstRand Group, commented: “Their standards, ethics, humility, success and vision of serving one another are examples to us all. We are encouraged by both the growth in the number of the nominations and the quality of the nominees received for this year’s awards.”
 
Nominations for the awards were received from all sectors across the country.  A highly qualified panel of judges headed by Yunus Suleman of KPMG South Africa selected the winners in the three different categories after lengthy deliberations. “We continue to see entries from large businesses, but would really like to encourage smaller and medium enterprises, as well as women, to participate in the awards next year,” added Suleman.
 
Winner of the 2006 Business Person of the Year, Solly Noor said, “The Awards are a watershed for the community.  We have seen tonight that more people from the community have been recognised for their achievements and the difference they have made to society at large”.
 
Ebrahim Rasool, Premier of the Western Cape, said: “I congratulate the finalists and the winners on being recognised for their outstanding achievements.” 
 
“Muslim business people have the ability to impact positively on a socio-economic and geo-political level because the combined Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) share of the World Export Trade is less than 10 percent, but with 31 percent of the world’s population in OIC countries, it has 70 percent of the world energy supply and 40 percent of the world’s raw materials,” added Patel.
 
“However, the challenge to all Muslim business people is our commitment to the Maqasid (Higher Objectives) of our faith which must lead us to new markets for trade, new destinations for investment, new sources of raw materials, new places to visit new technologies for innovation and progress and new approaches to sustainability,” concludes Patel.