Session Summary
This community talk featured Saqhib Ali presenting Zeropa, a faith-aligned, no-interest microfinance lender offering loans up to £150 for essential needs, with revenue generated through retailer rebates and planned partnerships. Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif introduced three topics: an e-commerce platform for SMEs focusing on food and grocery delivery, seeking customers and leads for the enterprise DevOps partner 10 Decoders for UK expansion, and a concept for a continuous compliance assessment tool aiming to automate evidence gathering for audits. The session concluded with discussions on collaboration opportunities and an internship request from a young participant.
Projects Pitched
Fintech / Microfinance
Zeropa
Presented by Saqhib Ali
A faith-aligned, Sharia-compliant microfinance lender offering no-interest loans up to £150 for essential needs like food, utilities, clothing, furniture, and basic technology. Zeropa serves as an alternative to buy-now-pay-later schemes and illegal money lenders, targeting the 5.7 million low-income people in the UK who collectively owe £14.2 billion in unsecured debt.
Key Highlights
- Zero interest model - revenue generated through retailer rebates (1-25%)
- Over 600 applications since November, 23 loans issued with zero defaults
- Member of Responsible Finance, participated in NatWest and TSB accelerators
- Partnerships with Hot Point/Indesit (25% rebate), Charity Shop Gift Card (10%)
- Target market: 5.7 million low-income people in UK (53% Bangladeshi, 49% Pakistani, 42% African, 26% Indian families)
- Associated charity Mad Stores (registered since 1982) seeking trustees
Investment Ask
Seeking 10-15 investors to commit £10,000-£15,000 each (total £150,000) for business growth, FCA regulation, and lending capital. Alternative option: 12% annual profit share (1% per month) for lenders who prefer not to take equity.
Traction
600+ applications | £110,000+ total application value | 5,000+ unique web visitors | 23 loans issued | 0 defaults | 100% on-time repayment
E-commerce / Technology
E-commerce Platform for SMEs
Presented by Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif
A plug-and-play e-commerce platform designed for the 1.7 million UK SMEs lacking digital presence. The platform focuses on two verticals: food delivery and grocery delivery, offering out-of-the-box features including inventory management, catalog, integrated payments, delivery logistics, and business analytics.
Key Highlights
- Targets 1.7 million UK SMEs without digital presence
- Out-of-the-box features: inventory, catalog, PayPal integration, delivery logistics, business analytics
- Customer owns the code (full source code and IP) - not locked into SaaS vendor
- Can be hosted on customer's own server or cloud environment
- Live implementation in Madurai, India (Fitsuay - nutrition meal delivery)
- Bare minimum store can be set up in 2-3 days
What They're Looking For
Seeking customers (grocery stores and restaurants) and potential technological partnerships. Tiered subscription model being considered for UK market. Potential collaboration with Zeropa to finance e-commerce solutions for small retailers.
Traction
Live implementation in India | Developed by partners with proven track record | Blueprint architecture with modular components
Technology Services / DevOps
10 Decoders - Enterprise DevOps Partner
Presented by Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif
An established enterprise DevOps partner with 200+ engineers specializing in DevOps, data, and AI. Headquartered in Chennai and Maduray, India, with existing clientele in the US, Southeast Asia, and UAE. Now seeking to expand into the UK market through referral partnerships.
Key Highlights
- 200+ DevOps, data, and AI engineers
- Headquarters in Chennai and Maduray, India
- Existing clientele in US, Southeast Asia, and UAE
- Revenue approaching $4-10 million range
- Target verticals: healthcare, fintech requiring secure infrastructure
Partnership Opportunity
Seeking customers and leads in UK market. Offering 5-8% commission for successful referrals with openness to profit sharing. Target deal size: £50,000-£100,000+.
Traction
Established company | International client base | 200+ engineers | Multi-million dollar revenue
Compliance / Security Tech
Continuous Compliance Assessment Tool
Presented by Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif
An AI-powered compliance tool designed to automate evidence gathering for audits. The tool addresses the pain point of last-minute audit preparation that distracts engineering teams from core work, providing a "single pane of glass" for continuous compliance evaluation instead of point-in-time audits.
Key Highlights
- Addresses pain point of last-minute audit preparation for engineering teams
- Automatically queries and gathers evidence from engineering systems using agents
- Single pane of glass for continuous compliance evaluation
- Fills gap in existing products like Vanta (which focus on process but not evidence automation)
- Critical for enterprises adopting AI-based solutions
- Applicable to ISO standards for AI, information security, business continuity, and privacy management
Collaboration Sought
Early stage concept - seeking collaboration and advice from compliance/security experts. Syed Basha (compliance and cyber security expert) has agreed to collaborate on development.
Status
Concept stage | Collaboration with Syed Basha confirmed | Being developed with another organization
Action Items & Next Steps
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Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif will share the presentation for the grocery cart/grow cart model
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Nasar Faridi and Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif will connect to explore IT opportunities
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Syed Basha and Abdul Khader Abdul Hanif will collaborate on the AI-assisted compliance tool
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Rashaad R4 to send CV and be added to investment group for internship opportunities
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Akm Ismail to connect Abdul Khader with Zul for AI/technology expertise
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Saqhib Ali to explore collaboration with small retailers in the community for Zeropa
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Explore potential collaboration between Zeropa and e-commerce platform for financing small retailers