A different way to finance: the startup bringing halal finance to Aotearoa
Sadia Islam | Nashrr
After watching families struggle to find finance that aligned with their beliefs, Sadia Islam is building Nashrr to make ethical, interest-free finance accessible in New Zealand.
For many New Zealanders, getting a mortgage is simply part of buying a home.
For Sadia Islam and many Muslim families, it's not that straightforward.
Conventional lending relies on interest, which makes many financial products incompatible with Islamic principles. Growing up, Sadia watched her own family wrestle with that challenge, while others made the difficult decision to leave New Zealand for countries where halal financial services were available.
Rather than accept that gap, she decided to build a solution.
Today, Sadia is co-founder and CEO of Nashrr, an ethical fintech creating interest-free financial products based on halal finance principles. The goal is to help people buy homes, invest and grow wealth without compromising their values.
"People have traditionally had to choose between participating in the financial system or staying true to their beliefs," she says. "We want to show there's another way."
Although designed with the Muslim community in mind, Sadia believes the principles behind halal finance have much broader appeal.
"We think finance can be fairer for everyone."
Reimagining how finance works
Instead of charging interest, Nashrr uses shared ownership and profit-sharing models that align the interests of investors and homeowners.
For home ownership, investors collectively purchase a share of a property alongside the buyer. Over time, the homeowner gradually buys out that share until they own the property outright, while investors receive returns through rental income rather than interest.
Unlike a traditional mortgage, both parties share in the risks and rewards.
"If property values change, everyone shares that outcome. It's a much more balanced relationship."
The model has existed for centuries in many parts of the world, but bringing it into a modern fintech platform is something Sadia says New Zealand has yet to see.
From medical science to fintech
Finance wasn't Sadia's first career.
She studied medical laboratory science before completing postgraduate business and entrepreneurship studies, and previously built an e-commerce startup, a venture that taught her what it takes to build and operate a business from the ground up
It was through her own family's experience that she recognised an opportunity to solve a problem affecting thousands of New Zealanders.
"We realised no one was building this here, so we decided to have a crack."
That idea led the team through Creative HQ's Ignite Accelerator before joining its Fintech Lab programme, helping refine both the business model and the technology behind the platform.
Building before launching
While Nashrr's beta app has already been developed, the team has deliberately held back from a full public launch while completing New Zealand's financial licensing requirements. Despite that, demand has been strong.
Without any paid marketing, Nashrr has attracted more than 470 people to its waitlist, alongside more than 300 customer surveys that have helped shape the product.
"The question we get asked most is, 'When are you launching?'"
For now, the team's focus is securing the licences and capital required to bring the platform fully to market.
Building a more inclusive financial system
Long term, Sadia sees Nashrr becoming much more than a home finance provider.
The vision includes ethical investment products, vehicle finance, business finance and personal finance—all underpinned by the same principles of shared risk, asset-backed investing and community participation.
Rather than replacing traditional finance, she hopes Nashrr expands the choices available to New Zealanders.
"We're introducing an option that simply doesn't exist today."
For Sadia, success isn't just measured by homes financed or funds invested.
It's about creating a financial system where more people can participate without compromising what matters most to them.