Personal finance thread

[Baashi]

Pujah dhuubo-dhex-yar stands on her ground. Unlike the tomboy, she is true to her faith. Interests are interests however you look at them and according to Qur’anic directives are haram. This discussion is about Sidee xeego loo xagtaa, ilkana u nabad galaan

 

True as refugees/new arrivals we are facing monumental challenges that range from language barrier, forbidden diet, and unfriendly system to our religious practices. The Somalis I have seen in this side of the globe are doing relatively well.

 

Serenity awoowe here in Uncle Sam's territory we don't have the luxury of doing biz with Sharia complaint banks. Good for you though.

 

My man ThePoint send me the cash and I will hook you up . Seriously though, Africa and East Africa in particular is teaming with profitable ventures that are hard to resist. I know two areas that are so profitable you wouldn't believe me: Drug industry (medicine) and sugar imports from Brazil.

 

Hotel industry and Money wiring are also very profitable. In any case Somali biz are in their infancy and it will take some time to get tidy them up and bring up to speed and up to the western standards. But then again by the time we get there -- the overhead will be so high the profit margin will drop significantly as a result -- it will be too late to make it big.

 

It should be noted that what happen to Dalsan Money Wiring group is a possibility. Millions of dollars and I mean millions with the M have evaporated without no trace. Humongous risk I agree.

[Paragon]

My man ThePoint send me the cash and I will hook you up . Seriously though, Africa and East Africa in particular is teaming with profitable ventures that are hard to resist. I know two areas that are so profitable you wouldn't believe me: Drug industry (medicine) and sugar imports from Brazil.

Medicine wey ku deysey, Baashi. I've been to chemists and talk to old friends who own them. They say bank on medical equipments shipped under charity status. That's where the big buck is in lately.

 

As for sugar; it never loses market.

[Baashi]

No brother. I'm in that biz. It is legit with government licenses. We had an attorney, an accountant, and employed Kenyan chemists. It is very profitable as of Dec.'07.

[ElPunto]

^Interesting. I'm not getting it though. Everyone can obtain cheap medicine and sugar. If folks are making good money - everyone will jump in and then only the fittest survive with much reduced margins.

[Cara.]

^Everyone can obtain cheap medicine? You must be on something yourself

[Paragon]

Baashiyoow, since you are already involved in it you are more privy to that sector. But Kenya's business opportunity is forever changing - the reason why I said medicine ku deysey waxa weeye, while we're inquiring about this line of business, it was becoming apparent that many others were going to follow suit. The funny thing is every day more and more chemists are poping out- its becoming the family must have business. It is truly astonishing, to say the least.

 

The housing sector in Nairobi property ladder is also suffering from same copycat acts. Going around some empty lands to scouts for plots, it was amazing to witness the sort of land buying Somalis in Diaspora are undertaking. The speed of purchase is too risky to guarantee sustained property value. Overheating, thats what I would say. Soon you might be looking at something similar to London's net-cafe-revolution in the late 90s, which involved Somalis opening so many net cafe's next to each other so as to drive price and each other to the ground. The real value of the land and the inflated prices do not match!

[Baashi]

Qallanjo Cara is on the money. ThePoint go sip some shaah -- a treat from awoowe Baashi. Get ur caffiene fill? Super.

 

You gotta have capital on hand and patronage in Kenyan officials to make things happen for you. We're talking about substantial amount of money bro.

[ElPunto]

^ @ Cara. Who isn't! Am I supposed to believe you're that perky naturally?

[ElPunto]

Patronage! Bah! You should've said so from the beginning Baashi. I've no truck with asz kissing and endless hat-in-hand requests.

 

J11 - exactly. Whenever someone is making outsize profits everyone will jump in - you gotta have a lean operation to survive. And those outsize profits will only be around so long.

[Baashi]

I hear you my man J11. However, biz as you know is a self regulating industry. Market will render its judgment pretty soon. Those who don't have base and market to serve or for that matter quality product will lose to market share to the ones that get things right.

 

As to the real estate biz awoowe this is one sector you would never lose. Real estate is "the" biz to be in.

 

As to the copy cat scenerio awoowe at minimum our folks will learn ups and downs of the biz. It takes a shrewd person to be successful in this area.

 

Let them play with their money. They will trip, dust off, and stand up. They will learn the robes after they fail or they will make it. I would rather have ambitious, assertive, and driven Somali going it alone than no-gooder and broke person doin critique from his /her 9 to 5 day job.

[ElPunto]

^LOL @ "than no-gooder and broke person doin critique from his /her 9 to 5 day job."

 

Is that directed at the rest of us?

 

It seems I must check out for myself sometime the goings on in these places. Gotta separate fact from massive Somali style exaggeration. Perhaps I will actually step foot in Somalia too.

[Paragon]

^^Lol. Not all of us. Its directed particularly at you .

[Baashi]

^No awoowe. As a matter of fact, I'm in one now. Gotta put food on the table ya know. 9/5 crew are working folks trying to make the ends meet. That's a wonderful sxb.

 

Don't you go to Somalia plz. Not now. It is not stable YET. Check UAE or East Africa first. There you will find a system that you can work with.

 

Yes go out of NA and see places. The potential and possibilities of doing biz is def there.

[NASSIR]

^I like to do business in third world countries but the fundemental rules of market economics and property rights fails there. If you read the book by the Peru-born Hernando De Soto, The Mystery of Capital, you will find (and I agree with him) that the problem in third world countries is the absence of the system of representation or identity.

 

There is an ample opportunity for us to improve and strengthen our legal system.

 

 

This is what he says:

 

So the important thing about a capitalist system is that it's a system of representations. Therefore it's a little bit like when I go to the United States. People ask me for my identity, and I say: "My identity is me. I mean, look at my face. I am Hernando de Soto." But the man at the U.S. immigrations just says, "Look, give me your passport."

 

The reason that things travel so well in the market economy of the United States, and values travel from one place to another, is because they all have passports. And the real value is like my identity. It's not in me; it's in my passport. Real value to pay the hotel room is not in me; it's in the credit card. And so what happens is that this system by representation, it requires of course that all the representations -- the credit cards, the passports, the IDs, the property titles, and the shares -- be organized by a system of law that allows people to be able to trust what they're dealing with.

[Nehanda]

Are any of SOL members self-employed? Would be a great opportunity to share best practice on starting up a small business.