A New Somali state of Mind

[General Duke]

"To get rich is glorious." -- Deng Xiaoping

 

The Somali's are thriving in East Africa, its time to double up on this success and tarsnform our fortunes as a people.

 

[General Duke]

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The whole of East Africa shops in Eastleigh,” Mohammed Abdi Mohammed, a Kenyan Somali businessman confidently asserts. In the mid-1990s, he owned a textile shop in Garissa Lodge, a giant trading complex. “I would get clients from Kampala, Arusha and Bujumbura and also Nairobi Indians. Business was good. Sometimes, I would make KSh 200,000 ($2,700) in a day,” he says.

 

Kenya’s big banks, including the foreign multinationals, have cashed in on the neighbourhood’s boom; nowhere else in the country does Barclays Bank, for example, keep a branch open seven days a week.

 

Somalis, operating intricate networks meshed along the spine of the hawala global money-transfer system, have become perhaps east Africa’s premier traders.

 

Little stalls source their products directly from warehouses in China or Indonesia where they have agents, undercutting most other traders in the region who have now turned to Eastleigh, particularly for their textile and electronic imports.

FT....SOURCE

[Somalina]

Thanks for sharing that report.

[caydarus]

maxad u soo sawiriwaydey islii wasakh deedi sxb inti fiicneyd le soo qadatey.

[General Duke]

^^^Its going to get much better.

[Jiiroow Bakaal]

Waxaas waa laga dhacayaa sidii 1984 looga dhacay xoolahoodii khaasatan reer Mugadishu bal mey dhulkooda maal gashadaan

 

 

Kaaga daran Somalida ganacsigooda badanaa iyaguu ka dhaxeeyaa

[General Duke]

^^^Not anymore, the Kenyan's and even the Asians are now customers of the Somali's.

[General Duke]

Somali Refugees in Eastleigh

[Valenteenah.]

Money, after qabiil, of course, is the lifeblood of Somalis. I get shocked when I see islaamo who manage, through hagbad, to extract savings of £5-10k from their humble caydh. Outstanding walaahi.

 

Could the pressure and weight of supporting so many family members back home be what forces most people to try and make as much money as possible?

[General Duke]

^^^The qabil is an advantage and our natural ability to trade will transform the Somali brand.

[General Duke]

 

Amina Moghe Hersi (Somali: Aamina Mooge Xirsi, Arabic: أمينة موجي هرسي‎) (b. 1963) is an award-winning Somali entrepreneur. She has launched several multi-million dollar projects in Kampala, Uganda,[1] such as the luxury mall the Oasis Centre and the Laburnam Courts. She also runs Kingstone Enterprises Limited, one of the largest distributors of cement and other hardware materials in Kampala.[2]

 

[Valenteenah.]

^ Wow. She sounds like a powerhouse. Masha'Allah.

[General Duke]

 

by Devapriyo Das

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

 

Their history is knit with episodes of devastation – war and hunger. They have been accused of offering a safe haven to Al Qaeda terrorists. And recently, they have redefined the art of piracy, in which large ships have been captured and released after huge ransom payouts.

 

Yet, despite their shattered hopes back home, the Somali community in Uganda has taken the economic landscape by storm, enjoying a commendable share of the country’s fuel industry, among other sectors. DEVAPRIYO DAS looks at this business community.

 

GOOD SOURCING

 

Hassan Ahmed, a Ugandan Somali, and Director of the prominent Somali-owned City Oil franchise, hints at the secret behind Somalis’ success in business. “Somalis have always had links to many areas of the world”, he says.

 

“With that link, they are able to have very good sourcing. Every time you source well, it will result in benefitting the consumer, because you are able to bring the costs down.”

 

That strategy bodes well with Uganda’s consumers who depend heavily on imports but whose purchasing power is low. It also explains why Somali businesses have become an accepted part of Uganda’s commercial life, covering essential services like fuel stations, foreign exchange, money transfer, and supermarkets.

 

FUEL STATIONS

 

Ahmed reveals that City Oil was formed in the 1980s as Mandela Auto Spares, and started by selling spare parts. The company then graduated to selling tyres, before realising it could capture a larger market by setting up fuel stations.

 

“If you look at our stations, they are not your typical stations”, says Ahmed. “They are giving auxillary services that complement fuel.”

Today, there are various Somali owned petrol station chains, including Hashi Empex, Hass Petroleum and Hared.

 

It is a competitive market, especially as global oil prices have followed no perceivable logic in the past 18 months; which also means the auxillary services provided by chains like City Oil have not automatically led to more customers in these difficult times.

 

“The public has been very sensitive to price,” Ahmed remarks. “We find that it’s very difficult to sell fuel if you don’t have the right price at the pump.”

 

Following the liberalisation of the fuel market in Uganda, Somali fuel enterprises have helped make prices more competitive. “Right now the (profit) margins are at their lowest point”, Ahmed observes.

 

He believes that even if Uganda commercially exploits and refines its crude oil reserves locally, Somali fuel stations would remain in business. “Because that fuel still needs to be pumped into vehicles”, he says. “A network needs to exist”.

 

HISTORIC LINKS

 

It is a network built carefully over time. The first Somalis to settle in Uganda came in colonial times, as the so-called Somali Scouts in the imperial British Army. Many stayed on and assumed Ugandan citizenship, with large numbers working in the meat industry.

 

Thousands are believed to have left the country during Idi Amin’s rule, returning only under the NRM Government in 1986.

 

The current conflict in Somalia has witnessed an influx of refugees into Uganda. Some have been settled in camps such as Nakivaale in Western Uganda, while others have been absorbed by relatives living in Kisenyi and surrounding areas.

 

Many have prospered, while some, like construction queen Amina Hersi Moghe, owner of the multi-million-dollar Oasis Centre and Laburnum Courts in Kampala, have defied gender and cultural stereotypes to become spectacularly successful. In fact, Ms Hersi was named Woman Investor of the Year 2008 by the Uganda Investment Authority.

 

GOOD RATES

 

Being a resilient people, Somalis have prospered because they are willing to take risks and accept smaller profits. Yassin Mattan, Head of Business Affairs for the Somali Community Association in Uganda, explains that when it comes to trade, “everyone wants to be very competitive in terms of the pricing factor, so it’s the margin that people are looking for.

 

While some people are looking for a higher margin, these guys [somalis] are looking for a lower margin. They’re looking at the turnover.”

Hassan Mohammed Hersi, for example, has been Manager of Half East Forex Bureau on Kampala Road, for 11 years.

 

“The business of exchange is all about competition and it’s very tough business,” he says. “It needs experience, needs also capital, and needs you to be a well-known person in the business for a long time.”

 

Born and bred in Uganda, with many business contacts, Hersi felt he could profitably run a forex business.

Today, most of his clients are Indian and Chinese traders involved in high-volume import-export businesses. “It’s all about your rates,” he responds, when asked how he attracts and retains his customers.

 

“People know you through your rates, what good service you give them, how your location is, security, all that. [but] if your rate is the best, they will come and buy from you and sell to you.”

 

BREAKING GROUND

 

Yassin Mattan himself took a risk by engaging in commercial farming, a first for Uganda’s Somali community. “I saw it as an opportunity, this lack of commercial farmers in Uganda,” Mattan says, “and the potential was there both as a business, and at the same time, for

providing food security for the country.”

 

Today, his Kayunga-based Maple Farms employs 40 people, utilises scientific farming practices, concentrates on growing maize and basmati rice over 140 acres, and is generating roughly 50 tons of food grain per year via two annual harvests.

 

Most of the crop is sold locally as internal demand -exacerbated by food shortages and sales of Ugandan harvests in neighbouring markets like South Sudan - has skyrocketed.

 

Recently, the Somali community in Uganda announced it would earmark Shs1.4 billion to further expand food grain production in Kayunga.

 

As Somalis continue to invest in Uganda’s burgeoning small and medium enterprise sector and contribute a growing share of taxes, it becomes clear: this is a community that is thriving and here to stay.

 

devapriyo_das@yahoo.co.in devapriyo_das@yahoo.co.in This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

[General Duke]

Aden Mohammed is a prominent Somali banker and entrepreneur. He is the Managing Director of Barclays Bank in East and West Africa. - wiki

[General Duke]

 

The rise, fall and rise of Uganda’s rich

 

Hussein Shire

 

He’s one of the quiet tycoons. He keeps out of sight and hates showing off his wealth. But when he walks into a room, his very presence whiffs of wealth.

 

Shire is the owner and CEO of Gateway, one of the largest bus companies in the country - with more than 100 buses operating all over Uganda.

 

Gateway is also the only Ugandan company that operates a service to Kenya.

 

Born in Tororo, Shire, a Somali by origin started his career in the transport industry, ferrying passenger in a blue Peugeot 504 car along the Tororo – Malaba highway.

 

Besides this, he also had a grocery shop in Tororo town, and would sell sodas and ice (barafu) to travellers.

 

To date he still owns the shop.

 

With profits from the Peugeot and the shop, Shire bought a kamunye and a trailer. Years later, he established the Gateway Bus Company, which is a runaway success. -