AIS: Given the hard hand of the military dictatorship, this was uncommonly daring?
Dahabshiil: Yes, but I had to do something. I could not see myself idling and, in the long run, letting my energy and ambition in business atrophy.
AIS: Continue then…what became of that?
Dahabshiil: I traveled to Dubai to scout the availability of the specific spare-part items that I had permission to import. I calculated the difference between the cost of the item in Dubai, the cost of transportation to Somalia, and the permitted prices I could sell in Mogadishu. From these calculations, I realized that there will be enough differences to make a decent profit. I began to load these parts in trunks and then flew them to Mogadishu on Somali Airlines. The venture became successful enough for me to pay off all of my previous debts. When that was successfully concluded, I went back to Burao. My purpose was to regenerate the shop without the burden of debt. I decided to visit the Commercial Bank and apply for a loan. I was successful in obtaining the sum of 300,000 Somali shillings. That was not as prohibitive as it may sound. I knew the bank manager.
AIS: Still, that was a substantial amount for that time – what did you do with it?
Dahabshiil: I planned to import rice by way of the “Franco Valuta” practice of those years. However, I didn’t know where to buy rice in overseas markets, nor did I have any idea of how to open a Letter of Credit. I decided to pay a visit to the office of Burao’s Chamber of Commerce. A young employee of the office wrote a note with two words: Bangkok, Thailand. I left the office with that minimal information. Before that, I had traveled to Dubai and brought some goods that, later, I sold in Burao. This activity made it possible for me to buy a small track. With the truck, I decided to drive to Mogadishu – a distance of over 1,000 kilometers.
AIS: By any measure, that is a long journey and with an unpaved and torturous road, to boot!
Dahabshiil: Yes, it was a hard slog and I was also worried a bit because I had all of my cash with me. Notwithstanding these difficulties and apprehensions, I arrived in Mogadishu safely. The next day, I went to the Commercial Bank with a formal note signed by the Minister of Commerce, Colonel Mohamed Ali Shire. I informed the bank official that I wanted to open a Letter of Credit. To my dismay, I was told that before an LC could be authorized, I would need to make established contact and obtain an agreement from a legitimate company overseas. Furthermore, I was advised to go to the only post office in Mogadishu where one could find some information on how to make contact with foreign companies. There I saw a room with lots of people crowded inside it. Apparently, as I realized, that office had the only telex machine for private use. I approached the supervisor with a mixture of humility and charm. He was amenable and gave me the name, address, and telex number of a major company at the time called World Grain, located in Bangkok. In addition, he instructed me to write up my proposed transaction, bring it in the next day, and he would send the telex message for me. I immediately went back to where I was staying and called a young man who wrote in English. Together, we composed a fine letter that asked for an invoice for ten thousand tons of the specific rice brand I was eager to purchase. I took the document to the Commercial Bank. On that day, I was told that my query will be part of a large number of traders who were interested in importing rice. Given my inexperience, I was a bit at a loss. In the end, I was permitted to import only one thousand tons — enough to be covered by the cash I had. While these transactions were being processed, Mr. Jirdeh Hussein, among the leading merchants at that time, delivered a large amount of rice to the market, and with a reasonable retail price.
AIS: Jirdeh Hussein, originally from Hargeisa, was one of the most successful pioneers of the import-export trade, right?
Dahabshiil: Yes, that is true. He was also a kind person. I paid a visit to him, introduced myself, told him that I was from Burao, and was keen on trading rice. He was polite and welcoming.
AIS: Did he sell you anything?
Dahabshiil: Yes, he offered me a thousand sacks of rice. I promptly and delightfully went to the bank, retrieved the amount, and paid him. A few days later, I loaded my thousand sacks to Burao. Immediately, many came to buy from me, and, in the end, I made a handsome profit. I successfully finished that transaction in two days, and then returned to Mogadishu to repeat the process of trying to buy rice from Thailand. This time, I received fifty tons. I requested that my shipment be delivered to the port of Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden. I received a response from Bangkok that there was no cargo ship ready to sail to Berbera, but there was one loaded for Mogadishu. I replied that was agreeable. The rice was shipped with my shortened name stamped on the sacks. When the ship anchored and the cargo was to be unloaded, I went to the port to pay the taxes. But on that day, we found out that the dollar/Somali-shilling exchange rate had been altered. Now, the exchange rate was such that the Somali shilling was devalued to double of what it was – that is, from about six to one dollar to twelve to one dollar!
AIS: The cost of the dollar now double.? That was a major change.
Dahabshiil: Exactly! It was the beginning of the national madness to come in mismanaging the economy and disfiguring the national state. The balayow (evil) that you scholars call IMF and others appeared as key economic policy gurus. Soon, it became clear that what was earlier a relatively strong Somali state was withering fast and to a great extent. One immediate local evidence was the appearance of an armed dissident organization calling itself, Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF). At any rate, I paid exorbitant taxes and then sent the good rice to Burao. I received a decent profit which made it possible for me to build and open a wholesale store, bakhaar, in Burao. This would become my first building, and it still exists. Earlier, I did consult my wife and discussed whether we would prefer to build a house to replace the rented two-bedroom or a bakhaar to ground the business. I suggested that we prioritize the latter, because, if successful, it will give birth to a new house of our own. She promptly agreed and then I moved on to set up the store project. I quickly bought the land and then contracted a builder to commence the structure. The site was in the business area of Burao and continues to be our office to this day. Within a year, I made enough profit to build our own home, composed of six bedrooms. It is still there, but a while ago, I transferred the ownership, for free, to a local mosque that now receives a monthly rent of about a hundred and fifty dollars.
AIS: That is a fine charitable act! At that time, were you focusing your activities in Burao?
Dahabshiil: Right! I decided to make deeper business forays into the Emirates, particularly Dubai. The material fuel for this new entrepreneurial activity was the loan I took from the Commercial Bank. In other words, this is the capital foundation of any enterprises that followed. Before this, however, my earlier partners and I had amicably dissolved our business collaboration.
AIS: The country was at that time under the leadership of General Siyaad Barre and the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC). In that context, doing private business must have been extraordinarily onerous?
Dahabshiil: It certainly was! By late 1987, armed resistances were active in many regions of the country and the national institutions were wobbling. At that time, I had a few loans, perhaps as much as 500,000 shillings, that I borrowed from the state banking organs. I had made enough that I was in a position to pay back. But there were no official governmental offices to receive it – the national institutions in Burao had essentially collapsed.
AIS: What did you do?
Dahabshiil: A decade and a half years later, I paid a visit to a small cohort of religious dignitaries. I solicited their advice, with regard to the loan I owed the Somali state. After some deliberation, they proposed that I distribute the money to the poor of Hargeisa. After all, they asserted, that was part of the national resources, and ought to be returned to the denizens of area. I endorsed that recommendation, and, subsequently, distributed the sum to many indigent compatriots in the city.
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