AIS: That is a remarkable act – I have never heard of such an example before! Now, during those still early years of your attempts to establish a business, were there any unforgettable individuals, besides the initial moments in Burao, whom you saw as inspirational models for your ambition to make a success out of your efforts?
Dahabshiil: Yes, there were a few. In the early years and in the local context in Burao, the most buoyant was a man by the nickname of Indha Deero. His wholesale store was the place where I bought some of my commodities for retail sale.
AIS: His name is now famous in Hargeisa?
Dahabshiil: Yes, he is the progenitor of the family business typified by the attractive mall at the center of Hargeisa. For me, though, Jirdeh Hussein was the epitome of business success and a source of awe. He had already expanded to and penetrated Mogadishu’s market. There, as a mark of his success, he erected the most modern and multistory building at the heart of the capital. I was profoundly struck by that unprecedented entrepreneurial achievement. It dawned on me, then, that Burao, comparatively, was provincial and quite distant from the nerve center of modern Somali economic activities. On the other hand, Mogadishu was tempting and full of possibilities. For instance, in addition to the dense web of state officials, there were numerous embassies and international organizations. These assortments of decision-makers gave me the premonition that I could prosper there. In short, in Burao, Indha Dheero was the wealthiest and a source of influence. But Mogadishu gave me a sense of a world much more substantial both in terms of what was already conspicuous as well as hidden potentials.
AIS: In those years, was there a moment when you lost a great deal and that made you regretful?
Dahabshiil: Yes, it was around the great drought of the early 1970s. I traveled to Saudi Arabia to buy some commodities. When I returned to resell, the market was way down. Moreover, many who borrowed from me went completely bankrupt and were unable to pay back the loans. Earlier than those years, I had very little, and I kept a wakeful eye on every penny. In fact, I made a habit of counting meticulously everything before I went to bed at night!
AIS: Given the seduction of Mogadishu, did you abandon Burao altogether?
Dahabshiil: No, I did not. Moreover, and notwithstanding the beckoning of opportunities in Mogadishu, it became very hard to find a space to locate my transactions. I had no prior building or storefront, and my explorations were made more difficult by my strong preference to have a spot at the center of any town or city that I desired to set up a business. After an exhausting search, I rented a place from Indha Deero in the Shingaani zone of Mogadishu. I paid rent for a few months, but things did not work out and I closed it after that. It is crucial to reasserting here that, while I was eager to open a business work in Mogadishu, my activities were still based in Burao.
AIS: So, when was the time when you decided to put your primary business anchorage in Mogadishu?
Dahabshiil: At no time did I plan to set up my headquarters in Mogadishu. In fact, I traveled to Dubai and turned it into the center of gravity of my business activities. My established routine was to buy commodities from Dubai, load them in large boats, and then bring them to Berbera or to the small and old coastal villages like Maydh. Burao, at this time, was a strategic town that was located in the midst of the old Republic. Thus, most imports that were brought to its market were sold promptly. One would need to remember here that a new national highway had been recently inaugurated and Burao appeared to become a more significant commercial nodal point, particularly in the trade and export of Somali livestock. In brief, Burao was a geographically privileged town and suitable for business proceedings.
AIS: Did this mean that the bulk of your business was administered from Burao?
Dahabshiil: Yes! But Dubai became most critical for me.
AIS: How did you get official permission to enter Dubai whenever it became necessary for you?
Dahabshiil: A nephew of mine created for me to document to stay in the city legally. I think he wrote in the application that I will be his cook at his house! He himself worked for a senior and well-known European expatriate.
AIS: (Laughing), that must have been strange?
Dahabshiil: It was unusual (laugh), but for me, the essential point was to receive a legal permit to stay in Dubai and buy goods to sell them back in Burao’s market and across the rest of the neighboring regions.
AIS: The critical factor for you was the acquisition of the permit to stay in Dubai?
Dahabshiil: Yes! I did not care what was the title of my occupation, as long as I could trade legally and more freely.
AIS: Do you remember his name?
Dahabshiil: To be sure, his name was Ali Deriye Egal, and I will always remember him fondly. In due course, my transactions became profitable to such a new extent that my capital reached half a million dollars. I was gaining greater confidence in my abilities to build larger business investments.
AIS: Could you say a bit more about what Dubai was like at that time?
Dahabshiil: Let me distinguish between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The first, the capital of the Emirates, was a city of government and administration. Many Somalis worked there in a variety of jobs. Moreover, and overall, Somalis were liked a lot and welcomed. I had no personal experience in Abu Dhabi, but the word circulating at the time was that the Emir was fond of Somalis. Consequently, jobs were opened for them in the context of rising economic growth and prosperity in the UAE. This is in the late 1970s, after that historic drought in the Somali Republic. Travel there was quite easy, particularly if one had a relative already residing there legally. On the other hand, Dubai was a city of private business transactions. Somali were hardly known there, and most of the businesses were dominated by merchants from the Indian sub-continent.
AIS: But Dubai was different than it has become lately?
Dahabshiil: Quite different, to be sure! Dubai is now a world-class metropolis. At that time, however, the cost of living was relatively cheap. For instance, a cup of tea cost less than half a dirham. Many of the city’s streets were dusty and semi-paved. Somalis in Dubai were relatively small business people, who came and stayed for a few days to buy their goods and then departed until the next round of purchasing. Of course, we borrowed the money from the Somali workers and then paid the loans back to their relatives in the Somali Republic. These were vital arrangements since we could not bring with us hard currency from home. By the way, the correspondence was done through recorded messages on tapes.
AIS: Now that you established a profitable circuit between Burao and Dubai, what happened to your interest in larger cities such as Hargeisa and Mogadishu?
Dahabshiil: At that time, I was not keen on either one. Given the fact that I was bringing goods from Dubai, Hargeisa with its larger population was a worthy market, but that is all. Moreover, the southern regions’ business people would come to Burao to buy goods from us and then load them on trucks to resell back in their respective communities.
AIS: How would you describe the bulk of your business at this time?
Dahabshiil: I left behind the retail approach. Thus, at that stage, my transactions became quintessentially wholesale.
AIS: Your reputation as a successful businessman was first grounded in the remittance of money. When did that start?
Dahabshiil: The initial scheme started with the temporary arrangement of borrowing money from Somali workers in the Emirates, buying goods with it, and then paying the borrowed sum to relatives back in the Republic once the goods were sold. This was an indirect type of remittance, for there were no formal offices set up to handle the operations. This process was increasingly accompanied by monies being sent from diasporic folks in more distant locations such as the USA and parts of Western Europe. The latter became a source of hard currency – that is, US dollars.
AIS: How did this system work?
Dahabshiil: Individuals in the diaspora sometimes used banks to cash their check-in local currency; at other times, they made the exchange in the black market. The black market became omnipresent after the heavy devaluation of the Somali shilling. As I said earlier, this was a foreboding marker in the coming meltdown of the national economy and the state.
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