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AIS: A fine gesture in a tough moment?

Dahabshiil: Affirmative! His briefing was compact. I knew that the much sought-after entry visa to Ethiopia was arranged earlier for him by Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, Siillaanyo, then the top leader of the SNM. That afternoon, I bought a small bundle of Qat to chew. This was the only social activity available. The group went to my motel to ostensibly sit together. But, unexpectedly, Abdi Sheed and others went into a separate room. I quickly understood that they wanted to get access to whatever information that Abdi Sheed had without my presence. I sat alone in a different room and began to think through my own strategy.

The Making Of DahabshiilAIS: How long have you been in Jigjiga?

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Dahabshiil: Less than a week. My greatest preoccupation was how to depart from Jigjiga and move on to Dire Dawa, the much larger city. With that in mind, I paid a visit to the regional security office, where permission to travel was approved. I showed them my Somali passport and the residence permit issued by Emirates’ authorities. I was told to sit down and wait. After about a dozen Somalis with similar travel circumstances were gathered, we were issued one common paper to allow us to travel to Dire Dawa. My purpose in Dire Dawa was to use it as a quick staging post to leave Ethiopia, but, first, to explore what business opportunities might be there. Before we departed Jigjiga, I asked for a photocopy of the permit paper, so that I could have my own copy. After some haggling, I did get the copy. This was early August 1988. When we arrived in Dire Dawa, I called folks in Dubai. I informed them where I was. Many began to call me back, for they were relieved I was safe. While I was in Dire Dawa, an interesting story happened. I made contact with some SNM members who were staying in a house owned by a fellow named Jama Dakhare. He was from the Iidagale kin group as I was told right away. Most of the folks in the house were from Hargeisa and its surrounding area. Remember, I am not from Hargeisa but from Burao. I did not recognize anyone of them. Finally, I ran into an older man, whose name was Warabeade. He was from Burao. I said hello and we immediately recognized each other. The house was rather tiny – two rooms (one occupied by Warabeade), a small living area, and a veranda. At that time of the year, Dire Dawa got heavy rains with lots of accompanying thunder. This was almost every afternoon. Many men and women from northern Somalia used to congregate in this house, particularly for the purpose of collecting or sending messages through the single telephone set at a small hut in a courtyard used by the SNM representatives. Given the high demand to use the phone (both by those family members marooned in Dire Dawa and farther afield outside of Ethiopia), we created a procedure for using the phone. Essentially, we compiled a list of us. Each person was to write down their full name and their kin identity. When the telephone rang, the individual who picked up the receiver was told to take down the number of anyone in our group who had a relative (name and number given) overseas and then place a call to that individual informing about the relative in Dire Dawa in order to make contact. Once that message was related to the caller, the local person would give the information one had on the caller’s relatives in Dire Dawa. Most of us woke up every day hoping and waiting for a call from some relative overseas. These were the circumstances we found ourselves. Most of us could not afford to go into the city. In fact, even the few Ethiopian Birr to pay the call were beyond the reach of most of us. After two days full of frustration, I requested Warabeade to take me to a hotel. We found one that had a telephone in each room. At this time, I had about one hundred dollars. The room was not expensive. When I checked in, I made a request to the hotel operator to dial a number of someones I knew in Dubai. The connection was successful, and in the process, I got liberated from the collective arrangement for the telephone in the house. Soon, I received monies that were owed to me by individuals in the Emirates. As calls from the Emirates grow by the day, people there requested that I become the collector of monies sent from the Emirates to relatives in the area. I accepted the assignment on the condition that I got a small commission for the service. In the midst of that, I  paid a visit to Hogsade’s main office in Dire Dawa. I told them who I was and about my background as a businessman. The individuals at the front desk were a mixture of Somalis and other Ethiopian identities. All of them spoke fluent Amharic, but they recognized me as a Somali from Burao which eased the situation. Still, Burao was too far east, and, therefore, knowledge about that part of the country by the people of the western Somali-inhabited zones was skimpy (laughter). After all, Hogsade origins were from the Gabiley area.

AIS: Did you meet Hogsade himself?

Dahabshiil: Unfortunately, no! He was away in Addis Ababa. But I was met by his son-in-law, a senior member of the management.

AIS: Was his name Mohamed Aw Omer?

Dahabshiil: Yes! He received me with a smile and a warm welcome. Shortly afterwords, I requested from him if I could use his office’s fax machine to send and receive messages. Initially, he approved of that. However, when the traffic of my correspondence grew, it congested his line. Consequently, he stopped the arrangement. A bit disappointed, I returned to my hotel and made an agreement to use their fax machine. The upshot of this particular point is this: it was the beginning of what will, in due course, become the now worldwide Dahabshiil remittance business.

AIS: Absolutely fascinating! So, this is the moment that this defining business to this day emerged?

Dahabshiil: Exactly, the genesis can be traced back to that moment in Dire Dawa. The idea and the arrangement that followed were triggered by the onset of civil war, generalized dispersal around the world, and the consequent imperatives of reknitting familial solidarity. In other words, it was an opportunity born out of a catastrophe.

AIS: Shall I assume that, at that time, you had no sense of what such a minimal transaction will lead to?

Dahabshiil: Absolutely! I have never engaged in money exchange before. Soon, the number of customers grew by the day. It became too much to handle. As a result, after a few hundred names of customers, I froze the list. Quickly, I tried to find out a solution for the clogging. I inquired about the various business folks in Dire Dawa. I found out the best were the Harari people. They were a successful and a small minority in the city, akin to the Hamariyeen in Mogadishu. They normally spoke in colloquial Arabic. Because I had picked up some broken Arabic during my sojourns in the Emirates, I was able to communicate with them. Furthermore, I was convinced that they would understand, if not sympathize with, my condition as a displaced person. The latter was made more plausible, given the regimented and harsh military rule in Ethiopia.

AIS: Did you ask for advice, and what did they say to you?

Dahabshiil: They told me that Djibouti was the best place to make such transactions. Moreover, there was an Indian money changer who specialized in such dealings. Consequently, I decided to transfer a small amount of cash I left in Dubai to be moved to Djibouti. I put it under the name of someone I knew there, but who has since died a few years ago. His name was Ali Burraleh. The Indian money merchant made contact with another Indian trader in Dire Dawa. The latter had clothes shop up front, while the backroom was set up for money exchange. I paid a visit to him and, after I identified myself, he confirmed that he had some money wired to me from Djibouti. He handed the sum, in Ethiopian Birr, to me. I went back to my hotel. After I counted my money, I put it in a bag, locked the room, and inserted the key in my pocket.  From there, I went into the city to explore possibilities. I realized that there were opportunities. One of the places I visited was a dense market called “Taiwan” – so named because of the cheap manufactured goods imported from that island country. I took note of the trade that was being conducted.

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