Somali Woman Entrepreneurs
Somali Women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of almost all regions in the country.
The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the society.
This study, the motivational factors of women entrepreneurs in Benadir region investigated why Somali women enter into entrepreneurship what motivated them, we investigated two objectives which are profile of the women such as age, marital status and educational background and also the factors that motivate women to become entrepreneurs.
The study was conducted with the sample of 200 women selected from garment, grocery, jewellery and petroleum sectors. this study based on cross-sectional survey and conducted through questionnaire adopted where the researchers found that women entrepreneurs in Benadir are motivated by the need for economic opportunity, the need for employment and the need to be in control. Our main recommendation is: There is a need to establish microfinance projects as source of financing for the Somali women entrepreneurs in micro and small business in Somalia regions.
Here is a list of five successful Somali Woman Entrepreneurs biography:
1-Samira Mohamed Abdiraham Somalia’s cheese-maker.
Samira lived in Sweden for almost 20 years, she is the founder of a start-up making cheese in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
She learnt cheese-making on Swedish island of Gotland and now started her business The entrepreneur spoke recently with the BBC to about her new business: “My company is doing dairy production so we just now started working with cow milk and camel milk and everything with milk. So we produce cheese — whipped cream, double cream, butter, yoghurt, everything,” she says.
Samira’s company is called Samira Somaal, a name that she says refers to the process of milking animals. “Somaal means bring the milk from the animal, so when you bring milk [by] the hand it means Somaal. And I think the beginning of the name Somalia is coming from (the word) Somaal,” she explains.
Samira Mohamed Abdirahman had international visits the last one being Mikael Lindval the Swedish ambassador of Somalia.
2- Amina Farah Jire, Gas supplier company owner.
Amina is a Somali entrepreneur and a mother of four children. She started a business as gas supplier in the year 2002 at Baladweyne to generate more income to her family.
She currently employs about 40 people, mostly part-time students interested in getting a first work experience.
3-Rhoda Elmi, Founder of Elmi Medics at Hargeisa Somali.
Sometimes in 1982, Rhoda went to Sweden to reunite with her father who was living in Sweden. Conscious of the healthcare shortage in her home country, Rhoda pursued a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science in Gothenburg University where she successfully graduated. She then worked as a Manager in one of the pharmaceutical parastatals in Gothenburg where she gained a quite experience on pharmaceutical products.
Early 2013, Rhoda, a mother-of-one, returned to Hargeisa to visit her family along with her son. Its during her visit that Rhoda experienced first-hand problems faced by people living in Somalia regarding quality of medicine available in the country. Her son had stomach complications, so she took him to a health facility in Hargeisa.
To her surprise, her son was prescribed with two medications – one of her medication was manufactured in Pakistan and have been banned by the European union. The second medicine was intended to cleanse the kidney and not the stomach. She felt a deep urge to do something about this problem.
4. MUNA MAGAN: Riyan Organic Cosmetics Founder.
She is nutritionist and has an MBA in securities, Investments and wealth management
she is the owner of a successful company selling natural products for skin and hair care, made from local plants and herbs from Somalia.
At her farm in Haro-Hadley village, 50 km north of Hargeisa, Somalia, Muna Magan grows her own organic plants and herbs, such as aloe vera and mori nga. After graduating in science and nutrition from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom in 2004, and10 years’ worth of experience both in the European and International market, she then returned home to realize her dream of creating a company that manufactures natural products from local plants.
Riyan Organics Cosmetics, born in 2016, employs 19 people, including 13 women, in areas ranging from planting to manufacturing, sales and marketing, paid between $60 and $200 a month. “I was born in Somalia, raised in Sweden where I spent most of my life. I travelled back home in 2014 to visit my mother.”
The precariousness in which her compatriots find themselves, suffering from famine among other things, was a cause for concern.
Despite the high stakes and many challenges, Muna was not starting from scratch she was passionate about natural cosmetics, she decided to work on her own line of products, which would be 100% natural, organic and made in an ethical way.
She believes that the children of a woman who can support herself will go to school. This benefits society as a whole. And that gave her the opportunity to help the country’s development and peace process.
5 Halima is fishery businesswoman with a passion for empowering women entrepreneurs. After living abroad, she returned to Somalia and tried various businesses before selecting the fisheries industry. She established the Hodan Fish Company and owns two restaurants located in Garowe and Bosaso. Halima also co-founded the Puntland Business Women Forum and serves as the Chief Executive of the Puntland Business Women Umbrella. She encourages young women to get involved in the fisheries sector, whether that means catching fish or cooking it, saying:
“Women in the fishing business should work to improve the sector, because there are a lot of fisheries resources in our country. She encourages women to work in the sector and teach others about its importance.”
The Puntland Business Women Umbrella connects Somali women across sectors, including fisheries, to grow and improve their businesses and encourage other Somali women to become entrepreneurs. Forming businesses is the first step to improving the Somali economy and women are critical to this effort. The group facilitates partnerships and mentorship between seasoned and burgeoning professionals and provides services to foster women’s business skills. The Puntland Business Women Umbrella also informs investors about the success of women-owned businesses and encourages investment in them.
The Puntland Business Women Umbrella conducts training in essential skills for businesswomen as well. Recently, the organization partnered with the Somali Institute for Development Research and Analysis and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Somalia to provide trainings in business skills such as budgeting, managing finances, and marketing goods.
In July 2018, the Puntland Business Women Umbrella brought together 150 businesswomen from across various sectors including fisheries to present their work and discuss women’s roles in Somalia’s economic development. The forum also incorporated Somali politicians including Puntland’s vice president and the minister of women and family affairs along with investors and international agencies such as USAID’s Growth, Enterprise, Employment and Livelihoods project and Forum SYD Somalia.
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