Original Story Published by: Ruby Hinchliffe, www.fintechfutures.com
Photo Source: World Remit
(Above) World Remit Founder, Chairman and Former CEO, Ismail Ahmed.
A WorldRemit’s founder, chairman, and former CEO for eight years, Ismail Ahmed, has launched a new foundation fund to drive entrepreneurial development in Somaliland.
The Sahamiye Foundation is based in London and Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital. Ahmed has committed $500 million of his own wealth and investments over the next ten years to Somaliland-focused development programmes.
“In choosing to move away from traditional solutions offered by the aid sector, Somaliland has received very little development assistance,” the Sahamiye Foundation explains.
The group therefore wants to help the country move past “traditional models of donor funding and towards a more entrepreneurial, scale-up approach”.
Launched in 2010, WorldRemit’s first market was Somaliland. “Since then, the market has flourished,” says Ahmed.
A mobile money hub
The sovereign state, which sits in Africa’s northeast peninsula and houses some 4.5 million people, has “one of the best” mobile technology infrastructures in Africa, according to Ahmed.
He also cites Somaliland’s international remittance growth, which increased 15% in 2020 to $1.3 billion, according to central bank data.
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