Somalis in Minnesota

[Buraanbur]

Did you agree how you were described in this article? Are we/other Somalis elsewhere in the diaspora fit within this description? How are we different than our cousins in Minnesota? If the discussion was of a specific clan/tribe, HiiraanOnline would have been on fire and received 400 replies from other Somalis defending their respective clans and tribes. But no response on this article.

"Somalis are one of the most troubled groups of immigrants. Many young Somali men are in prison; many Somalis of both sexes drop out of high school. Unemployment hovers around 21%, the highest of Minnesota’s five largest immigrant groups. More than half of Minnesota’s Somalis are poor. Many are isolated from other immigrants and even from other Muslims, who find them prickly, proud and standoffish."

http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2015/May/9 ... state.aspx

What do they mean by "many"? What is the numerical equivalence of "many"? They always do this shit when reporting on the Somali community.

[AbdiJohnson]

Abdi, what level of education do you have to have in Alberta to make six figures??

Most journeyman tradesmen in the oilsands make over $50 per hour.

Most 3rd or 4th year tradesmen will make over $100K with overtime.

All are working 12 hour shifts 14 or 21 days straight. It all adds up with $150 per day living allowances and $300 one way to travel to the field site.

My clan fob cousin who is 18 just started a $60K job last month as a labourer

I am,

Abdi Johnson

[grandpakhalif]

Wtf aj??? Help a broke nigga out how do i get 60k job??? I fobs can gt this i sure can

[AbdiJohnson]

Wtf aj??? Help a broke nigga out how do i get 60k job??? I fobs can gt this i sure can

Come and you'll get shaaqo within three weeks in the city.

You won't find camp shaqo though. Oil price. Dont bother looking for camp shaqo.

I am,

Abdi Johnson

[SolidCamel]

Wtf aj??? Help a broke nigga out how do i get 60k job??? I fobs can gt this i sure can

Come and you'll get shaaqo within three weeks in the city.

You won't find camp shaqo though. Oil price. Dont bother looking for camp shaqo.

I am,

Abdi Johnson

Camp shaqo is still available as a supervisor/safety person. Over 20/hour easy

[grandpakhalif]

I have absolutely no relatives in AB, I heard rent prices are way higher than ON ones

[SolidCamel]

I have absolutely no relatives in AB, I heard rent prices are way higher than ON ones

Room with me bro I'll charge 300/month

[AbdiJohnson]

Wtf aj??? Help a broke nigga out how do i get 60k job??? I fobs can gt this i sure can

Come and you'll get shaaqo within three weeks in the city.

You won't find camp shaqo though. Oil price. Dont bother looking for camp shaqo.

I am,

Abdi Johnson

Camp shaqo is still available as a supervisor/safety person. Over 20/hour easy

Lol at safety watch. Boring

GrandpaK, you can stay with Secret Agent. He has an extra room.

I am,

Abdi Johnson

[SolidCamel]

Lol it's better than nothing.

I'd personally never go to Fort Mac, it's a death sentence

[grandpakhalif]

Excellent, I will be coming to Calgary around early June, I seriously need alot of cash. I will pm you guys

[EvolSyawla]

Lool @ this article.


I will be moving to MN eventually to set up a base (but living here of course). I'll only visit during the summer though. Your winters are no joke!

[QaxootiWaaxid]

I am so happy for the Somalis of MN, they are doing a million times better than us in terms of owning big businesses, masha Allah. I wish we had Somali owned car dealerships, lawyers etc, etc here in Canada. Ilahay ha u siyaadiyo inagana hana siiyo.

Name 1 Somali owned car dealership in MN

Name 1 Somali owned law practice in MN

[SonofANomad]

Did you agree how you were described in this article? Are we/other Somalis elsewhere in the diaspora fit within this description? How are we different than our cousins in Minnesota? If the discussion was of a specific clan/tribe, HiiraanOnline would have been on fire and received 400 replies from other Somalis defending their respective clans and tribes. But no response on this article.

"Somalis are one of the most troubled groups of immigrants. Many young Somali men are in prison; many Somalis of both sexes drop out of high school. Unemployment hovers around 21%, the highest of Minnesota’s five largest immigrant groups. More than half of Minnesota’s Somalis are poor. Many are isolated from other immigrants and even from other Muslims, who find them prickly, proud and standoffish."

http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2015/May/9 ... state.aspx

Swedes eye Somali success

A visiting entourage wants to learn from the business acumen of some of Minnesota's enterprising immigrants.

http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 14968.html

Jamal Hashi stood outside the sprawling Karmel Square mall in Minneapolis, surrounded by visitors from Sweden.

They had traveled thousands of miles to learn how he went from struggling refugee to successful restaurateur.

How he opened one restaurant, then another.

How he came up with the perfect recipe to introduce Somalia to the Minnesota State Fair: camel-on-a-stick.

How, the Swedes wondered, can they get in on this?

The commercial success of Minnesota's enterprising Somali community has been noticed in Sweden, which has its own burgeoning Somali population. A delegation of 24 Swedish government and academic officials are in town all week to try to unlock the secrets behind that success and carry them back home.

"It's in our DNA to be entrepreneurial people," said Osman Sahardeed, a native of Somalia who runs a business doing translation. "Since the seventh century, Somalis were dealing with the outside world. They know how to market their skills."

The Swedes' whirlwind tour is hosted by the African Development Center of Minnesota, a nonprofit entity that offers lending and technical help to refugees to start their own businesses.

Seeds of their historic visit were first planted in 2005 when a Swedish professor named Benny Carlson traveled to Minnesota and was struck by the sheer number of booming markets and malls run by Somali-Americans in the Twin Cities.

He vowed to return with a team of government officials to use Minnesota as an example of what can be done in Sweden.

[SonofANomad]

Oh it's a somali website that is talking crap about Somalis in MN. I won't stress over it.

But let's keep this in mind. All of non-American business is owned by Somalis. Somalis own restaurants, daycares, adult day centers, clinics, rehabilitation centers and grocery stores. Without Somalis MN wouldn't thrive. I am sick and tired of other Somalis trying to shit on MN Somalis. For what? What do you have to gain? We have the mayor, governor and senator on speed dial. That's how successful Somalis are. If anyone wants run for an office in mn they have to please us first.

Lessons from Somali Entrepreneurs

How They Are Transforming the Economic Landscape of Minneapolis

http://thestatelessman.com/2013/01/16/somalia-2/

It had been a long day at work, and between a poor international phone connection and less than specific instructions from my friend on the other end of the line, I was losing patience.

“It’s the Somali bank. Just find the Somali place that does money transfers.”

Dobuol was in South Sudan and trying, unsuccessfully, to explain exactly which company I should use to wire money he had electronically transferred into my account earlier that day. This wasn’t the first time he had asked me to transfer money since he’d left for Juba. I had used Western Union the previous time, but he had quickly realized he was losing a lot of money on the exchange and I was paying too much for the service.

But after being in the city for a few weeks, he had heard talk of a Somali money transfer company that would give him dollars in South Sudan at twice the exchange rate he was getting through Western Union. Sure enough, after a little asking around in the Somali plaza, a mini market of Somali businesses near where I was living in Atlanta, I found Dahabshiil.

It was a superior business in every way. The service fee was about half of what Western Union charged, Dobuol got a better exchange rate, the transfer happened quicker, and the salespeople were friendlier. I continued using Dahabshiil even when I moved back to Minnesota, as it wasn’t hard to find their counterpart in Minneapolis.

Minnesota has the highest population of Somali people of any state in the United States, and Minneapolis the most of any city in Minnesota. The Somali community is so concentrated in Minneapolis, that one neighborhood has come to be known as Little Mogadishu, after the capital city of Somalia.

Like any recognized region, what makes Little Mogadishu so renowned isn’t just the sheer number of Somalis in the area, but the wealth of businesses it supports. This area contains two exclusively Somali malls and at least 375 Somali owned businesses—pretty impressive for a population that has only been living in the area for a little over ten years.

So what makes Somalis such successful entrepreneurs?

Various cultural traits unique to Somalis have a significant influence on both their business practices and success as entrepreneurs.

One marked difference between Somali immigrants and other Minnesota business owners is their devout adherence to the beliefs and practices of Islam. A recent survey, conducted out of the University of Minnesota, titled Achieving Success in Business: A Comparison of Somali and American-Born Entrepreneurs in Minneapolis, found that 98.9% of Somalis described their religious beliefs as ‘extremely important’ whereas only 48.9% of non-migrants surveyed expressed this level of commitment to their faith and 15.6% reported their religious beliefs to be ‘not important at all’.

Many Muslims, Somalis included, believe that Islam strongly discourages or even strictly prohibits the use of credit or accepting loans that include the payment of interest. Obviously, this belief has a significant impact on how Somalis must go about funding their businesses.

Luckily for Somalis, Minnesota has the highest number of immigrants as a result of second-migration than any other state and is home to several organizations and nonprofits that work to provide loans and ways of financing that are sensitive to those of varying cultural backgrounds. Thus, Somalis have the opportunity to start businesses without having to worry about large loan and interest payments haunting them years into the future.

The same U of M survey discovered that the suppliers of products sold at numerous Somali stores were actually other Somali businessmen.

Sometimes in the ferociously competitive business culture of the United States, we often forget that working together and helping other aspiring business owners can actually have a positive effect on our own financial goals. Though loans are at times unavoidable, with a little creativity when it comes to financing we can avoid dooming ourselves to decades of debt.

If current and aspiring business owners took a lesson from the Somalis, everyone would benefit. And if you are looking for suggestions, just stop by Lake Street, Minneapolis. I guarantee a smiling Somali business owner will talk your ear off, try to sell you something, introduce you to other cheery entrepreneurs and become a fast friend.

Ironic foreigners write good things about us but fellow somalis dont!

[RoobleAlWaliid]

I am so happy for the Somalis of MN, they are doing a million times better than us in terms of owning big businesses, masha Allah. I wish we had Somali owned car dealerships, lawyers etc, etc here in Canada. Ilahay ha u siyaadiyo inagana hana siiyo.

Actually Somalis in Canada are doing better in terms of business, but not politics.