Meet this Somaliland Mogul Farhan Ahmed 40

[XidigtaJSL]

Meet the business mogul with a Midas touch


It is said that life begins at 40. But for Farhan Ahmed, life started earlier.

He has built such an enviable business empire, older business people would wish they were him.




Hussein (right) with a Somaliland elder

He has so far invested $1.2 million in setting up the first-ever cable television service in Hargeisa.



Some of the channels already running in the Hargeisa Cable Television (HCTV), a pay network, include Discovery, Sports channels that cover soccer leagues such as English Premier, Bundesliga, Spain’s Primera Liga and Italy’s Serie "A".

Others are cartoons, news channels such as CNN, BBC and Fox News. A Somali language channel is set to go live by the end of this month.

Ahmed also disclosed that more channels in Amharic (the official language of the neighbouring Ethiopia), Arabic and English would soon be started to broadcast local and international news.

"Since Hargeisa is the centre of Somali literature, we have a lot of stuff here that if well-harnessed, will keep our people well-entertained and informed," says Ahmed.

Does he expect to recoup his investment considering that the economy is yet to pick up?

"I am optimistic that HCTV will attract hundreds of thousands of subscribers and lots of advertisement and returns will be impressive. Already more than 2,000 people have subscribed even before we officially launch the Somali channel."

The businessman also plans to go global in the near future to enable Somalilanders in the Diaspora get latest news from home via the satellite.

Unlike other prominent businessmen in his country, Ahmed, the director of FAA-Co Ltd, is a self-made man. "I have exercised self-discipline and focused my attention in succeeding. Since my family offered no escalator, I had to take the staircase to reach the top of the building and I am proud that I am almost there," said Ahmed in an interview at MaanSoor Hotel, Hargeisa.

He also runs several other businesses ranging from a shipping agency, cigarette importation, clearing and forwarding as well as transport.

Still single after two failed marriages, Ahmed says he harbours no political ambitions.

"The editorial policy of HCTV is that of neutrality. We shall endeavour to give all politicians and their political parties a fair chance to be heard and seen," he says.

Ahmed started his basic education in Hargeisa before going to Doha, Qatar, in 1982 to train as a paratrooper of the Commandos Unit.

He returned to Hargeisa late 1984 but found life unbearable following a government curfew.

This was when SNM was fighting the autocratic regime of Siad Barre, then the President of Somalia that incorporated Somaliland.

Ahmed moved to Mogadishu where he stayed for three months as he prepared to travel to the US for further studies.

In March 1985, he took a flight to Oakland, California, USA, and attended several community colleges and finally Lane College from where he graduated with a bachelor of business administration degree in 1989. He then moved to the Oregon State where the business bug bit him and has not looked back since. While in the company of his Somaliland compatriots, he saw one of them who had invited them to lunch in a restaurant using a card to pay the bills instead of hard cash.

"I enquired innocently why he was doing that and whether he had special arrangements with the restaurant, I was shocked to learn that I could have such a card," recalls Ahmed.

He later obtained a Master credit card and learnt that he could increase his credit limit twice or three times if he requested. Within a short period, Ahmed’s credit had hit an impressive figure and he easily obtained five more cards with which he accumulated $75,000.

"I realised that I could use part of the money to buy a business," says Ahmed.

"The same friends asked me if I could be interested in a business they owned but were planning to sell to an Indian immigrant who had backed out at the eleventh hour. I rushed to the site and agreed to pay a total of $120,000 in instalments. I immediately paid $30,000 and within three months, I had cleared the balance," says Ahmed.

The fuel station was at a good site and a little renovation here and there coupled with sound management saw the business pickup fast.

"Since the location was in an inner city, I had my fair share of problems with gangs of black youths. I disposed off the gas station at $275,000 and moved to Seattle. I bought a franchise station of Texaco at $220,000. The station became a success and I was under pressure to sell it back to the company at $850,000, an amount of money I had never handled in my life."

In 1997, Ahmed decided to forget gas business and became a day stock trader, buying and selling shares in a stock exchange market.

After one year, he travelled to the Emirates to marry a lady he had been introduced to by relatives. But his wife became sickly and had to return to the Emirates. Lonely, he took a trip back home to Somaliland, just for a visit but as fate would have it, he never returned to the US. He arrived in his homeland in 1998, found that EU was launching a pilot project to use the port of Berbera to haul food aid to Ethiopia. "I won the tender as a shipping agent and transporter of the relief aid from Berbera which has since become the lifeline for Ethiopia." After the tender, he went into general business which he also says is doing quite well. "I love my country and my people. I have a US passport but am happy being here and I intend to settle here," declares Ahmed, one of several Somaliland citizens who have invested in their country.

Source : The Standard

[LionHeart-112]

As usual, you are too late.

http://somalinet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49237

Go back to posting obituaries.

[Ina Baxar]

Good job !!

[LionHeart-112]

^^are u gonna do the same thing for Djibouti?


oh i forgot, you are on welfare.u aint got shit, Mahad.

[Galol]

Xidigta

Wonderful, inspiring story. If the whole of the Somali-speaking race had 100 like him we will be credit to the human society instead of being a debit as we are today.

[LionHeart-112]

[quote="Galol"]Xidigta

Wonderful, inspiring story. If the whole of the Somali-speaking race had 100 like him we will be credit to the human society instead of being a debit as we are today.[/quote]


what have you done lately for the somali race?

u are a disgrace to our country and race...

fukking bastard.

get lost.

[Advocator]

Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Ahmed says he harbours no political ambitions"

As long as he follow this rule he shall be succesful.....

[XidigtaJSL]

[quote="LionHeart-112"]As usual, you are too late.

http://somalinet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49237

Go back to posting obituaries. [/quote]


I'll do that only if you also go back to doing what you do best, helping your barawaani mom make xalwo

[Xplosive]

That guy is smart.. and should be a role-model to many young Somalis.

[Demure]

Watch and Learn guys, be inspired by that kind of ambition.

Why can't there be more of him

[COSTA]

Somalis today whether they are in somaliland or puntland or muqdishu all of them they need food not cable tv

[LionHeart-112]

^^that's what i said in teh first thread.

He seems smart and educated. I'm just surprised he thought Cable Tv would sell in starving Somalia of all places.