While the current measures may take few dollars from the pockets of the likes of Dahabshiil, it will not change anything in Somaliland thanks to WorldRemit and our boy from Gabiley, Dr. Ahmed Ismail.
Today you can send your money to your family with the click of a button. It is far better than Dahabshiil. I can do it while I am watching the latest NBA game or fadhi ku dirir between Irro and Silanyo.
https://www.worldremit.com/en/somaliland
WR does not do business in Somalia and I don't blame them. All these time they left no stone unturned to get Dahabshiil banned by foreign agents and looks like today that has backfired on them.
The Landers are always trying to build bridges while the Wanlawein are busy burning them. That's the difference and that's why today we can sit back and relax. No Fufu on top of our ladies. No Turks feeding our babies and no Sanweyne blockading our bariis in Nairobi.
We don't give a damn if Kenya blocks them all permanently.
Dahabshiil should finally review its business in Somalia and pull the plug on it. Just being associated alone can have them blacklisted for decades. If I was them I would abandon Mogadishu and reinvest that money in Ethiopia's thriving tourism industry by building a luxury resort(s) in Hawassa or the booming Rwandan market.
Just look at Hawassa and you have Landers with money chasing flies and UN suitcases dotted with suicide bombs in Mogadishu
Some Landers such as Dahabshiil still do things how they used to do in 1970s and still deal with the same people. It's time they ventured out off their comfort zones and restructured their business. There are far more promising markets in Africa than the aid and UN-money dependant Mogadishu that comes with far more problems than rewards. Look now the Dahabshiil brand is stained. It has appeared next to the rest of hawalas under the headline "Kenya freezes key money transfers to Somalia after university terror attack". It is going to take years of PR and rebranding to undo the damage.
Any Lander that wants to do well for himself should always steer his business away from Somalia especially Mogadishu otherwise ride their unpredictable wave of instability, blacklisting, isolation, stigma and fear that is all associated with them.
Tonight I can say my friend Abdulrashid Mohamed Said Duale is probably sleepless because I know how much his brand and good name means to him. The fact that his brand appear under such headline is enough for him to loss sleep many nights. I know him. It is time for him to pullout and tell his franchisees he no longer wants association. Some times we make tough business decisions.
By the time Dahabshiil gets its ban lifted, more than half of its youthful clients have already discovered a more innovative and faster way to send money. The old generation it relied on since 1970s is no longer the working class and very few of them remain. Just ask adeero Silanyo.
RIP Dahabshiil...for now and jombo WorldRemit.
WaaliCas ~ the Isaaq not afraid of putting things into perspective. I go where others are afraid to go. I say what others are shy from saying. But in all of this I don't care who I burn in the process of looking out for the family's interest. I don't run no charity and so need no CNN hero vote.
